National Alliance on Mental Illness North Carolina (NAMINC)
CASE STUDY:
Financial Foundation Set for NAMINC with Good Steward Financial Company’s
Executive Summary
National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMINC is providing resources for families whose lives have been forever impacted by a loved one with mental illness. With affiliate offices across the state, the organization’s leaders recognize the importance of keeping meticulous financial records.
Several years ago, they’d hired outside bookkeepers to assist with the process but found themselves in crisis mode when those bookkeepers fell short of industry standards, impacting compliance reporting. Seeking a replacement, the leadership got a referral to Good Steward Financial Company, LLC. The GSFC team cleaned up the financial records and streamlined accounting processes with built-in internal controls. These changes gave the leadership team the ability to better predict financial performance through accurate budgeting and forecasts.
NAMINC is now in a much better financial position. With Good Steward’s CEO Jasmine S. Galloway acting as the fractional CFO and the GSFC team conducting all outsourced bookkeeping responsibilities, current Treasurer Mary Pennington feels confident that the organization has a better picture of its finances.
The Story of NAMINC
NAMINC advocates for individuals and families who’ve felt the impact of mental illness. It’s a grassroots organization primarily run by volunteers with a state office in Greensboro and 24 affiliate offices throughout the state.
“Guilford is the oldest affiliate in North Carolina,” explains Pennington. “We celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2023. The way the model is structured, we had to have a state office before we could become an affiliate, so the state office has been around 40 years as well. They provide education and support to all the local affiliates.” CASE STUDY: Financial Foundation Set for NAMINC with Good Steward Financial Company’s Fractional CFO services
“NAMINC provides mental health advocacy, education, support, and public awareness that all individuals and families can build better lives.”
“GOOD STEWARD TAILORED THEIR SERVICES FOR US BASED ON OUR NEEDS. IT WAS NOT A COOKIE CUTTER APPROACH.”
Mary Pennington
Treasurer
The Challenges Facing Nami NC
With inadequate bookkeeping services provided by the previous service provider, NAMINC risked facing compliance issues. When the nonprofit let the bookkeeper go, organizational leaders lacked clarity of their financial position because the records weren’t set up in a way that statement could be presented understandably.
“We didn’t have a clear picture of our financial status,” says Pennington.“We didn’t know if we were in the red. We weren’t confident about what we were spending our money for.” To continue to get funds, the nonprofit needed to complete its annual audit and review. “You can’t be a nonprofit and ask for funds if you can’t explain your balance sheet or how you’re spending the money you’re getting,” Pennington explains.
Why NAMINC Chose Good Steward Financial Company
The former NAMINC treasurer had received a referral to Good Steward from someone he had worked with before, and that’s how the relationship started. “The board interviewed some other people before I stepped into the role of treasurer,” explains Pennington.“But because we were in a situation where we had trusted someone we didn’t know before, the referral carried a lot of weight.”
How Good Steward Financial Company Responded
The Good Steward team first untangled the chart of accounts, creating the correct categories so the organization’s coding, accounting system, and QuickBooks were more understandable and better aligned with the line items required to request federal funding.
“They also cleaned up our T&E,” Pennington says.“People were submitting expense reports, and everybody seemed to be doing it differently.Good Steward brought us a process. The budget had numbers plugged in, but were those numbers realistic, and were the amounts where they should be? Good Steward continues to help us work on creating a more realistic budget.”
“THERE ARE LOTS OF COMPANIES THAT YOUR BOOKKEEPING, BUT A COMPANY IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS LEADER. BECAUSE OF HER LEVEL OF INTEGRITY AND KNOWLEDGE, JASMINE IS A GREAT LEADER FOR GOOD STEWARD.”
Mary Pennington
Treasurer
The Results
Jasmine S.Galloway now functions as the nonprofit’s fractional CFO, and Pennington says, “I really feel like it’s a partnership.”
NAMINC has a budget that’s clearly defined,” she explains.“It matches the chart of accounts that matches the grants we use to operate on. We’ve streamlined our Accounts Payable process. For payroll, we’re still working with ADP. The ADP deductions have been straightened out in terms of what we should be deducting for employees’ benefits.We’ve come a very long way.”
