FOR BUSINESS & NONPROFIT LEADERS
Can your financials answer the question in front of you?
Financial strategy, budgeting, and forecasting for businesses and nonprofits. I've been the CFO of a $2.6 million organization and of a $250 million one.
Can we afford this hire?
What if our largest funder or customer leaves?
Should we take on debt for this building?
Is this program paying for itself?
These are the questions that land on your desk or wake you up at night, and a clean set of financial statements won't answer them alone.
Accurate books are the foundation for all of this, and most of the teams I work with are doing that part well. But recording what happened and deciding what to do next are two different jobs, and most organizations only notice the gap once they've filled the first one.
What I actually do
Financial strategy
A multi year model of the organization, built so you can test things against it. What your business model actually is, which programs or lines carry themselves and which are subsidized, what your reserves need to be for the risk you're carrying, and what has to be true for the plan to work.
Budgeting that means something
A budget built from drivers rather than from last year, owned by the leaders who have to live inside it, on a calendar that starts early enough for real conversations. The board approves it because they understand it, not because it's October.
Forecasting
A rolling forecast that updates with reality, cash runway you can see coming, and the ability to model a decision before you make it. When a funder delays or a hire is on the table, you should be able to see the consequence that afternoon.
Board and committee reporting
A package your board can act on, with the drivers named and the decisions that need making called out. When it helps, I present it.
Some of the work is a project, not a retainer.
Not every organization needs an ongoing finance partner. Sometimes there's one decision in front of you, or one question the board wants answered, and the right engagement has a beginning and an end.
Financial Readiness Assessment
A structured review of your systems, processes, and people, measured against an outside standard rather than against my opinion. For faith driven organizations that's usually the ECFA standards.
Mergers and affiliations
More organizations are combining, and most can't say what the merged entity actually looks like financially. I model that before the decision, then merge the systems after the close.
Financial transformation
For when the organization has outgrown the finance function itself, not just the records. I rebuild the roles, reporting, planning calendar, and the accounting underneath, and train your team how to manage it.
Team development
Coaching for your finance staff, your executive director, and your board. When you're hiring I'll assess candidates and onboard whoever lands the seat, though I'm not the recruiter.
I’ve been the CFO of a $2.6 million organization and of a $250 million one.
Most of what Trellis does comes from having made the trip between them.
At Denison Ministries I ran finance for six and a half years, the last three and a half as Chief Financial Officer. We grew from $2.6 million to nearly three times that. Finance, accounting, development, and IT reported to me, and the team was eight people. That's the size where the CFO designs the system and then runs it personally, and where one soft month causes real concern.
Then I spent four and a half years at K-LOVE, the last three as Chief Financial Officer, with accounting, tax, FP&A, treasury, and procurement reporting to me. Roughly $250 million in annual revenue, $1.2 billion in assets, 550 employees across all fifty states. I led the finance side of a nine figure headquarters construction project and ran the acquisition function, more than 120 station acquisitions totaling over $150 million.
So if you're somewhere under $25 million, I'm not guessing about what your week looks like. And I know what the road ahead of you looks like, because I've been on it. Importantly, I know what it means to be accountable for the finances, not just to advise on them.
Let’s find out what your numbers actually say.
Thirty minutes and I hope you'll leave with at least one useful observation about your finances whether or not you ever hire me.
Trellis works best with organizations between $2M and $25M in annual revenue. If you just need bookkeeping, I’m probably not the right fit, and I ‘m glad to connect you with one of my partners.