Have you heard? QuickBooks Online will be implementing usage limits beginning April 10, 2019 on number of classes, locations, chart of accounts entries and users.
 
If you are a current client, our team will be reaching out over the next couple weeks to advise on account updates and upgrades.
 
Your QuickBooks subscription fee may increase and Intuit explains, “Our goal is to make sure that your product meets your needs. Usage limits help ensure that as your business grows, you're using the version of QuickBooks that has all the tools you need to get deeper insights, save time, and be more productive.”
 
Are you wondering:

• What do I need to do?
• Why is QuickBooks adding limits?
• How do I see if I’m at my limit?
• How do I reduce things down to their limits?
• What are classes, locations, chart of accounts, and users?

 
For answers, visit QuickBooks Help Article, “What are usage limits in QuickBooks.” https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Help-Articles/What-are-usage-limits-in-QuickBooks-Online/m-p/228520
 
If you’re not a client but need assistance, our team at Blue Fox provides hourly consulting services to help solve your most pressing financial issues. This just may be one of them! Give us a shout anytime at hello@yourbluefox.com or (321) 233-3311.

This year’s Nonprofit Tech Conference put on by NTEN was a superb professional development event. Four days of stunning weather in Portland, Oregon, inspirational nonprofit leaders from around the world, and oh so much amazing food! It’s hard to choose the most meaningful takeaways from such a diverse event.

​On Inspiration
These videos will make you think, laugh, and/or cry – maybe all three. These were the featured DoGooder Award-Winning nonprofit videos: 

• Best Nonprofit Video: https://youtu.be/OzPjUYmnfdk
• Fundraising for Good: https://youtu.be/gGBPb-JSoZc
• Funny for Good: https://youtu.be/mrwhL1lwx8Y

 
On Resilience
One of the best sessions I attended was the first of the week and focused on resilience as a path to organizational sustainability. So many social impact leaders struggle with how to keep themselves (and their teams) focused and meaningfully supported. Hosted by a panel of long-time nonprofit gurus, the inimitable Beth Kanter, the panel discussed the importance of moving your team’s tempo from putting out fires and IDD (Intention Deficit Disorder) to focused, proactive behavior. If you can bake in to your organizational culture things like technology norms and appreciation rituals, your team will be happier, healthier, and more productive. That ultimately yields a stronger organization and more sustainable impact.
 
On Leadership
Your #1 job as a leader is to support and develop your team. Check out these alarming statistics (the speaker cited Gallup as the source):

• Only 34% of Americans are engaged at work
• 1 in 2 employees have left a job because of their manager
• 1 in 10 managers have the skill to actually execute their role as managers
• 70% of employee engagement is directly attributable to management

 
The lesson? We all have work to do if we are going to be effective, supportive leaders. Our own professional development is often a first step and should be an ongoing priority. And if your staff is unhappy or disengaged, it’s likely that their manager is the reason why.
 
On Marketing
There were so many great sessions on using technology to ramp up your marketing efforts. But the one that stuck with me was put on by Whole Whale and one of its nonprofit partners: Effective Social Media Advertising on $100/day. Favorite highlights:

• YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. A 30-second YouTube video ad costs a measly $0.01-0.07 per view. If you’re not using video ads, you’re missing out on a huge exposure opportunity.
• When setting up ad campaigns on Facebook, use the lifetime budget option instead of a daily budget to let the Facebook algorithm optimize for your campaign.
• Boosting Facebook posts ad hoc is just “buying Mark Zuckerberg another overpriced hoodie,” as one presenter said. Your best bet is a targeted ad campaign on Facebook. The ability to refine your ad audience in granular detail means you’ll get higher quality traffic to your site with a modest ad budget. The goal? 1 quality site visit for $0.30-5.00.

 
On Finance
Unfortunately, there was just one session devoted to finance during the conference – one! On the flipside, though, the room was absolutely packed. (Last session before a free happy hour, too, so you know people really wanted to be there!) Focused solely on nonprofit dashboards, the speaker delved into detail on what makes up an effective nonprofit dashboard. From the basics of revenue and expenses to analytical concepts like financial ratios and program or fundraising efficiency snapshots, nearly 100 attendees learned how to frame financial data in a visual, conversation-stimulating manner. The session echoed my favorite nonprofit finance rant: if you’re not presenting your financials in a way that provides actionable insights, STOP. There is a better way. We can help you get there.


About: Our team at Blue Fox provides customized, boutique financial and back office services for social impact organizations. Services range from standard bookkeeping and payroll services, to coaching and consulting, to full-blown virtual CFO services. Our mission is to disrupt the traditional accounting model through technology, innovation, and a radically client-focused approach that truly empowers nonprofits and social enterprises. For more information call (321) 233-3311, email hello@yourbluefox.com, and visit www.YourBlueFox.com. 
​
Author:  Founder & CEO, the Original Blue Fox, Chantal Sheehan, MS, CFP(r) ​​​

Does your information presented at board meetings go in one ear and out the other? According to recent reports, the human attention span is now shorter than a goldfish, down from 12 seconds to a measly 8 seconds. What the Fox?!
 
It’s now trickier than ever to capture the attention of your stakeholders. And without their attention how do to you establish buy-in and encourage action?
 
There has to be a better way!
 
Enter financial dashboard style reporting. Charts. Graphs. Visuals. Infographics. With a little illustrative razzle dazzle, your board members are paying attention. Better yet, they can quickly see your overall financial position. Gone are the days of reviewing tedious financial statements and boards of directors are thrilled!
 
Ruth McCambridge, Editor in Chief of the Nonprofit Quarterly explains it best, “A well designed dashboard shows whether a nonprofit is making headway on its critical variables… it organizes and focuses conversations.”
 
So, what do you include on your dashboard? Well, ask yourself what drives the success of your organization? Do you have defined strategic objectives that are measurable? You might measure quantity of memberships or donations, clients served to date, cash on hand, program income budget vs actual, annual revenue by source, restricted vs unrestricted funds, and so on. The possibilities are endless – the question is: what key information matters most to you and your management team?
 
Our team at Blue Fox builds dashboards for clients upon request. Some are more extensive and others are one-page snapshots. Customization is key and no two organizations have exactly the same needs. The common factor is that our clients present interesting, concise, actionable data to their stakeholders to make their board and management meetings truly useful moments.
 
About: Our team at Blue Fox provides customized, boutique financial and back office services for social impact organizations. Services range from standard bookkeeping and payroll services, to coaching and consulting, to full-blown virtual CFO services. Our mission is to disrupt the traditional accounting model through technology, innovation, and a radically client-focused approach that truly empowers nonprofits and social enterprises. For more information call (321) 233-3311, email hello@yourbluefox.com, and visit www.YourBlueFox.com.
 
 
Resources:

• Nonprofit Quarterly & FMA, How to Build a Dashboard for your Nonprofit: A Critical Strategic Tool Reveals Itself
• Time, You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish, Kevin McSpadden

Ready to have your mind blown? Go ahead and Google “The Future of FinTech”. Half of what you read might sound made up. And, no, the interwebs are not speaking Dothraki. Terminology like Blockchain, Ethereum, Insuretech, and robo-advisor are all real. Any Scrabble junkies want to pull out the dictionary and challenge us? Go ahead. Just know that new technology may take over before Merriman Webster can crank out a new print edition.
 
Constant change in the financial technology space can overwhelm small businesses, especially those in the nonprofit and social impact space. But rest assured that Blue Fox is hip to the newest developments. We stay up to speed on innovations in the FinTech space so that we can provide you with the most useful and reliable technology tools out there.
 
Our favorite back office technology solutions? 

• Intuit QuickBooks Online – With over 5.6 million global users, QuickBooks Online breeds efficiency, accuracy, collaboration, organization, automation and oversight over all aspects of your organizations financial picture. Bank-level encryption, payroll processing, and the ability to integrate CRMs and project management apps make QuickBooks Online the leader in small business accounting software. 
• Bill.com – Automates and simplifies the way you pay bills, send invoices, and get paid. Electronic vendor payments and a perpetual audit trail are our favorite features of this revolutionary platform.
• Citrix ShareFile – 100% secure file storage with 24/7 file accessibility. Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive are good solutions, but Citrix security, encryption, and granular user privileges are unrivaled in the cloud storage space.
• Expensify - The world's leading application for expense management, receipt scanning, and business travel. Track your mileage, file an expense report, and use it for easy credit card reconciliations.

 
The core of our Blue Fox philosophy is the marriage of technology and humanity – that’s why our tagline is Agile Accounting for Impact. We believe that the right mix of automation and human-touch makes all the difference. If your organization feels the same, we want to work with you! Don’t hesitate to call us at (321) 233-3311 or book a free consultation with us today! 
​
About: Our team at Blue Fox provides customized, boutique financial and back office services for social impact organizations. Services range from standard bookkeeping and payroll services, to coaching and consulting, to full-blown virtual CFO services. Our mission is to disrupt the traditional accounting model through technology, innovation, and a radically client-focused approach that truly empowers nonprofits and social enterprises. For more information call (321) 233-3311, email hello@yourbluefox.com, and visit www.YourBlueFox.com.