If your faith-based center, house of worship or church that operates on its own is most likely using QuickBooks Premiere Nonprofit or PowerChurch Software and it’s probably the right solution. However, if you’re part of a larger group of churches, reporting to central office in your county or region, you may be experiencing a host of potential reporting and data sharing issues.
These time consuming reporting processes can be resolved with the implementation of a robust cloud-based accounting software, designed to accommodate multiple sites (many parishes, for example). While you’re answering to a higher power, Gravity Software® (Gravity) is an accounting solution on the Microsoft Power Platform (aka Dynamics 365 CRM). Gravity works to provide a whole arsenal of benefits by harnessing the power of the cloud. Let’s take a closer look at some of the difficulties frequently reported when religious institutions stick with an entry level solution, and how Gravity provides optimum support for all levels of reporting and data sharing.
Lack of intuitive navigation and set-up
Many accounting solutions designed for churches and other religious institutions will offer a basic, all-one-one system that allows for quick set-up right out of the box. However, many like PowerChurch, will require or assume that the user has a certain level of accounting know-how and prowess. The average user will find this less than intuitive, and as a result, will spend more time up front just trying to navigate.
Bare bones packages
Great for Accounting, Not so Much for Fundraising or Nonprofit Management
Many software packages like QuickBooks Premiere Nonprofit, are solid, basic accounting solutions, but not much beyond that. It lacks certain essential functions and sufficient customer data support. For example, with Gravity, you can select names from your list of donors who have something in common and send them a specific, targeted message. With QB Premiere Nonprofit, you can’t track or keep record of this vital correspondence.
Difficulty reporting
Lengthy Lead Times Using Inefficient Data Pipelines
If you’re at the central office of the County Diocese, and you’re overseeing the accounting operations for multiple parishes, you definitely have your hands full. After all, you’re waiting on periodic budget reports, closing reports on the Church carnival that ended a month ago, among other items. In Wayne County, Michigan, there are approximately 160 Catholic Churches that have to report to the county’s Diocesan office. That’s 160 separate offices producing the same reports and trying to send them to a central locale. If the staff at every parish office is working off an entry level accounting solution, each with its own, isolated, siloed database, the lead time for crucial reporting just leap-frogged hours and days into weeks and beyond.
Value-added analysis
When you think of all those reports submitted from every parish every week, month, and so on, the volume alone can be a lot to absorb. Next, add specific reports providing updates on major repairs and projects. Last, top if off with that whopper of an analysis that’s due following the annual church festival, from at least a fourth of all parishes.
With Gravity in place, the data from every parish entity is consolidated, cloud-based and secure, allowing you to rely on hard, concrete data for every report, every answer and every transmission of viable information to every investor. The result: true multi-entity capability throughout your diocese, from one church entity to another, front to back. Now, that you’ve restructured your information pipeline, you can devote more time to what’s really important: value-added analysis by facilitating the following:
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Drilling down and procuring relevant data, at any time. Gone are the endless emails and calls trying to get a hold of a staff member at one isolated parish office.
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Easily sharing master files, with speed and confidence, knowing your data is secure. As head of diocese accounting office, you can determine the level of and extent of access of every staff member at every office.
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Reporting on consolidated information. Tracking and breaking down vendor expenses by location, knowing that you’re forwarding and receiving information that’s accurate to the penny.
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Capturing and analyzing critical data, like maintenance expenses by location. From your main office, you can see how much was spent on the new roof at St. Angela’s, and you can see if they went over budget or stayed under the whole time. You can examine the revenue of the church festival at St. Mark’s and compare it to the festival last year, and the year before. Knowing that these increased efficiencies are having positive effects throughout the diocese.
Bottom line
Gravity Software can centralize your religious institution’s multi-entity operations into one database while still providing detailed and customized reporting for each parish locale. Learn more and schedule your online demo today.
Gravity Software
Better. Smarter. Accounting.
