Recent developments in our community have caused concern regarding how local non-profit organizations manage the funds they receive to support their mission. We take this responsibility seriously and have established responsible stewardship as one of our core values.

To ensure that we practice this value, we do many things. We have voluntarily become accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Families. This rigorous process identifies hundreds of nationally-accepted best practice standards for our board governance, management, supervision, and program delivery. We are judged against each of these standards, and are evaluated by a team of peer reviewers to verify we meet them. Accreditation of social services by this group is the equivalent of the ISO9000 process in manufacturing, and guides our board members and management team in providing the best quality possible to our clients and supporters.

We are audited annually by an independent accounting firm and our Executive Committee meets with the auditors each year to identify ways that the agency can improve our financial practices. Our audit is open to the public as required by law, and our financial statement is published in our Annual Report.

We have a strong system of checks and balances to ensure that no one person controls our finances. One person opens the mail and documents all mailed payments, another person prepares the deposits, another person makes the deposits, another person does the accounting of the deposits and writes the checks, two people sign each check, and our President reviews each bank statement and canceled check when it arrives from the bank.

We use computer-generated checks and require written authorization for every payment from a member of the management team. All payments made by our clients are documented on duplicate receipt forms, and the client is always given a receipt.

Our board’s Treasurer meets monthly with our President and Director of Administration to review the financial statements and evaluates variances of our income and expenses from budgeted amounts. Each member of our Board of Directors receives a summary report of this information and discusses it at every board meeting.

We also carry insurance to protect the agency and our contractors from any misuse of funds. Our insurance portfolio includes general liability, professional liability, Directors and Officers Errors and Omission, employee dishonesty, and employment practices coverage, and an umbrella policy to extend the limits to twice the agency’s operating budget.

We believe these practices are important in demonstrating responsible stewardship to our clients and donors, and hope it makes you feel confident in continuing to support our mission of helping families help themselves.