Not-for-profit & Government - Membership Organizations

BKD Not-for-Profit & Government Group works with hundreds of trade and professional associations, Greek organizations, alumni associations and other membership organizations. Our experience can help your organization evaluate its cash management and operational efficiency, analyze and allocate costs, apply information technology, manage its tax exposure, develop "best practices" and become more financially accountable.

Solutions like the following can help your membership organization achieve its mission:

Financial Accountability

Sound financial management requires strategic planning to set priorities and goals, budget for fiscal discipline and prepare meaningful financial statements and reports that demonstrate accountability. BKD’s accounting expertise can provide solutions to these needs. We can help:

We are very pleased with the dialogue we engage in during audit committee meetings as well as the detail of the audit and audit recommendations. BKD’s team promptly responds to our questions during the annual audit as well as between audits. Their knowledge of not-for-profits has been very helpful over the years, especially when we wrestle with issues that could have an impact on our tax-exempt status.

— Dr. Larry D. Case, CEO
National FFA Organization
Indianapolis, Indiana

Develop policies and procedures to demonstrate corporate responsibility and accountability
Produce meaningful financial statements and management reports
Assist with internal audits
Implement best practices resulting from Sarbanes-Oxley
Strengthen internal controls
Improve utilization and tracking of restricted resources
Develop strategies for improving profitability of various programs and cost allocation plans to measure their profitability
Analyze and forecast cash flows
Perform feasibility studies, financial projections and operational reviews
Develop budgets and business plans aligned with strategic priorities
Provide benchmarking comparison
Explore financing alternatives

Attract & Retain Members

Members are the lifeblood of any membership organization. Dues income is a significant and sometimes the only revenue source supporting programs and services. That’s why making sure your organization provides value to existing and potential members is so important. We can help:

Develop and analyze dues structure
Develop a strategic plan
Create membership tracking reports to better manage member data
Survey members for feedback and summarize results
Formulate action plans to provide the programs your members expect
Communicate effectively with your membership through technology solutions

Outsourcing

Our accounting outsourcing personnel can be a cost-effective solution when your own accounting department is short staffed. BKD can step in on a temporary or permanent basis to help with day-to-day accounting functions while you focus on running your organization. We can help:

Perform basic bookkeeping functions
Process transactions
Fill temporary/interim staffing vacancies
Complete special projects
Train staff

Technology

BKD Technologies helps membership organizations make the most of their technology investment. As licensed resellers of Microsoft Dynamics GP® and Sage Software® financial applications solutions, both industry specific and general business, we can help you:

Select, implement and support new systems and software
Track membership activity and donations

A Success Story...

A large national membership association with working relationships with 50 state affiliates used an outdated computer system....

Coordinate project and grant information
Customize fund accounting, including tracking restricted contributions
Assess your IT security risks and implement improvements
Increase operational efficiency

Tax Risks & Opportunities

The IRS has significantly "turned up the heat" on its enforcement activities, including examinations and penalty assessments. BKD provides a wide variety of tax compliance and consulting services that will help foundations manage their risks and exploit opportunities as follows:

Perform diagnostic reviews in various areas, including intermediate sanctions, unrelated business income tax, retirement plans, executive compensation and self-dealing
Assist with tax-exemption applications, private letter ruling requests and IRS/state examinations
Monitor exempt function activities, nonmember usage and the use of set asides to reduce taxes on net investment income
Prepare and/or review tax returns

For More Information

Contact your BKD advisor or:

Debi Ladyman
BKD Not-for-Profit & Government Group Leader
888.476.7258

A large national membership association with working relationships with 50 state affiliates used an outdated computer system.

The association turned to BKD to identify replacement software, evaluate platform options and help manage implementation. In addition to converting and reprogramming applications, we assess the computer skills of every employee and translated their skills into training requirements. We also helped manage the development effort of five different vendors and kept the project on schedule.

The result: BKD’s solution came in right on the company’s $1.2 million budget. Conversions and reprogramming were coordinated in a seamless integration process. And the new system required less technical support and little additional training for users.

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