Established in 1991, the NorthWest Arkansas Community College Foundation operates exclusively to encourage support and aid in the continual development of the NorthWest Arkansas Community College, which is the largest community college in the region.

The NWACC Foundation needed a robust accounting system to handle its growth and volume. Business Manager Julie Doner explained that with expanding programs and a large community of donors investing their time and dollars, they had outgrown their previous cash accounting system and needed a solution that could manage all the change, movement, and volume. The NWACC Foundation chose Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT as it offered a tailored and configurable solution for its needs.

“Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT is a comprehensive accounting software that seamlessly integrates financial and donor databases, making it the perfect solution for our organization’s industry-specific needs,” said Doner. “Our team has been extremely happy with its performance and its ability to streamline our financial processes.”

An Accounting System Auditors Love

NWACC Foundation auditors take advantage of the software’s adherence to generally accepted accounting principles and the way Financial Edge NXT silos restrictions. The auditing process, which used to be very time-consuming, has become much smoother. Financial Edge NXT is not just user-friendly; it’s tailored to accountants.

“Our auditors explained that the features to create desired reports with granular functionality coupled with the ease to export these reports makes this an advantage not seen in other hosted general ledger systems,” said Doner. “The auditors now have access to pull reports directly from the system, making the process more efficient. We have been recommending it to other organizations as well.”

The integration of Raiser’s Edge NXT, which the Foundation uses for fundraising, and Financial Edge NXT has significantly reduced human errors and redundancies, making the process more efficient and accurate. The systems automatically and seamlessly transfer data to each other, eliminating the need for manual data entry and saving staff hours of unnecessary work.

Customized Reports for Specific Audiences

The NWACC Foundation now has more control over journal entries and can easily customize reports for different audiences. The foundation provides reports with different levels of detail to its board of directors and subcommittees as well as creates reports daily for various purposes, such as appeals, events, and committee meetings. For example, its board of directors prefers a broad overview, while the finance committee requires a more itemized report.

“The Foundation Board of Directors has repeatedly commented on the visually appealing nature of Financial Edge NXT’s reports and expressed gratitude for providing financial transparency and accountability,” said Doner.

Syncing Fundraising and Accounting

The NWACC Foundation conducts a monthly reconciliation between the fundraising and accounting systems to catch any potential discrepancies. This ensures that even the smallest details, such as credit card merchant fees, are accounted for. “The combination of Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT has proven to be a powerful integration,” said Doner. “The systems mirror each other making it easy to manage changes—we can’t imagine having one without the other.”

Financial Edge NXT allows users to build and manage their general ledger to ensure consistency and accuracy. The system combines powerful tools including a multi-segment account structure, balance-retaining program and grant records, and unlimited dimensionality through custom fields, to provide more control over how restricted funding is tracked in journal entries. The Chart Organizer, a feature exclusive to Financial Edge NXT, allows users to customize how the accounts are organized and viewed to meet their unique reporting requirements on varying levels of detail, “which is so invaluable,” said Doner. “This level of control and understanding is why accountants, and even auditors, love Financial Edge NXT.”

The transition from manual data entry to automated, integrated systems has transformed the way work is done at the NWACC Foundation. It has eliminated human error, increased efficiency, and made the process more accurate. The combination of Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT has not only streamlined operations but also instilled their confidence in the data.

“We’re looking forward to exploring more features and capabilities with our integrated Blackbaud software,” said Doner. “We know that there is so much more we can utilize within Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT and are excited about the journey ahead.”