Advice for a New Nonprofit CFO: Expectations and Tips from Real Financial Leaders

You’ve landed the nonprofit CFO role—congratulations! Now comes the hard part: creating better solutions for the “temporary” Excel workarounds that have become permanent and finding a better way to track donor restrictions that doesn’t involve three different systems.

If you’re stepping into your first nonprofit CFO role, whether promoted from within or transitioning from the for-profit world, you’re likely facing challenges that no accounting degree fully prepared you for. Unlike your for-profit counterparts who focus on a single bottom line, you’re navigating multiple funding streams, donor restrictions, and mission-driven metrics that require an entirely different financial mindset.

To help you make the most of your new role, this article will walk you through exactly how to maximize your impact from day one and build the foundation for transformative financial leadership.

What to Expect During Your First 100 Days as CFO

Stepping into your first nonprofit CFO role marks a significant transition, especially if you’re coming from a comptroller or finance director role.

While a comptroller tends to be more focused on managing the technical aspects of accounting and finance, the CFO is usually more strategic in nature. The CFO’s priorities lie in creating the organization’s budget, analyzing financial statements, and interpreting their implications for the organization.

“The CFO role gets you a seat at the executive staff table where strategic decisions are being made. The controller role typically does not,” explains Janice Bigelow, CFO of Council for Professional Recognition.

CFOs coming from the for-profit world face their own unique adjustment. In nonprofits, the organization’s purpose is to further its mission, not generate revenue. That mindset affects every financial decision you’ll make and requires you to measure success by program effectiveness and community impact—all with tighter resource constraints than you may be accustomed to.

5 Top Tips for Making the Most of Your First 100 Days

Your first 100 days as a nonprofit CFO will establish the foundation for your entire tenure. Success during this period requires strategic focus, relationship building, and deep organizational understanding. Here’s how to maximize your impact from day one.

1. Build Trust

Consider the difference between a CFO who focuses solely on producing accurate reports versus one who invests time understanding the people behind the numbers.

The technical-focused approach might yield clean financials and compliant processes, but it often creates an “us versus them” dynamic where finance is seen as the department that says “no” or catches mistakes after the fact. The relationship-focused approach, however, builds trust that transforms your role entirely: finance becomes a strategic partner that program staff consult before making decisions, not after problems arise.

To cultivate trust from day one, schedule targeted conversations within your first two weeks:

• Finance team: Ask about their monthly pain points—chasing receipts, database exports, or workarounds they’ve created. Listen for “we’ve always done it this way,” which could signal opportunities for improvement.
• CEO or Executive Director: Focus on their specific anxieties: “What financial question from the board makes you most nervous?” and “What keeps you up at night about our cash flow?”
• Director of Development: Understand the metrics they care about and how they determine success. Listen for any bottlenecks or misunderstandings around finance processes.
• Board members: Ask the treasurer about report frustrations and program-focused members how they measure mission impact. Most want context around numbers—not just spending, but outcomes achieved.

Whether you’ve been internally promoted or coming into a new organization, building trust across the organization shows respect for the work your co-workers do and will make it easier to identify and implement any necessary changes later.

2. Understand Processes, People, and Procedures

You’re three weeks into your new CFO role when your development director rushes into your office asking about a grant report due tomorrow—one you’ve never heard of. Meanwhile, your accounting manager is frantically trying to reconcile last month’s books, and the board meeting is next week.

The key to avoiding this scenario is becoming a financial detective during your first month. Every nonprofit has its own unique rhythm, and understanding yours will make the difference between thriving and merely surviving:

• Map the financial ecosystem: Create a master calendar of all financial deadlines—board meetings, audits, grant reports, payroll taxes, and funder requirements. You might discover quarterly reports for five different foundations or government contracts with monthly tracking that doesn’t align with your accounting periods.
• Shadow critical processes: Observe month-end close, payroll processing, and expense workflows firsthand. You’ll uncover informal workarounds like staff emailing receipts directly to accounting or maintaining separate donor spreadsheets because official systems are inadequate.
• Identify knowledge holders: Map where institutional financial knowledge actually lives. A program assistant may know grant requirements better than managers, or the facilities director may have maintenance cost insights missing from budgets.
• Document system gaps: Note where manual intervention bridges disconnected systems—donor databases that don’t talk to accounting software, program budgets tracked in separate spreadsheets, or processes requiring monthly manual reconciliation.

“Coming into a new environment and immediately showing respect and a sincere desire to listen to the team goes very far in building rapport and strengthening the team,” said Markella Balasis, the Database Administrator for Orthodox Christian Mission Center.

After their CFO retired, the new CFO took the time to speak with everyone on the team and understand their processes. “It is tempting to want to correct perceived inefficiencies or errors from day one, but to do so would be at the expense of the team dynamic,” Markella said. “Our new CFO made everyone feel valued for their work by allowing the team to articulate their strengths, their struggles, and their pain points, allowing them to brainstorm solutions together.”

Our new CFO made everyone feel valued for their work by allowing the team to articulate their strengths, their struggles, and their pain points, allowing them to brainstorm solutions together.”

Markella Balasis
Database Administrator for Orthodox Christian Mission Center

3. Dig Deep into the Finances

“When I first began my career as a nonprofit CFO, the treasurer shared a piece of advice that has stuck with me throughout my entire career. Their advice? The role of the CFO is to see around the corner,” says Stephanie Skryzowski, Chief Financial Officer.

One of the best ways to “see around the corner” is getting a grip on your finances—and in the case of nonprofits, that means mastering the organization’s fund accounting system. Unlike for-profit accounting, which focuses on a single bottom line, nonprofits operate with multiple funds that track restricted and unrestricted resources separately. For-profits are all about profitability, but as a nonprofit, you need the accountability that comes with tracking restricted funding.

To understand the financial landscape of your nonprofit, CFOs should use The Fund Accounting Triangle—a tool that helps assess three critical, interdependent areas that determine your organization’s financial effectiveness:

• Talent assessment: Do your accounting staff understand nonprofit-specific requirements? Can they explain restricted vs. unrestricted funds, functional expense allocation, and Form 990 requirements?
• Systems evaluation: Because many revenue streams are restricted as to their use, donor and funder restrictions must be tracked and controls established to ensure compliance. Does your fund accounting software integrate with donor management systems, automatically track restrictions, and handle nonprofit-specific reporting? Or are you relying on excessive Excel workarounds?
• Process review: Are your financial workflows designed for nonprofit complexities? Do you have clear procedures for fund transfers, restriction releases, and grant deadline management? Are month-end processes tailored for board reporting cycles?

In assessing these three areas, look for these warning signs of fund accounting issues:

• Over-reliance on spreadsheets for tracking restrictions, such as grants
• Multiple versions of financial reports circulating
• Staff describing systems as “complicated but it works”
• Delayed grant reports due to manual compilation
• Inability to quickly answer “How much unrestricted cash do we have?”

Remember that your financial statements must follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) standards, but achieving compliance requires balance across all three areas of the triangle. Your goal is to identify where the imbalance lies and create a plan to bring talent, systems, and processes into alignment.

4. Set Strategic Priorities with Clear Action Plans

Your final month should synthesize everything you’ve learned into a comprehensive strategic plan that addresses both immediate organizational needs and long-term financial health.

If you’re not sure where to begin, use this simple framework to help with priority setting:

5. Communicate Clearly and Consistently

Numbers alone rarely tell the full story, especially in a nonprofit, where every dollar has a purpose and multiple stakeholders are watching from different angles. Early in your role, you might notice that program managers, development staff, and board members all interpret the same financial reports differently.

Your job is to translate the numbers into insights that each audience can understand and act on. This might look like:

• Creating a shared language around financial reporting: For instance, rather than presenting a long spreadsheet of expenses, show dashboards or charts that highlight cash on hand, restricted vs. unrestricted funds, and upcoming obligations. This helps leaders quickly see where attention is needed.
• Setting a consistent communication rhythm: Weekly or biweekly check-ins with your finance team prevent surprises at month-end. Monthly updates for program managers can clarify budget usage, upcoming grant deadlines, or areas where spending adjustments might be needed. Quarterly briefings for the board distill complex accounting into clear takeaways about overall financial health and strategic priorities.
• Being transparent about challenges: If cash flow is tight or a reporting deadline may slip, share the issue along with a clear plan to address it. This builds trust and demonstrates that finance is a proactive partner in achieving the organization’s mission, not just a number-crunching back office.

When the CFO for Second Harvest left on medical leave, the interim CFO introduced Finance Fridays. “Every week, she would host open sessions with cross-functional teams to invite ideas from all levels of the organization,” said Jay Vagh, Manager for New Business Development for Second Harvest. “But the real impact came from her message: ‘Transparency builds trust. Trust builds momentum.’ Her leadership turned finance from a silo into a strategic partner, and within a year, we saw a a 40% boost in employee engagement scores.”

But the real impact came from her message: ‘Transparency builds trust. Trust builds momentum.’ Her leadership turned finance from a silo into a strategic partner, and within a year, we saw a a 40% boost in employee engagement scores.

Jay Vagh
for New Business Development for Second Harvest

Expand Your Professional Community

Nonprofits are notoriously under-resourced, and CFOs are often juggling multiple roles beyond traditional finance functions. That’s why building connections with peers who understand these unique challenges is essential for long-term success:

• Leverage peer learning: Take advantage of resources like the Blackbaud Community, where thousands of nonprofit finance professionals share real-world solutions, from technical troubleshooting to strategic board reporting advice.
• Attend nonprofit CFO events: Register for in-person and virtual gatherings hosted by organizations like AFP and BoardSource. These provide current insights on regulations, best practices, and technology trends specific to mission-driven organizations.
• Connect locally: Check out city-based nonprofit CFO networks or LinkedIn groups. The nonprofit sector’s collaborative spirit means experienced CFOs readily share knowledge and support newcomers.

Ready to master your role as a nonprofit CFO? Download our Ultimate CFO Guide for Nonprofits for comprehensive tips, ideas, and best practices to accelerate your success beyond the first 100 days.