COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL

"Critical support at a sensitive time…"

Boston’s Compass Working Capital is a nonprofit financial services organization with a mission to support families with low incomes so they can build assets and financial capabilities as a pathway to greater economic opportunity, and out of poverty. Compass believes that asset poverty, rather than income poverty, is the true measure of inequality in the U.S. By providing culturally-competent financial coaching and access to wealth-building opportunities, financial education, information, and resources, Compass addresses the structural and systemic barriers that have stripped wealth from communities of color and contributed to a persistent racial wealth gap and women’s inability to build wealth. Compass is expanding access to its flagship model for the federal Family Self-Sufficiency program, an employment and savings program for families in federally subsidized housing, through partnerships with large public housing authorities and multifamily owners, field-building, technical assistance, and policy change. The program combines a powerful savings incentive with service delivery to support residents to reach their goals.

Chief Executive Officer Markita Morris-Louis explains that YPTC was brought in on a short-term basis as the organization was going through a transition. “Our previous CFO left at a very sensitive time, shortly after we had hired a new Director of Finance and we were transitioning to a new CEO,” she recalls. “It was a critical time for the organization with so many new leaders being introduced to our finance function.”

Compass quickly needed support for its ongoing financial management as Morris-Louis was onboarding. YPTC stayed on during the search for a new CFO and for 30 days thereafter, providing budget management and projections, reviewing and updating accounting policies and the procedures manual, presenting financials to the finance committee and board of directors, and gathering preliminary inputs for the new fiscal year budget.

“YPTC gave us time to determine what we needed from a finance leader so we could find the right hire in a very tough hiring market,” she says. “Because we had support from YPTC we didn’t have to rush our CFO search, thus ensuring that we had a strong candidate pool.” YPTC also assisted with screening CFO candidates.

“We appreciate YPTC’s flexibility and availability for what we needed, and their understanding of nonprofit accounting,” she adds. “They gave us critical support at a sensitive time.”