FRIENDS IN DEED

"A game-changer"

For over 130 years, Friends In Deed has been providing supportive services to meet basic human needs, so homeless and at-risk neighbors can rebuild their lives. “Doing together what we cannot do alone” is Friends In Deed’s vision of its role in Pasadena, Calif. Nearly 70 interfaith congregations collaborate to build bridges over common issues and community concerns. The Women’s Room is an innovative day program offering homeless women respite, laundry, showers, health check-ups, computer access, and classes. The Food Pantry provides food assistance to over 500 low- and no-income families per week. The Bad Weather Shelter is activated on nights when conditions are cold or raining. The Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance Program provides short-term rental support to over 150 households at risk of becoming homeless. The Street Outreach and Housing team builds relationships with chronically homeless individuals to enter them into a pathway to permanent supportive housing.

“We were growing significantly with tremendous leaps in our revenues and the complexity of our budget,” recalls Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, Executive Director. “We have individual donors, foundation grants and government funding. We were starting to get donations of stock, deferred revenue and other more complicated things outside my expertise and that of our director of finance. Our Board was saying that we might need a controller. We couldn’t afford a full-time controller but when I heard about YPTC and looked at their website it seemed like it would be a very good fit for what we needed.”

He particularly liked that Friends In Deed could “try out” YPTC’s services to see how it worked out – and was very pleasantly surprised. “The first round was fantastic. I liked that all the people on YPTC’s team were CFOs or accountants with experience in nonprofit accounting,” he says. “Not only did they do great work but they presented our financials in a way that was impressive.”

The Board includes people both with and without extensive financial expertise, and Associate Ben Stap came to Finance Committee meetings to explain things and answer questions. “His summaries, explanations, and things he noticed and wanted to comment on were a game-changer,” he emphasizes.

The next level of YPTC’s support was to design visual charts and graphs that were readily understood. “That really made a huge difference. Like most nonprofits’ boards, most of our members aren’t necessarily finance people who are comfortable looking at year-to-date and P&L statements. Ben’s being able to present simplified charts and graphs was a huge change.”

As Friends In Deed’s finances became more complex and revenue began to grow, an in-house controller became necessary. “We were now in a position to make that happen and YPTC helped us make the transition. That’s the only reason we stopped using them. They’re still available if we have any questions.

“I have nothing but good things to say about YPTC. I highly recommend using them during a transition stage or if a nonprofit wants to better present, understand and professionalize their financials.”