From competing numbers to a shared Optimal Horizon

Where they started

A new executive director inherited a finance and data operation that no one could fully explain. Several outside consultants were involved, yet leadership still couldn’t consistently reconcile revenue, transactions and financial reports. Information passed through disconnected systems and handoffs with no clear owner, and some revenue couldn’t be traced to where it had landed.

Staff and board members were working from different versions of the same financial reality. Every request for clarification added frustration and defensiveness. Leaders didn’t have the confidence to make decisions, and the new executive director needed to rebuild trust while keeping the organization running.

What we foundAssess

The first explanation was that the accounting was unreliable and the outside providers weren’t delivering. The real question was harder: why hadn’t substantial outside support produced one credible picture of the finances?

This wasn’t a problem of individual competence. Finance and data work had been spread across consultants and staff without an integrated operating model. Ownership was unclear, coding was inconsistent, reconciliation checkpoints were weak, and reports couldn’t be traced back to the transactions behind them. Ticketing, payment processing and CRM records each told part of the story, and nothing connected them.

From the inside, each person saw only their piece. Consultants handled discrete tasks, staff were absorbed by urgent operations, and the board received reports with no line of sight into how they were made. We mapped the whole system: how money and information entered the organization, moved through it and came out as reports, and exactly where handoffs, controls and accountability broke down.

Where they were headingAlign

After interviews with staff and board members, we facilitated an Optimal Horizon Workshop that brought the executive director, staff, consultants and board into the same conversation. Together they named what was holding the current model back and agreed on their next horizon:

• Revenue that can be traced and reconciled
• A month-end close on a predictable rhythm
• Board reporting that is consistent and understandable
• One organization-wide budgeting process
• Clear responsibilities, so everyone works from the same facts

What we builtBuild

• A map of financial and data flows, reconciliation gaps, handoffs and decision rights
• A sequenced improvement plan, built from the workshop’s shared priorities
• A rebuilt chart of accounts, so coding and reporting are consistent and useful
• A recurring month-end close and reconciliation routine, with clear accountability
• Transparent board reporting and a cohesive annual budget process

The organization then asked The Change Up Group to take on day-to-day responsibility for finance and data operations while the changes took hold.

What changedStrengthen

The first change was the conversation itself. Instead of competing explanations, people could discuss problems and decisions against a common map and a shared set of goals. From there, the organization could reconcile its activity, close its books on a regular cycle, give its board reporting it could understand, and build its budget through one coordinated process.

That foundation paid off. The year after the Optimal Horizon Workshop was the organization’s most successful revenue year. As the team grew in size and sophistication, Change Up trained staff and guided the transition, and the organization brought its financial operations in-house.