perspectives
Share
Perspectives
Welcome to Perspectives, where we share insights and learn from each other. In this issue, we chatted with seven of our foundation treasurers to get a closer look at this vital board role. While their responses varied, they were unified in their commitment to providing their boards with accurate and actionable financial reporting.
Our treasurers prioritize effective investment management to support organizational goals. Overall, the interviews highlight a commitment to governance, financial stewardship and leadership development. Each treasurer brings unique experiences and perspectives, contributing to the overarching goal of supporting their ministry’s mission and community impact.
Read on for their thoughtful answers to our questions.
Peter Allan
Providence St. Mary Medical Center Foundation
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
I’ve been on the board for nine years. Two years ago, I was asked to be the treasurer, and I agreed. Before that, we didn’t have a board treasurer. We’ve been getting more timely financial reports recently, so reporting to the board is becoming more critical.
We’ve had a relatively small board until recently, in 2024 we added three new board members. I’m basically on all of the committees. Being the treasurer is important because you interpret and explain what’s going on with the foundation and how it supports the hospital.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
I’m going to term out, and I want to make sure we have someone to take over. We’re considering succession planning as we assign jobs to our new members. Right now, as we’re growing, we’ll be giving thought to the process of succession planning.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
Correct reporting is one of my priorities. I work with our CPO, Nicole Peterson Orr, to make sure that what’s reported by Providence is accurate as it relates to St. Mary. I present the Providence financial reports for St. Mary to our board. If there are inconsistencies or errors, the CPO points it out. I work with the Providence financial team to sort it out. Since the role of treasurer is relatively new on our board, we don’t yet have a process for monitoring investments.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
Most importantly, income to nonprofits is almost all based on donations or grants. So, when looking at the income side, people are working to get donations, not selling a product or service. The foundation’s job is to generate funds for things the hospital needs to fulfill its mission and serve the community. In my case, I was the lead donor to get ablation equipment so people don’t have to travel down the hill to get procedures. I use that example to illustrate that when people donate, they want to support a specific initiative that serves our patients.
Dell Coats
Queen of the Valley Foundation, with Providence
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
I’ve served on the board for seven years, and this is my second year as treasurer. I’ve been associated with the foundation for over 20 years. I am a CPA with over 22 years of experience providing attest, accounting and tax services for construction manufacturing, the wine industry and nonprofits in Napa Valley.
As a young accountant, I had the privilege of providing accounting and tax services for the foundation. This is the ninth community board I have had the privilege of serving on in Napa. I enjoy using my experience as a CPA and serving on other boards to contribute to the financial well-being of the community. I want to contribute wherever I can to the foundation’s ability to fulfill its mission of providing quality health care in Napa.
We are actively recruiting new board members. I am working with the board chair and my colleagues on the board to ensure that we have a succession plan in place for all of the key leadership positions, including the treasurer.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
With the leadership of our new board chair, we’ve taken a more professional approach as a board over this last year. We’ve created a more focused and professional board recruitment process by identifying our gaps, and we’ve been specifically looking at people with finance and accounting backgrounds.
New board leaders must understand the unique dynamics between the hospital and the foundation, which is a true partnership. We collaborate with the hospital leadership to discover the needs of the hospital and where the foundation can leverage its resources to make the biggest impact. Our current focus is working with the hospital leadership to complete projects that were delayed due to hospital-mandated restrictions during the pandemic. Sharing these details with donors as to why there has been a delay and celebrating the completion of multiyear projects allows the foundation to go back to supporters to show the impact that they have made and thank them.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
Mostly, I’m looking at how we, as an organization, are doing in meeting our fundraising goals. I am also looking at the mix of donations. I like to see a lot of different contributors rather than a few large donors. Big gifts make the foundation look good, but counting on a small pool of donors is not sustainable in the long term. Therefore, we have been working hard to diversify our donor base by assessing board members’ relationships over the last few years and adding more planned giving donors.
We’re currently managing about $31 million in assets, so we are shifting money between different investment options to maximize our returns. In the prior year, we were able to earn an additional $2 million in interest. That’s $2 million of unrestricted funds we didn’t have to raise. It takes a lot of work and commitment from the investment committee. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to serve with some very talented people on both the finance and investment committees.
They’ve been doing it for many years, and they ask the right questions.
We typically review the investments and fund managers on a quarterly basis with our financial advisors. However, during periods with higher than normal market volatility, we will meet more often.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
They need to understand the fundraising plan and how the board contributes to that. It’s important to watch our projects and make sure we’re meeting our goals. A lot of people hear the word nonprofit and they think we don’t need to make any money. That is simply not true! The organization needs the profit to invest in the organization and to further the mission.
Steve Getzoff
Providence Tarzana Foundation
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
I accepted the role of treasurer and have been serving in that capacity since joining the board in 2009. My decision was initially influenced by an invitation from an esteemed elder statesman on the board, whose guidance and wisdom I respected.
In my term as treasurer, my goal is to provide general leadership, particularly in matters of the foundation’s finances. Over the years, I’ve aimed to engage board members in understanding our financial situation.
The new chair, Lynne Zuckerman, and I have discussed our financial landscape, and I see her as a great partner in making a positive impact on our ministry.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
Succession planning is essential for the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of any board. We must rotate leadership to cultivate and develop future leaders within the organization. No one should hold a specific position for an extended period. I will be terming out this year to align with our new limits.
Each person who comes on the board should expect to serve in every board leadership role, with the ultimate goal of assuming the chair position. This mindset helps foster a sense of shared responsibility and encourages members to actively participate in the leadership development process.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
I closely monitor the budget versus actual performance to assess whether we are meeting our revenue goals. As a member of what I call the “mother ship” financial operations committee, I actively participate in quarterly meetings where we review and discuss investments and evaluate investment managers.
These meetings provide a structured forum to analyze our investment performance and ensure it’s in line with our organization’s financial goals and risk tolerance. I’m especially sensitive to ensuring that our organization’s funds are not exposed to unnecessary risks.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
For new board members learning about nonprofit finances, I emphasize the importance of gaining a solid understanding of the organization’s mission and how financial decisions support that mission. The board does not have direct control over finances; we don’t sign checks. However, understanding the organization’s financial needs and constraints allows us to effectively fulfill our oversight responsibilities.
Thomas Mendelson
Providence Holy Cross Foundation
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
I’ve been the treasurer for several years and on the board for over 22 years. My background is in business and finance, and when they asked me to serve as treasurer, it was a natural fit. I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit.
I’ve had some excellent mentors over the years and have been privileged to work with the outstanding management and medical staff at Holy Cross. It’s a very well-run organization, and it provides superior service to the communities it serves, including underserved areas.
In my role, I serve as a liaison between the management of the foundation and our board. Not everybody on the board has a financial background, and I help them understand what’s behind the numbers and where the money comes from. I work closely with our CPO, Michelle Koenig Barritt, and financial folks to distill that info and get it across to the board in a concise manner. The chief philanthropy officer has done a great job of making it more user-friendly.
Last year, we had our best fundraising year ever. We had a very large estate gift and a series of grants. After you’ve won the World Series, what do you do next? I’m helping work through that, and that’s a good place to be.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
Our board is diverse with a variety of skills. It’s a timely subject because I’ve been serving for quite a while, and I’m also serving as the vice chair. I need to find my successor. It’s not as big a challenge as you think it is. We don’t want to get stuck in paralysis by analysis. We have a very strong CPO who’s been successful in recruiting a number of folks to serve. It’s a question now of looking more closely at them to see who has an interest and aptitude.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
I keep my eye on the revenue stream and the sources of revenue. I’m particularly interested in that because I view our role as board members as helping to raise money to support all the good work of the medical center. Even though I’m retired, I still know a few people in the industry, and I’m tapping those to identify people in the community who have financial resources for estate planning and planned giving.
I’m also looking to help explain to board members what our key sources of revenue have been with the hope it will spark ideas about people or organizations they may know that would be worth starting a conversation with.
Our finances are managed with two other campuses in the Providence system. It’s called the Valley Service Area and includes Providence Saint Joseph in Burbank, Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana and Providence Holy Cross. The funds are comingled to take advantage of the larger pool for investments, but are tracked and applied separately. It’s very collaborative. Our managers, who are top-drawer, present to us quarterly.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
I would say it’s important to understand what our key sources of revenue have been, as well as the governmental agencies and how our grant teams work with those resources.
Ed Romano
Providence Saint Joseph Foundation, Burbank
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
I’ve been on the board for over 20 years. It goes back to when I was CFO of Warner Bros. The CFO of Universal called me and invited me to be on the finance committee, and I felt I should be involved.
What I try to accomplish on an ongoing basis is safeguarding the foundation’s assets through good fiscal management. Primarily, the assets are portfolio investments. We have an investment manager, and the finance committee meets quarterly to review the status of the portfolio. We periodically discuss whether it’s time to get proposals and decide if we want to make a change. We’ve had our current managers for about five years, and their returns are competitive, considering our strategic objective is the preservation of capital.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
We do a good job with succession planning at Saint Joe’s. We look at our board representation and strive to bring in new people who meet the criteria. If there’s a person who displays financial acumen, they could be a viable successor to me when the time comes.
A foundation’s finances are relatively simple. You don’t necessarily have to be a CPA to be treasurer, but you want someone who knows their way around numbers and has some knowledge of investments.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
The CPO, Tina Johann, comes up with a budget for overseeing the region and what they think they can raise. As a treasurer, I look at that budget compared to prior years. I ask questions and give feedback. The CPOs are familiar with their donors and potential donors, and that is what goes into the creation of the revenue line. Then I look at the major expenses — basically the overhead, including direct and allocated from the Providence region.
We ask questions if we see the variances in expenses going up and down. Sometimes, questions result in an adjustment. Beyond that, we focus on the investment portfolio. That portfolio results in interest, dividends, and gains or losses resulting from the sale of stocks. We make sure the managers stay within our investment policy allocation strategies.
We meet quarterly, and we get presentations from our managers. We evaluate the managers every three to five years unless things aren’t going well. We do get monthly reports that I review each month.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
Nonprofit is a misnomer because many nonprofits with complete P&Ls are operating entities. The foundation is different — it’s about raising money through contributions. What our boards monitor are the metrics involved in doing that and the results of our portfolio investments.
When we review the budget with the board, every board member has the right to raise questions. We want members to be attuned to questioning things like expenses, fundraising goals and portfolio strategies. The purview of our board is revenue recognition compared to budget, expenses compared to budget and the prior year, portfolio return review, and distributions to the medical center. We don’t have a say in the hospital finances.
Rob Roof
Providence Mission Hospital Foundation
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
When you decide to be on the board, you get in the harness and pull. My background has lent itself to financial analysis and money management, so it was a good fit when they asked me to chair the committee. It’s certainly meaningful and something I’m interested in. It’s good for the ministry to have people focused on the best money management practices you can put in place.
Coming in, my predecessors set the bar very high, and I hope to continue that high water mark and improve on it where we can. We have a big campaign ahead of us, requiring us to bring in more money. When you boil it down, there are a few critical aspects of board performance: raise the money, manage the money and make sure it gets used the most effectively.
I consider it an honor to do this and give back to my community and foster and promote Mission Hospital.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
The succession planning process starts with the leadership of the foundation board when they choose to bring someone on. It’s essential to set expectations and get people who are engaged and motivated to take on leadership roles.
Fortunately, we have some very talented money management professionals on the finance committee. I have a strong bench to look to. As we get further into my tenure, we’ll look for people with the skill set and the passion to do this job.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
We have a fair amount of money that we are the stewards of, and we have to make sure it’s earning the most for the ministry without too much risk. We have a mission statement that speaks to that. So, it’s keeping an eye on money management and money managers. We want to ensure the money is handled efficiently and we get the best return. I also want to ensure the finance committee is engaged and that we get diverse opinions shared in our committee meetings.
Looking and evaluating our investment managers is part of my job as treasurer. I look at the managers’ performance every quarter, and I look at the balances every month.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
I would tell them to get to know the money managers and make sure they evaluate them at least once a year. It’s critical. Too often, organizations become complacent with the people and processes in place. It’s OK to evaluate them and not assume they are right because they’ve been doing it for a long time. That scrutiny is part of our job.
John Tangredi
Providence St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, Orange
Why did you accept the role of treasurer, and what do you hope to accomplish in your term?
I served over 10 years on the ministry board and was on the finance committee there. During that time, the importance of the foundation and all of the fundraising work they do in support of the hospital became crystal clear to me. To provide the best care, you have to have the best doctors. To do that, you have to have the latest and greatest technology and facilities. That costs money and it’s not always in the budget. I thought having that understanding and experience would give me some good insights on the foundation board.
Every committee leader is responsible for ensuring the committee’s role is clear. The first thing I did was put a charter in place for the finance committee. A charter is important because it’s the guiding light and the guard rails. That’s especially important for new members trying to figure out how to bring value.
The other is to make sure that there is never a question about where the foundation is as it relates to how much money we have, how much we need to raise, what it will be used for and when it will be used. That’s the foundation that sets the board activity in place.
Succession planning is important for our board officer roles. Can you share your insights and process for your ministry?
When I was chair of the hospital board, succession planning caught me off guard. I had a lot of learnings from that experience. I came into my role as treasurer with my eyes wide open. Today, succession planning is part of the charter.
It’s always essential to identify potential successors early on and provide them with an opportunity to shadow and learn from the current leadership. I call it a blend of foresight and mentorship. I always believe that by nurturing talent and facilitating a smooth transition, we ensure strong foundation leadership. That’s the process.
What do you keep a keen eye on regarding the financials, and how often do you look at investments and evaluate the managers?
For me, the first and most important thing a treasurer and board leaders must recognize is that we’re not the management team. It’s not our job to manage the finances — that’s the CFO’s full-time job. The board’s role is oversight. That’s the first cut I consider in how we look at things. I go back to the charter as the guidance that clarifies our responsibilities.
It’s about monitoring the process and results as opposed to the activities. It’s a higher level. We ask questions to make sure the processes guide the activities. We work hard to ensure that the information the management team presents is actionable. It must provide us with relevant data to make decisions.
It’s a continuing and ongoing process to look at the investments. Generally speaking, we’re looking at them at our quarterly meetings. We evaluate results against current needs and market conditions. Recently, we realized we had too much money sitting in the checking account. By moving it, we have the opportunity to earn an extra $1 million to $2 million a year. That’s good stewardship.
What would you tell a new board member learning about nonprofit finances?
The same principles hold. Number one, it’s oversight, not management. Number two, the information that’s presented must be actionable and align with decisions.
Share