About INN

The Institute for Nonprofit News strengthens and supports more than 450 independent news organizations in a new kind of news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan and dedicated to public service. INN’s vision is to build a nonprofit news network that ensures all people in every community have access to trusted news. To that end, we pursue our mission of providing education and business support services to our nonprofit member organizations and promoting the value and benefit of public-service and investigative journalism. INN programs help these news organizations develop revenue and business models to support strong reporting, collaborate on editorial and business innovation, share services and advance the diverse leaders who are forging a new future for news. INN also manages a fiscal sponsor program, where we offer fiscal sponsorship to qualifying member news organizations to serve as an independent sponsor so they can avoid any perceived conflict of interest.

About the role

INN is seeking a full-time Senior Accountant to assist in the daily operations of a national membership, development and social enterprise organization. This is an outstanding growth opportunity within a growing nonprofit for an enterprising individual interested in philanthropy or nonprofit management.

This position supports the Finance Director with professional level day-to-day grants management, general ledger account management, accounts payable and receivable, timely processing of funding requests, financial reporting, and other accounting and technical assistance. This is a key position that intersects with program, development, technical and membership staff across the country as well as key staff within our member organizations and fiscally sponsored projects.

Responsibilities include:

• Perform fund accounting duties for INN and numerous nonprofit organizations in accordance with GAAP and applicable Federal and State regulations.
• Ensure funding requests are reviewed and processed appropriately and expenditures are properly recorded in the general ledger, including grant funding source(s), account code, function, program and contract.
• Track, monitor and analyze fiscally sponsored project’s monthly expenditures to ensure expenses are within the project’s charitable purpose and communicate any variances.
• Prepare monthly reports for fiscally sponsored projects as well as calculations of administrative fees and reimbursed expenses for INN. 
• Maintain and update spreadsheets accordingly for fiscally sponsored projects and grant management for INN.
• Transactional activities including accounts payable, accounts receivable (revenue recognition and billing), and payroll, general accounting, reconciliations, month-end close, and maintaining clear and up to date documentation.  
• Process checks and ACH disbursements from automated accounting system (QuickBooks); prepare documents for scanning/filing; prepare monthly bank reconciliations.
• Assist with grant, donor and membership record-keeping in CRM database.
• Recommend and implement improvements to accounting processes, internal controls, and compliance policies and best practices to keep INN’s accounting operations streamlined and efficient as the organization grows.
• Professionally communicate and coordinate with internal departments, including preparing grant expense reports and meeting with INN program leads on a monthly basis to reconcile grant and/or restricted expenses.
• Assist with financial reporting for management and Board decision making and presentations.
• Grant management, allocations, and funder reporting. 
• Assist in year-end audit process.
  

INN is looking for someone passionate about working in or supporting nonprofit organizations to join our team. The following skills and experience would make a candidate an especially great fit (if this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you even if you don’t tick every box on this list):

• Knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and nonprofit fund accounting
• Extensive experience with multiple GL packages, especially QuickBooks and Sage Intaact, and electronic bill pay systems like Ramp
• Highly detail-oriented, reliable, and organized, with strong mathematical skills
• Ability to balance working independently to maintain day-to-day INN accounting in a timely manner, while also working collaboratively with program leads and the development team to meet tight turnaround grant deadlines as they emerge
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills; experience in project management a plus
• Resourceful; able to figure out how to get things done even if there isn’t a playbook for it
• An ability to communicate information and ideas clearly, as well as concisely, both written and oral. Strong proofreading and copyediting skills are a plus.
• Strong software skills and working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Google documents systems, Dropbox and similar cloud-based filing systems. Knowledge of CRM systems such as MemberSuite and Salesforce, and project management tools like Asana are a plus.
• Nonprofit accounting, public accounting experience, and/or consulting experience is a plus. Special consideration will be given to applicants with experience in grant accounting.
• 5-7 plus years accounting experience 
• Bachelor’s Degree required, preferably in Accounting or Finance. CPA certification is a plus.

About the team:

This role reports to the Finance Director and sits within the Operations team, which includes the COO, Business Services Manager, and Systems Administrator. This role will work closely and often with the Development team on grant reports as well as with program leads and directors across INN on a fairly regular basis to assist with reconciling grant expenses and allocations, and help ensure program leads understand the status of their grant spending.

The Finance team also works with outside accounting support as needed, most often for our fiscally sponsored projects. This role has an opportunity to grow in managing these relationships and/or take these on as the organization and department grows.

Benefits and compensation:

INN is a fully remote and distributed workplace, and this role will be a remote position. The salary range for this position is $75,000-$90,000, based on experience, education, and potential. INN provides employer-sponsored benefits including medical, dental, vision, and retirement plans, short term disability insurance and a generous parental leave policy. This role will be expected to travel at least once a year for a staff retreat. 

We value diversity, work in the open and do everything we can to give back to the journalism and nonprofit communities  (Read more about our team values). INN is an equal opportunity employer and we’re actively seeking to increase diversity in our own operation and across the field of journalism. We encourage applications from communities traditionally underrepresented in news media or philanthropy.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit a resume and cover letter using this form. All applications must be submitted using the form; emailed applications will not be considered. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis until the position is filled, but we encourage applicants to apply as early as possible.