The Challenge
As Brentwood Baptist Church grew to nine campuses and 200 employees, their financial operations became increasingly complex. Traditional budgeting methods using spreadsheets and manual processes were no longer sufficient for collaborative stewardship or maintaining accuracy at scale. These legacy tools introduced version control issues, limited transparency, and made it difficult to ensure security and data integrity—ultimately constraining the church's ability to respond quickly to financial needs and strategic opportunities.
The Solution
Recognizing the need for a purpose-built solution, Brentwood Baptist Church sought a platform that could centralize and streamline budgeting, enhance security, and foster collaboration across locations. After evaluating alternatives, they selected Martus for its intuitive, spreadsheet-like interface, robust role-based access controls, and seamless integration with Sage Intacct. According to Lisa Francisco, Former Executive Director of Central Support and Business Administrator, "The ability to automatically sync data from Martus with Sage Intacct nightly and on demand is a huge advantage. In effect, the API integration of Martus budgets and forecasts with Sage Intacct is seamless, convenient, and always up to date." Martus' familiar interface enabled rapid adoption among budget managers, while advanced access controls ensured sensitive data was protected: "In addition to user access in Martus being controlled at the function and dimension level, we can also further restrict access to certain accounts and/or limit drill downs on certain accounts – which is very important at the user level."
The Results
With Martus, Brentwood Baptist Church achieved a new standard of financial management. Decision-making accelerated by 2x, allowing leaders to act quickly and confidently. The church realized $25,000 in annual cost savings and reduced time spent on budgeting by 50%, freeing up 40 hours each month for higher-impact work. Martus' robust reporting capabilities also enhanced data accuracy and transparency: "For us, the accuracy of data is paramount. Martus’ reporting functionality has been equally vital, as we’ve used several reports to help catch budgeting and forecasting coding errors – before they impacted the organization. From that perspective, Martus and Sage Intacct ‘play’ very well together." Overall, Martus empowered Brentwood Baptist to steward resources effectively, support growth, and fulfill its mission with greater agility.
