How to Find Spreadsheet Bottlenecks in Nonprofit Budgets in 7 Steps
When your budget cycle drags on for weeks (or months, in some cases) and department heads dread opening shared files, ...
Read More2 min read
Megan Alba
July 17, 2026
Volunteers of America is a faith-based nonprofit ministry serving communities across Wyoming, Montana, and Western South Dakota through veteran services, addiction treatment, mental health care, homeless services, senior housing, and youth programs — reaching over 10,000 people, including nearly 3,000 veterans, each year.
As a large nonprofit operating more than forty separate programs and businesses across multiple states, the organization's budgeting needs were complex, and its accounting system, Sage Intacct, wasn't built to handle that complexity on its own. Budgeting was still done through extensive, time-consuming spreadsheets prone to error.
Since adopting Martus, CFO Doug Cherry and his team have cut hours of manual work out of every budget cycle and can now make mid-year revisions without a full budget overhaul. a national, nonprofit, faith-based organization dedicated to helping those in need rebuild their lives and reach their full potential.
As CFO of a large nonprofit operating in multiple states with more than forty separate programs and businesses, Doug Cherry was managing a budgeting process that had outgrown its tools. Sage Intacct handled the organization's core accounting well, but its budgeting capabilities fell short, forcing the finance team into extensive, complicated spreadsheets. That approach was time-consuming and left too much room for human error — a real risk for an organization managing dozens of distinct program budgets at once.
When evaluating options, Doug found that Martus filled a niche that Sage's own budgeting tools didn't: a purpose-built budgeting solution that worked alongside Sage Intacct rather than trying to replace it. It was reasonably priced, and the implementation and training team was professional and followed through on its commitments — factors that made the decision, in his words, "a no-brainer."
Martus gave Doug's team a way to manage budgeting across the organization's many programs without relying on spreadsheets:
Since implementing Martus, Doug describes the shift in financial clarity as "night and day". He no longer has to go on what he calls a "data scavenger hunt" to find the numbers he needs. The system has also made the organization's budget process meaningfully more agile.
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