Focus on performance shines light on CFOs.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Chief financial officers

Many nonprofits are focusing on the CFO function in their organizations--the result of increased scrutiny of nonprofit organizations' financials and performance, higher accountability to the public trust and the rapid growth and increased complexity of individual organizations.

So says Bridgestar, a nonprofit initiative of the Bridgespan Group dedicated to attracting, connecting and supporting senior leaders for the nonprofit sector. In its July newsletter, Leadership Matters, Bridgestar examines the state of the nonprofit CFO, based on surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups with nonprofit leaders. The report found patterns among CFOs of similarly-sized organizations across the country, in terms of the roles and responsibilities of the CFO, major challenges and keys to success.

Not surprisingly, Bridgestar found that many finance chiefs, especially those in mid-sized to larger nonprofits, have worked in the for-profit sector and "bridged" into the nonprofit sector within the last 10 years. Only a handful were "homegrown" in the nonprofit sector.

When organizations with budgets under $10 million did have CFOs, they tended to wear a lot of hats, such as finance (including budgeting, cash flow and accounting), IT, legal, HR, administration and operations...