Many nonprofit finance problems aren't accounting problems.
They're people, role, structure, capacity, knowledge, process, or accountability problems that eventually show up in the numbers. By the time a problem surfaces, the fix costs more and lands harder than it needed to.
"When you're inside an organization every day, it can be difficult to separate symptoms from root causes. An outside perspective helps leadership see patterns across people, roles, processes, systems, controls, and capacity that can be hard to see internally." Dr. Cami Powell, Founder | Nonprofit Finance Executive & Researcher
Know what's really happening inside your finance department — and what needs to change.
The Finance Department Diagnostic gives nonprofit leaders an independent view of their current finance function — including structure, roles, capacity, knowledge, systems, controls, reporting, and financial operations — with a prioritized roadmap for what to address first.
A comprehensive assessment combining a 72-item finance review with a 30-item Role Clarity Module.
An overall indicator of how well your finance function is operating across the assessed dimensions.
The Finance Function Health Score tells you what is happening. The Role Clarity Index helps explain why.
A cross-functional measure of how clearly financial responsibility, authority, accountability, knowledge, and capacity are aligned across the organization.
A full diagnostic, not a checklist.
Every organization in the launch cohort receives the same independent, structured review.
Three weeks, four steps.
Assessment
The CEO or Executive Director completes the 72-item Finance Function Assessment plus the 30-item Role Clarity Module, giving us a comprehensive view of how your finance function operates today.
Independent review
Dr. Cami Powell reads your responses against the Role Clarity framework and builds your scorecard.
Strategy session
A 60-minute working session to walk through your results and answer questions in real time.
Roadmap
You leave with a prioritized list of what to address, ready to hand to leadership or a finance committee.
Methodology & Framework
The diagnostic was developed to bring a structured, objective lens to nonprofit financial operations. By assessing both the technical systems (controls, reporting, systems) and the human elements (role clarity, accountability, capacity), the framework reveals the true root causes of financial friction.
This engagement pairs nonprofit finance expertise with operational systems built for compliance-heavy environments, ensuring the findings come with a way to actually act on them.
Led by Dr. Cami Powell
Dr. Cami Powell leads 501c3 Advisory Group. Her doctoral research explored how roles, responsibilities, and organizational structures shape nonprofit finance functions — research that informs the Role Clarity framework used in this diagnostic.
Finance Department Diagnostic by 501c3 Strategies, developed in partnership with 501c3 Advisory Group and Vargo Axiom.
Pilot Cohort Rate: $1,500.
Limited to the first 5 organizations. The launch cohort closes once all spots are reserved.