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Meet Jennifer

Jennifer Hume (4)

We don’t just work with nonprofits. Many of us came from them. Jennifer now works as a Pre-Sales Consultant at Sparkrock. Before that, she served as Director of Finance at a large nonprofit that supported children, youth, and families through community-based programs.

Before Sparkrock, her team faced manual budget entry, constant credit card reconciliation, and endless after-the-fact approvals. After Sparkrock, her team could import budgets, track spending clearly, and give program leads access to real-time information.

After another senior finance role in the public sector, Jennifer joined Sparkrock full-time. Today, she helps other nonprofit leaders build strong systems from the start.

Sparkrock in Action: A Week in Jennifer’s Life

It’s not always easy to picture what digital transformation really looks like. That’s why we’ve created a fictional week in Jennifer's life; based on real experiences from her time in the sector. While the days are imagined, the impact reflects what’s possible with the right tools.

MONDAY | Expense Approvals Without the Chase

It’s Monday morning and the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. Jennifer opens her inbox to find a reimbursement request for a staff training session.

A few years ago, this would’ve meant tracking down receipts, checking emails for approvals, and manually coding the spend after the fact.

Now? It’s already handled.

Staff use pre-approvals. Expense reports follow a guided format. Codes are tied to each program and cost center. The right data lands in the right place and without back-and-forth.

Product Feature: Employee Expenses & Credit Card Automation, Role-Based Guided Entry.

TUESDAY | Credit Card Reconciliation Doesn’t Take a Week

Tuesday afternoon. It’s cold and grey outside, but Jennifer’s office is warm. The thought of credit card reconciliation used to make her stomach drop, but it doesn’t anymore.

She remembers when her accounting manager spent a full week every month chasing receipts, typing in codes, and highlighting paper statements, then starting all over when a charge didn’t match.

Now, she clicks once. The system sends reminders. Staff enter their own charges, upload receipts, and the coding is guided by role and permissions. Each cardholder is responsible, and the system helps guide them through it.

The finance team can finally spend their week doing actual financial work not policing paperwork.

Product Feature: Credit Card Integration, Role-Based Access, Employee Expense Management

WEDNESDAY | Budgeting Doesn’t Break People Anymore

It’s Wednesday, snow is coming down, and Jennifer’s ragdoll cat is stretched out on the rug under her desk, staring up with big blue eyes. Her inbox is quiet, for now. It’s budgeting season.

She remembers when every line of the budget had to be retyped into their old system. Even minor edits created hours of rework. It was tedious, error-prone, and exhausting.

Now, budgets are built in Excel, uploaded directly, and organized by dimension, program, funder, project, or site. It sounds simple, but the ability to import from Excel was revolutionary. It saved Jennifer’s team hours and sanity.

Product Feature: Budget Import & Forecasting, Dimensional Finance Tools

THURSDAY | An Empowered Team

Thursday morning. The kettle’s on, the snowplow just passed, and Jennifer’s reviewing reports when a Slack message pops up from a department lead—not with a question, but with a thank-you.

With the Department Manager Role Center, managers check their own budgets, approve requests, and see real-time actuals. They no longer message Jennifer with “Can I buy this?” or “Do I have funds left?”

Fewer interruptions mean more time for strategy.

Product Feature: Department Manager Role Center, Real-Time Budget Visibility, Guided Purchasing Workflows

FRIDAY | Looking Ahead, Not Just Catching Up

It’s Friday. Jennifer’s ragdoll cat is curled up in a sunbeam by the window. Before she steps out for lunch, she pulls up a set of reports. She’s modeling next year’s funding scenarios based on actuals, not guesses.

Sparkrock’s dimensions help her analyze spending by program, compare funding types, and track outcomes. No data cleanup. No pivot-table gymnastics.

She finally has space to plan ahead. Today, she’s using that time to shape the governance structure for a new housing project starting next fiscal year.

Product Feature: Dimensional Tags Simplified for Non-Finance Users, Multi-Funder Reporting, Forecasting & Scenario Modeling

Real Impact, Real Results

Faster, Simpler Financial Reporting: Canadian Museum of History reduced reporting time by 288,000%. What once took three people two full days now takes one person less than a minute. Read the Success Story.

More Efficient Payroll Processes: Action Group eliminated 600 handwritten timesheets every two weeks. Payroll is now digital, and the team has reallocated the equivalent of 1.5 full-time roles to higher-impact work. Read the Success Story.

Quicker Employee Reimbursements: District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) used to take two weeks to reimburse staff. Now it often happens in under a week, with some processed in just 24 hours. Reimbursement time has been cut nearly in half. Read the Success Story.

Streamlined Chart of Accounts: Polycultural Immigrant And Community Services reduced their Chart of Accounts from 42 pages to just 2. Payroll now takes a third of the time it used to. Read the Success Story.

Significant Annual Savings: DNSSAB saves $50,000 per year with Sparkrock 365. They also shortened their reporting timeline from 30 days to just 2. Read the Success Story.

Why Finance Leaders Choose Sparkrock

Role-Based Access & Guided Entry

Users only see what’s relevant to them. Codes and permissions auto-populate, reducing mistakes and support requests.
Dimensional Reporting

Track spending by program, funder, site, or project. Build reports that meet both board and funder needs; without complex workarounds.
Employee Expenses

Program leads check their own budgets, submit purchase requests, and see real-time actuals without relying on finance.
Budget Import & Forecasting

Build budgets in Excel, import them in seconds, and run real-time projections.

“With our new system we’ve reduced the need for 1.5 full-time employees and have been able to reallocate these resources from data entry into more strategic duties.”

David Williams

Communication & Technology Director
Action Group

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