Girls Who Code, an international nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender gap in tech, partnered with BTQ Financial, a division of Consero, to outsource its finance and accounting services.
Feargus Legett, Chief Financial Officer of Girls Who Code, and Rosie Keegel-Idigbe, Grants and Contracts Manager, discuss how leveraging BTQ Financial’s expertise has allowed the organization to focus on its core mission.
Nonprofit Finance Challenges
Nonprofits operate with limited budgets, directing most resources toward programming rather than overhead functions such as finance and accounting.
- Lean budgets force leaders to direct maximum dollars to programming, leaving little for overhead.
- Recruiting and retaining qualified finance staff is difficult and expensive.
- Complex grant and government‑contract compliance heightens the need for accurate accounting.
“Resources are constrained for things like finance and accounting that are part of overhead. From a financial management perspective, that presents a real challenge,” says Feargus.
Why Girls Who Code Partnered with BTQ Financial
Girls Who Code’s partnership with BTQ Financial, now over three years strong, has provided expertise, technology, and scalable services tailored to their needs.
- Access to Qualified Expertise: BTQ Financial provides Girls Who Code with access to a team of qualified finance and accounting professionals.
- Advanced Technology: The partnership grants access to best-in-class accounting software systems.
- Scalability: Girls Who Code can easily scale its finance and accounting support up or down as needed.
- Enhanced Decision-Making: Accurate financial data provided by BTQ Financial enables better informed decision-making.
““Our partnership with BTQ Financial has really allowed us to tap into talent, technology, and the ability to scale up and down as our business needs require,” noted Leggett.
Building a True Relationship
Leggett and Keegel-Idigbe emphasized the importance Girls Who Code and BTQ Financial place on effective, ongoing communication to ensure a successful partnership.
- Frequent, multi‑channel communication (Zoom, Slack, weekly syncs).
- BTQ staff embed with internal teams, forging relationships with key stakeholders.
- A single executive champion inside GWC coordinates the engagement.
“I’ve been impressed with how seamless the communication has been—constant Zoom calls, Slack messages, and weekly meetings make BTQ feel like part of the organization,” says Keegel-Idigbe.
Enhanced Data Improves Decision-Making
Outsourcing financial functions to BTQ Financial has notably improved GWC’s decision-making capabilities through access to accurate and timely financial data.
- Quick access to crucial metrics such as cost per student, overhead rates, and actual program costs
- Better budget stewardship thanks to transparent, up‑to‑date numbers
“BTQ’s Finance as a Service has really helped Girls Who Code enhance its decision-making through accurate data and timely data,” said Feargus.
Additional Tips for Successful Outsourcing
When outsourcing a critical function like finance & accounting, Legett advises that organizations don’t necessarily need extensive finance expertise, but they do require operational insight and internal advocacy.
- Appoint an operations‑minded liaison who understands programs, staff, and goals
- Ensure that person can translate organizational context for the outsourced team
- Present a clear value proposition to calm concerns about handing off a core function
“You don’t need to be a CFO… what you need to be is an operations-minded person that really knows the organization inside out,” offered Legett.
Why Nonprofits Should Consider Finance as a Service
Girls Who Code’s three‑year partnership with BTQ Financial shows the power of outsourcing finance for mission‑driven organizations.
“(BTQ) established relationships with key stakeholders here and they feel a lot like part of the organization as opposed to an external vendor,” said Legett.
BTQ was founded to serve nonprofits exclusively with grant compliance, donor transparency, and program‑centric reporting.
- Mission alignment: BTQ measures success by the social impact its clients deliver, not by billable hours.
- Nonprofit‑specific tool kit: Workflows, dashboards, and controls are pre‑configured for restricted funds, federal grants, and board‑level reporting.
- True partnership model: Dedicated teams embed with staff, speak the language of programs, and flex capacity up or down with the funding cycle.
- Freedom to focus: With back‑office complexity handled, executives can redirect time and dollars toward advancing core programs and advocacy.
Take the next step: If your nonprofit is juggling multiple grants, stretched finance staff, or delayed data, schedule a discovery call to see how a mission‑driven finance partner can help you amplify impact.
