Empowering Local Impact Through Smarter Financial Management

The Boys and Girls Club of Alpena is a nonprofit serving youth in northern Michigan. From after-school tutoring and nutritious meals to sports and creative enrichment, the organization provides a lifeline for hundreds of kids in the community.

After onboarding with Givefront, the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena was able to issue virtual cards to their program directors, tie each card to a specific fund or grant, and set clear budgets and spend limits. Suddenly, they had the visibility they’d been missing. Each program — from youth development to transportation and wellness — now has its own fund within the platform, with cards and spend rules tied directly to the grant requirements. Cards can be locked to specific categories (like educational supplies or fuel), and staff can upload receipts in real time via text message or email. Givefront’s AI matches receipts to transactions and flags anything that might fall outside of IRS 990 or grant compliance requirements.

Automating Tedious Workflows Led to Better Run Programs

Equally important is the club’s improved ability to report back to funders. With Givefront, they can generate custom reports by fund, by program, or by time period — complete with receipts and category breakdowns. Preparing for audits or writing grant reports is no longer a dreaded quarterly event, but a process that takes minutes.

Before switching to Givefront, the club’s finance team managed budgets manually. Program leaders would often pay for supplies out of pocket, tape their receipts to a sheet of paper, and submit them weeks later. Staff would sort through paper receipts, match them to transactions, and attempt to classify each one according to different funding sources. There was no easy way to see how much had been spent from a specific grant, and quarterly audits or funder reports became a time-consuming scramble. Like many small nonprofits, their tools included Excel, handwritten notes, and a patchwork of bank statements and credit card printouts.

Another core feature of the Givefront platform is reimbursements. Previously, staff would wait weeks to be paid back for approved expenses. Now, reimbursements can be submitted with a photo of the receipt and processed within days through Givefront’s Stripe-powered system. For a team that relies heavily on volunteers and part-time staff, this speed and clarity have made a huge difference in morale and trust.

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