The Jesse Tree of Idaho has become a stronger organization after moving from limited funding sources to a more diverse pool. Their mission to “provide a safety net for extremely low to low income persons who are at risk of becoming homeless by providing one-time rent assistance and case management” is now being achieved throughout the Treasure Valley.  

​Gabriel Lacoboni, a representative from the Jesse Tree team says they recently started is the City of Caldwell Rehousing Program. “Working with [Caldwell] to rehouse several families living in unsafe conditions by providing rental assistance, case management, first month's deposit and utility bill payments for the first two months of their stay in new housing.”

Recently the Idaho Nonprofit Center completed an audit of our 2016 financial records. I know I probably just lost 50% of my readers, but I assure you what I’m going to tell you is GOOD STUFF. Financials and audits are not the sexiest topics for an article, but this is no joke: they are so very important.

Audits are expensive but worth it. One of the questions we get asked routinely is “Do we have to have our financials audited every year?” and the answer is “No, not unless a funder requires it, but you should do it anyway.” Here’s why:
One of the best things to come from our audit was also a review of our financial controls. What we learned is that our accounting specialist, Star Brumfield, is really pretty awesome at her job. We’re lucky that she’s very passionate about numbers and also equally passionate having processes in place for everything related to our finances. Our finances and financial controls are in great shape thanks to her efforts.

​We also learned how we can enhance some of the controls we already have in place. A better system was developed to track deposits and the accounts they are assigned to when dropping off a pile of checks to the bank. Now we each review a list of the deposits and account codes before we go to the bank. This helps us with accuracy and accountability.