3 Must-Haves for Your Nonprofit Bank
There are a lot of banks in the St. Louis area - and not all are built to serve nonprofits. To help ensure there's a good fit, look for a bank with:
- A strong code of ethics: Honesty, integrity, sound business practices. More than just words, these are important principles that should guide how your bank operates every day. Do the bank's ethics align with yours? Would it's reputation help or hurt yours?
- A commitment to serving the community: Choose a local bank that demonstrates its dedication by keeping your dollars at home vs. investing them out of town. Plus, a local bank should have stronger community ties for helping you network and raise donations.
- Experience serving nonprofit organizations: Nonprofits differ from small businesses in many ways, such as being tax exempt. You'll want a bank that has expertise in the documentation and other requirements for opening and maintaining nonprofit accounts.
Services to Support Your Mission
Depending on the structure of your nonprofit, make sure your bank offers services that support the way you operate, such as:
- Donation Collection Services - If you are actively executing fundraising campaigns, you will want a bank with merchant services, allowing you to collect donations via debit or credit card. We know that establishing regular, monthly donors sets many organizations up for long-term success. As such, you may consider a bank that can offer ACH origination services that allow for monthly, pre-authorized drafts for regular donors.
- Easy Account Reconciliation - Your treasurer might be a volunteer. If you have paid staff, they are busy working on mission-critical initiatives. Find a bank that offers an easy-to-use digital banking interface to quickly and easily manage the finances of the organization. Integrations with accounting software such as Quickbooks can be a huge time saver for your bookkeeper.
- Raising Awareness - As a community bank, we are invested in our neighborhoods and the services that impact them. That's why our team frequently participates in activities to raise awareness for local not-for-profit causes; donating time, talent, and dollars to local causes. Connect with CNB on social media to see some of the things we have done to support area nonprofits.
- Risk Management Services - Your bank can help you manage your financial risk commensurate with the risk standards set by your board of directors. Do you need more than the standard $250,000 of FDIC coverage? Do you need to monitor your accounts frequently through a service like online banking or even a more proactive approach to fraud prevention such as positive pay for checks or ACH transactions?
We're Here to Help!
Your bank is key to helping your nonprofit thrive, particularly in a time of economic volatility. We serve a variety of nonprofit organizations including public charities, private foundations, faith-based organizations, educational organizations, employee associations, veterans' organizations, business leagues, childcare organizations, teachers' retirement fund associations, sororities/fraternities, and more! Learn more about our nonprofit banking solutions, or contact us to get started.