The Province of Mary Capuchin Order is a diverse group of Franciscan Priests and Brothers who serve the poor throughout the Northeast. Funding of the order’s ministries comes through the traditional means of gifts, bequests, donations, parish offerings as well as any W2 income from priests and brothers who work as teachers or nurses. There are 30 locations or friaries throughout the northeast that serve as community houses for the priests and brothers.
The Province of Mary Capuchin Order serves the poor through a number of ministries: Youth and Family Ministry, Chaplaincy, Education, Health Care Ministry, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, Mission Ministry and Outreach Ministry. In addition to the managing the finances of the ministries and the 30 friaries, Director of Finance David Legare is always looking to gain greater program efficiencies and an ever better handle on the cash flow. “The growth potential for funding our budgets is limited. The reality is simply that we will not see great growth year to year,” explains Legare, “we have to make sure that every program is run as efficiently as possible and managing our cash flow is crucial to sound financial analysis.”
In order to do this, Legare utilizes Sage MIP Fund Accounting supported by JMT Consulting. “We made a decision to invest in the solution and in the expertise JMT offers,” Legare recalls, “and it wasn’t inexpensive. However the value JMT has brought us has been tremendous.”
“We are not inexperienced when it comes to technology and accounting, we know what we’re doing,” Legare explains. “The level of expertise that JMT brings to assisting us with our financial system infrastructure helps us take it to another level. We’ve learned to rely on their input and leverage their expertise, we bring them into the process early, and we’ve developed a deep level of trust in working with them.”
In addition, to implementing the Sage MIP Fund Accounting software, JMT helped the Capuchins by developing a process for uploading financial data into MIP from the Friaries using Quicken. “This has saved us hours and hours of manual work,” says Legare.
“When working with JMT Consulting, you quickly begin to realize that they are committed to finding the solution for you,” notes Legare with emphasis. “They cover all the details, take into account the unique aspects of your organization, and develop something that works perfectly for you – rather than opening the box, installing the software with the attitude of ‘we’ll just have to make this work as is’, forcing the organization into a less than perfect fit.”
“We’ve got another big project that we’ll be starting soon that will mean some big changes for us,” shares Legare, “and we’re looking forward to bringing in JMT Consulting and welcome the chance to work with them again.”
