Description
About The Organization
The organization is a donor-advised fund sponsor that enables U.S. donors to support charitable causes internationally. They hold approximately $210 million in assets, process roughly $290 - $310 million in gifts and grants annually across seven donor-advised fund sponsor platforms, and channel support to several hundred charities overseas each year, moving between $7 and $10 million out the door in a typical week. Behind that volume sits real transaction complexity: multiple currencies, ~1,500 individual gifts and ~150 grant disbursements in each typical week, with volume increasing during peak giving seasons, and a fund structure spanning restricted, temporarily restricted, unrestricted, and designated funds.
The Opportunity
The organization is bringing its core accounting and finance function in-house and building it around a single senior owner. This is a rare opportunity to design and run the finance infrastructure of a mission-driven organization with real scale and complexity; not to inherit a finished system, but to build one. The Controller will own the general ledger, fund accounting, treasury and cash management, investment operations support, compliance and tax, and the policy foundation that the organization's finance function has not yet had the dedicated capacity to build. As the finance function matures, this role is expected to grow in scope.
This role reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer, supervises the Gifts Coordinator, and will work closely with the Board, the Treasurer, the Audit and Investment Committees, and the organization's external auditors. It combines the technical depth of a hands-on fund accountant with the judgment and communication skills of a genuine strategic partner to leadership.
What You'll Own
General Ledger, Close & Financial Reporting
Own the general ledger, journal entries, and a published, disciplined monthly close calendar
Own the general ledger system itself, not just the entries in it, including configuration, chart-of-accounts structure, investment fee coding, account linkages and customization to support fund-level reporting
Produce financial statements and management reporting, including current, real-time year-to-date P&L by expense category
Perform monthly bank and investment account reconciliations, packaged for review and sign-off
Oversee accounts payable and payroll processing, with appropriate management approval controls
Fund Accounting & Fund Integrity
Maintain fund balance integrity and the classification of restricted, temporarily restricted, unrestricted, and designated funds
Administer the organization's total-return spending policy and the distribution registry across designated funds
Manage the administrative fee model, moving it to a monthly in-system accrual
Own dormant fund policy and related fund-level governance
Operational Judgment
Resolve day-to-day questions on fund assignments, foreign exchange treatment, returned or undeliverable grants, and correction handling by following organizational policy to resolve necessary edge cases
Develop and codify written policy for money-movement scenarios that don't yet have one, in partnership with the auditors
Own the internal controls that prevent duplicate or erroneous disbursements, working alongside payment execution staff
Treasury & Cash Management
Set and monitor cash sweep thresholds and ensure a regular liquidity and cash management process
Proactively identify and act on opportunities to deploy idle cash productively
Support banking transitions, account structure, signer and know your customer files, and dual-approval wire controls
Investment Operations Support
Collect and reconcile custodian and investment manager statements
Track and code investment management fees, including gross reporting for tax purposes
Build fund-level investment performance reporting for donors and fundholders
Prepare analysis supporting Investment Committee decision-making
Compliance & Tax
Lead Form 990 preparation and coordination, including resolution of open reconciliation items
Policy, Budget & Governance
Serve as the auditors' primary working contact and lead audit preparation, including a potential auditor transition
Assess and document current finance workflows, and redesign them for scale and sustainability
What This Role Does Not Own
Payment initiation and wire execution are intentionally separated from this role as a matter of internal control: this position records, reconciles, reports on, and designs controls around payments, while other staff initiate and confirm them and the COO approves and posts. This separation of duties is a deliberate, settled design choice.
Investment policy, asset allocation, and manager/custodian selection sit with the Board and Investment Committee
Grant platform administration and configuration sit with Technology Operations
Routine gift entry and check handling are handled by the Gifts Coordinator, a direct report to this role, rather than by the Controller personally.
Charity vetting and equivalency determination sit with the Equivalency function
Compensation & Benefits
The base salary range for this role is $175,000 - $200,000, commensurate with experience, plus a competitive benefits package.
Requirements
What We're Looking For
Required
Deep fund accounting experience. Restricted and designated funds, fund-level reporting, spending policy mechanics, and earnings allocation experience. This is not a general corporate accounting role
Track record owning a monthly close and an annual audit end-to-end, as the responsible party rather than a contributor
Real treasury and investment operations exposure such as custodian statements, manager fees, and liquidity management
Comfort working close to high-volume transaction processing without getting buried in the details or staying too removed from it
Demonstrated ability to write clear financial policies and procedures
Direct, responsive communication style and comfort making judgment calls and standing behind them
Comfort learning, customizing, and improving the software that runs fund accounting, rather than working around limitations. This includes evaluating new tools and features as the finance function matures
Preferred
Familiarity with international nonprofit organizations or faith/community-based charitable work, given the organization's grantee base
Experience operating in a high-scrutiny environment requiring discretion with sensitive donor and financial information
CPA strongly preferred
