After three years of pandemic-related lockdowns, many of us find ourselves spending way too much time inside, and online. This lack of contact with outdoor spaces has even inspired a meme—Touch Grass—that essentially means, “Get off the internet and go outside.” But for Jennifer Jones, Controller at Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS), touching grass is more than just a meme. It’s a calling.
“At Massachusetts Horticultural Society, we want to get everyone growing,” explains Jones. “You may come to our Garden to find a vision for your own garden at home, or even just to get outside and deal with the dirt and learn about plants. We see these as ways that MHS can help our community.”
MHS provides a number of valuable services. They offer educational classes and events, a horticultural library, a beautiful garden for the public to enjoy, as well as venues for events. As part of their operations, MHS manages 15 different buildings on the premises, including a rental property. It’s all part of their mission, which was captured perfectly in their founding motto, Commune Bonum—Latin for the public good.
For the good of their organization, MHS turned to BILL to simplify AP and expense management and to gain greater visibility into—and control over—spend.
Jones was enthusiastic about MHS when she joined in November 2020. As she notes, “I have a green thumb, and I've been vegan for about five years, so this position felt like a progression towards something that I really cared about. I feel like I've found my people.”
But she soon realized that the finances for this 192-year-old organization had not yet arrived in the twenty-first century.
“When I joined, we were still using a paper accounts payable process,” Jones remembers. “I was like, oh my gosh, I have so many other things to do while I'm here, I need to go digital.”
“When I joined, we were still using a paper accounts payable process. I was like, oh my gosh, I have so many other things to do while I'm here, I need to go digital.” — Jennifer Jones, Controller, Massachusetts Horticultural Society
Not only were they still using paper, the accounts payable structure was overly complicated. Many of their buildings had their own separate accounts with the water company, the electric company, and the security company.
“I was like, ‘why aren't we just using one account for these services?’” she recalls. “And then tracking down the Executive Director to sign physical checks, printing the physical checks. I had never even done that before! It was too much paperwork.”
With $600,000 in payments on facilities alone, and many non-AP duties to fulfill in her role as Controller, Jones needed a better solution. So she went with BILL.
With automated AP from BILL, Jones has been able to reduce time spent on AP by an entire day per week, giving her valuable time to spend on other projects.
“As a controller, my job is so much more than accounting. BILL helps me limit the amount of accounting that I need to do,” says Jones.
Jones’ favorite feature of BILL is approvals. “I know that even if I process something outside of BILL, it will still capture my approval, the Executive Director's approval, and the board’s approval,” Jones says. “And if it's over $3,000 there's always a paper trail. I don't have to go into the Executive Director's office. He can just see everything and approve it.”
“I know that even if I process something outside of BILL, it will still capture my approval, the Executive Director's approval, and the board’s approval. There’s always a paper trail.” — Jennifer Jones, Controller, Massachusetts Horticultural Society
BILL is well-integrated with their accounting software, QuickBooks Desktop. And auditing is also simplified, an important factor for any nonprofit. “I can just add my auditor to BILL and they can filter through all the transactions and pull the information they need. It takes a lot of work off of my end. And then I just have to focus on collecting the grant paperwork. Those are the two documentation-heavy areas of an audit,” explains Jones.
“I can just add my auditor to BILL and they can filter through all the transactions and pull the information they need. It takes a lot of work off of my end.” — Jennifer Jones, Controller, Massachusetts Horticultural Society
BILL has also helped MHS using internatinal payments as they work with other organizations around the world. “We had two international payments that we did in the last year, which I would not have been able to do without BILL,” Jones explains. “We paid the Jerusalem Botanic Garden for an interactive augmented reality exhibit, Seeing the Invisible. It’s almost like Pokémon GO, but with contemporary art in the garden.”
Jones also needed more visibility into—and control over—MHS spend. So she implemented BILL Spend & Expense for expense management.
“Before [BILL Spend & Expense], all expenses floated through my office or had to be paid through my office,” remembers Jones. “I often found myself wondering ‘who bought this?’ I didn’t have any transparency.”
With BILL Spend & Expense, Jones has oversight and control. And now that she can easily track all spending, she has been able to grant access to more employees, which empowers them and builds trust. About 10 employees now have BILL Divvy Corporate Cards.
“I’ve started ordering cards for everyone who comes on board. It helps with employee retention to give out cards and show the team that you trust them to manage their budgets, and make choices,” explains Jones. “I can give the Director of the Garden money to just stop at a nursery on the way home to pick up plants. It’s empowering for employees and, from an organizational perspective, [BILL Spend & Expense] helps us to just get things done.”
“[BILL Spend & Expense] is empowering for employees and, from an organizational perspective, it helps us to just get things done.” — Jennifer Jones, Controller, Massachusetts Horticultural Society
Ultimately, the time saved with BILL can be spent on what’s most important—the people of the community. Says Jones, “BILL have freed up a lot of things. I love that we have a pension recipient who is 98 years old, and I've just set her up for automatic payment. It’s wonderful.”
Adds Jones, “BILL have helped me go beyond accounting, 100 percent. Now I spend about 4 hours a week on accounting. I just look throughout the week to have oversight and spend a few days on my monthly close. And that’s it for me!”
In short, Jones summarizes, “With BILL we have so much more control over our financial processes than we had before.”
“I’m always telling people about the power of BILL,” says Jones. “It really comes down to time. I don’t want to have to process all the functions that BILL automate and simplify.”
