Overview:

Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. (CBN) is one of the world's largest television ministries spreading the Gospel around the globe by providing programming by cable, broadcast, and satellite to more than 180 countries. Today, CBN is a multi-faceted non-profit organization that also includes a 24-hour prayer line, hotel and conference center, and a humanitarian arm which provides food, clothing, supplies, and medical care to people in need. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization it is crucial that CBN understand and manage expenses. When CBN began studying its financial and planning systems, it was looking to create an integrated infrastructure that would improve control and access to financial data down to the detailed department level. "Initially, we did not consider a budget planning tool as part of the accounting platform decision, simply because we didn't think a product existed that would meet our requirements", said Craig Strohecker, Senior Staff Accountant. "When I saw the capabilities of Sage Active Planner – the flexibility, ease of use, and its ability to support project-based budgeting – I was convinced."

Sage Active Planner

CBN Improves Accountability and Control With Sage Active Planner

Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. (CBN) is one of the world's largest television ministries spreading the Gospel around the globe by providing programming by cable, broadcast, and satellite to more than 180 countries. Today, CBN is a multi-faceted non-profit organization that also includes a 24-hour prayer line, hotel and conference center, and a humanitarian arm which provides food, clothing, supplies, and medical care to people in need. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization it is crucial that CBN understand and manage expenses. When CBN began studying its financial and planning systems, it was looking to create an integrated infrastructure that would improve control and access to financial data down to the detailed department level. "Initially, we did not consider a budget planning tool as part of the accounting platform decision, simply because we didn't think a product existed that would meet our requirements", said Craig Strohecker, Senior Staff Accountant. "When I saw the capabilities of Sage Active Planner – the flexibility, ease of use, and its ability to support project-based budgeting – I was convinced."

Key Business Drivers
For CBN, a project-based budgeting model would enable management to more effectively align the budget process with business drivers. "Sage Active Planner allows us to manage the budget using non-financial data that represent the factors that drive our business, such as campaign mailing volume, to help us accurately forecast expenses, by project, across multiple departments", says Strohecker.

Shorter Planning Cycles
Today, using Sage Active Planner, the IT staff is no longer involved in budget planning. Instead, accounting kicks off the budget cycle by creating a set of linked Plan Sheets for each department. Formulas and assumptions requiring data from prior years are integrated directly with the general ledger and other production systems, such as payroll, ensuring complete data accuracy. Budget managers in each department review their Plan Sheets and enter data by project. Sage Active Planner offers built-in security that ensures the integrity of the underlying budget model. Departmental Plan Sheets are consolidated and linked, so that throughout the process, managers can detect unanticipated costs that their projects might impose on other departments.

"For example", says Strohecker, "we produce features on our daily television program. There are many cost elements that go into these spots – all spanning different departments. Just by knowing the true, cross-organizational impact of producing these spots while still at the concept stage, our managers can be proactive versus reactive in managing program expenses."

Tracking Donor Dollars
As a management philosophy, CBN believes that any manager, at any time, should be able to recount exactly how a donor's contributions were spent. "With more control over our budgeting and planning process", says Strohecker, "our managers are more accountable. We understand inter-departmental dependencies, and we have clearer insight as to which projects and fundraising campaigns are productive in achieving our goals, and which are not. As a result, we can more quickly detect programs that aren't effective, and eliminate or pare them down accordingly. In short, we're delivering a much better return on each donated dollar."