Accounting Systems Set Up (QuickBooks)

FutureSouth Foundation is a newly independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on AI workforce development in rural Mississippi. We are pre-revenue and preparing to receive our first federal grant (Appalachian Regional Commission). We need a finance professional to help us build our foundational accounting infrastructure from scratch.

Specific tasks: (1) Guide us through TechSoup to identify and claim the right QuickBooks Nonprofit package for our size and grant compliance needs. (2) Set up QuickBooks — chart of accounts structured for grant compliance, restricted vs. unrestricted fund tracking, and expense categorization aligned to federal reporting requirements. (3) Design a simple monthly close process and expense approval workflow appropriate for a one-person operation with a working board. (4) Create a grant budget tracking template that maps expenses to grant line items and flags variance. (5) Brief the Executive Director on the system so it can be maintained independently or handed to a part-time bookkeeper when ready.

We are not looking for ongoing bookkeeping — we need the infrastructure built correctly so we can operate it ourselves going forward.

Sound financial infrastructure is not administrative overhead for us — it is a prerequisite for mission delivery. Federal and institutional funders require clean, grant-compliant books before they will release funds. Without that infrastructure in place, we cannot access the capital that trains the next cohort of workers. Every dollar of grant funding we are positioned to receive is sitting behind the accounting systems this volunteer will help us build.

The Executive Director will serve as the primary point of contact and is committed to 2–5 hours per week for the duration of this engagement. We have full board support for building this infrastructure — our inaugural board meeting was held March 28, 2026, and financial systems setup was identified as an immediate organizational priority. Once the system is built, the Executive Director will maintain it directly until a part-time bookkeeper is engaged, which is planned within the next 12 months. The infrastructure built in this project becomes the handoff document for that hire. We are committed to implementing everything the volunteer recommends — this is not a planning exercise, it is a build.