Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis

The National Audubon Society is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. We work throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state, regional, national, and international programs, nature centers, and chapters have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. As a sentinel species, we recognize that the fate of birds is inextricably tied to the fate of us all.

Audubon has more than 700 staff working across the United States and seven countries in 17 state and regional offices, 41 nature centers, and 23 wildlife sanctuaries. Together as one Audubon, we aspire to alter the course of climate change and habitat loss, leading to healthier bird populations and reversing current trends in biodiversity loss.

Audubon is committed to a culture of workplace excellence, where our talented and diverse staff are deeply engaged, with a strong sense of belonging. The birds Audubon pledges to protect differ in color, size, behavior, geographical preference, and countless other ways. By honoring and celebrating the equally remarkable diversity of the human species, Audubon will bring new creativity, effectiveness, and leadership to our work throughout the hemisphere.

The VP, Financial Analysis and Business Partnering (FA&BP) is a key member of Audubon’s financial leadership, responsible for providing insightful analysis and reporting on all financial aspects of the organization, leads all organizational budgeting to align organizational goals with our financial plan, and manages the ongoing integrity of financial information throughout Audubon.  The VP, FA&BP is responsible for delivering value-added business analysis on a wide range of projects and defining and reporting meaningful financial and operational metrics that lead to insightful, accurate business decision-making.  The VP, FA&BP leads team of 10 responsible for creating and monitoring the organization’s budget and reforecasts, partnering with Development to create financial plans that support Audubon programs and align with donor intent.

The successful candidate will be curious, with an ability to identify financial opportunities and emerging issues, propose workable solutions and take on new responsibilities as needed.  They must demonstrate a commitment to customer service and have an excellent grasp of financial and accounting concepts, and a high aptitude for analysis and critical thinking.  They will be able to communicate complex financial information clearly and concisely and be an expert with sophisticated financial systems.  The VP, FA&BP partners with the Executive Team (ET) and their reports to create metrics and reports to guide the Audubon’s resource allocation, and with Development in creating complex budgets for large fundraising proposals and reporting to sophisticated foundation, corporate and government funders. 

The role will report to the Chief of Financial Officer to ensure alignment of organizational goals and financial plans.

Strategy

• Partner with the CFO and VP, Controller to align the Finance Department’s overall goals to Audubon’s strategic plan
• Identify on-going opportunities to simplify, streamline and Audubon’s financial practices
• Work cross functionally with our business leaders to ensure informed decision-making
• Answer high priority analytical questions to drive better understanding of business value drivers and identify areas of opportunity
• Work closely with VP, Controller, IT, and others to determine best systems, procedures, and practices to ensure success as Audubon grows and expands its work both in the U.S. and internationally
• Propose and implement financial practices that guide the organization’s resource allocation including reserve use and safeguard Audubon’s financial health

Planning & Budget

• Supervise and manage the financial planning and analysis team
• Drive an efficient, effective process for the creation of Audubon’s annual budget and required reforecasts
• Create and lead a process for developing financial plans and analysis that links Audubon’s strategic plan, its national and state programmatic plans and long range financial planning
• Improve forecasting process by engaging with national and state-based staff, using data-driven analyses to help shape conclusions
• Evaluate alternatives for long term organizational planning, including multi-year funding streams
• Support national conservation and other program staff in creation and revision of long-term business plans
• Assist programs in predicting and addressing shortfalls and risk
• Partner with Audubon’s accounting staff to ensure that the organization of accounting data and the chart of accounts captures relevant information for financial planning

Reporting & Analysis

• Prepare all financial reporting for Audubon’s national board and its Executive Team, and oversee all financial reporting for centers, state and national leaders.
• Proactively seek to improve reporting capability/offerings
• Analyze and report on the impact of business plans on the organization’s resources

Organizational Support

• Partner with the CFO to staff the Finance Committee of the board, creating agendas, providing analysis, reporting and presentations
• Support the ET in defining and tracking key organization metrics.
• Partner with development, conservation staff and state offices on large grant (both public and private) proposals to improve analysis of the budget impact of any proposal
• Participate in cross-functional projects to help the organization develop and meet strategic priorities
• Train staff in Audubon’s fiscal policies, financial practices and tools
• Create new and maintain existing reports in Audubon’s budgeting system (Prophix) to facilitate monthly analysis of our results, for both national programs, and the organization’s largest foundation grants
• Provide training and advice on Audubon fiscal policies and ensure

• Minimum 15 years financial/accounting experience in a nonprofit organization, working with diverse funding sources, including public funding, and at least 5 years of experience leading and managing staff
• Strong strategy and results oriented orientation, with a demonstrated history of leading continuous improvement in systems, processes and analysis
• Direct experience managing complex organization-wide budgets required, including an ability and willingness to use Audubon’s proprietary financial tools and advanced excel to create clear, concise analyses from significant volumes of data
• Knowledge of nonprofit accounting is critical to the successful candidate’s ability to maintain Audubon’s proprietary grant tools and analyze the impact of projects, grants and initiatives on Audubon’s operating budget
• Proven track record of managing and mentoring a team, including remote employees
• Experience in both nonprofit and for-profit sectors desirable, especially with a decentralized organization
• Strong financial systems expertise, including both general ledger and budgeting systems, as well as financial dashboards; experience with Financial Edge or Prophix, a plus
• Experience providing excellent customer service to a wide range of constituents. Must have the ability to interact with a wide range of staff with varying degrees of financial acumen
• Interest in environment and conservation

The National Audubon Society is a federal contractor and an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. We are committed to a policy of nondiscrimination, inclusion and equal opportunity and actively seek a diverse pool of candidates in this search.

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All new hires must be fully vaccinated prior to their start of employment unless they are pre-qualified by HR for exemption.