Ottawa Friends of Tibet
Volunteer Job Posting
TREASURER

Background

Ottawa Friends of Tibet (OFT) is a small Canadian charity whose mission is to serve disadvantaged Tibetan children, men and women in India, Nepal and elsewhere, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of Tibetan culture. OFT is entirely run by a volunteer Board and a cadre of members and volunteers who support the organization in a variety of ways. Volunteers currently provide treasury and secretarial functions, event organization, communications, and fundraising.

In the last several years, OFT has transitioned from manual bookkeeping, accounting and tax-receipting, to a spreadsheet-based ledger, and more recently, to the CanadaHelps Donor Management System (DMS) for automating the tracking of donations and tax-receipting.

OFT’s current Treasurer is retiring from the post in the summer of 2024 and will remain in post until then, or until the Treasurer is on board and effectively functioning, whichever comes first.

The Treasurer’s Role

OFT is currently recruiting a volunteer Treasurer. The Treasurer is a member and officer of the OFT Board of Directors, reports to the Board, and is expected to manage finance-related bookkeeping, accounting and reporting for the organization.

Current Responsibilities:

Administration and Bookkeeping

  • Offline management and archiving of all financial files according to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidelines, in digital and/or hard copy formats

  • Routine back-up of all financial files

  • Maintenance of an up-to-date record of accounts and passwords

  • Maintenance of the CanadaHelps DMS-based database of donors and supporters (responsibility shared with the Secretary)

  • Maintenance of finance-related information in the OFT profile and in OFT campaigns on the CanadaHelps website

Accounting

  • Accounting for all income via the DMS or other sources (e.g., donations via other registered charities, personal donations, event sales) and expenditure (e.g., fundraising expenses, storage fees). This is largely done manually in the Master E-Ledger, an Excel-based system that automatically classifies by CRA line items, for income tax purposes.

  • Manually updating the DMS with donations that come in outside of the DMS mechanism (e.g., by check, cash, e-transfer, or at events)

  • Routine payment of all invoices, refunds

  • Routine monitoring of the DMS database to ensure that tax receipts are being automatically and correctly issued.

  • Transferring project contributions annually, and tracking receipts

  • Routine monitoring of the bank account

Budgeting, Analysis and Reporting

  • Making sense of financial data and sharing analysis and recommendations with the board for the purpose of decision-making re policy, investment, etc.

  • Following an annual strategic planning session, preparation of an annual budget for Board approval

  • Preparation of semi-annual and annual Actuals-to-Budget reports

  • Preparation of fundraising campaign budgets, and reporting against them

  • Annual filing to Corporations Canada

  • Preparation and submission of annual tax return to the CRA

  • HST and GST Returns

Management of Investments

  • In collaboration with OFT’s President and its investment advisor, track OFT’s investments and make recommendations to the Board re investments and re-investments.

  • Liaising with the investment advisor to effect the board’s decisions.

Challenges:

The finance-related transition to the CanadaHelps Donor Management System (DMS) is largely done, with the migration of OFT’s donor database and its 2023 and 2024 donations/ticket sales complete. All tax receipts are currently being issued in real time by the DMS.

Several challenges remain:

  • No one else in the organization has taken part in the DMS onboarding or been orientated to the various CanadaHelps tools and functions: e.g., the events page, participation in industry-wide fundraising events such as Giving Tuesday, training resources, communications functions. Once the new Treasurer has been trained, s/he will need to support other members of the board to adopt and use the technology.

  • The OFT Master E-Ledger needs to be simplified and adapted to better couple with the DMS database. If this could be done by transitioning to Quickbooks or another d-based software, all the better.

  • Setting up of DMS-based communications & marketing tools

  • Defining DMS-generated financial reports that effectively capture and link financial information to reports to the Board and to the CRA.

  • Tracking key metrics, such as current stewardship practices or the effectiveness of fundraising strategies.

  • The current Fundraiser is the organization’s go-to copy editor, but that needn’t be the responsibility of the new Treasurer.

Commitment Required

OFT appreciates that volunteers give generously of their time and that volunteer work needs to be balanced with professional responsibilities and personal lives. We understand that each volunteer is different, and that their commitment may range from ongoing long-term functions, and/or ad hoc assistance as and when needed. (The commitment of long-standing volunteers currently ranges from one to two hours a week during slower times, to a half or full day a week during busy times such as in the lead-up to the annual fall fundraiser.)

Qualifications and Competencies

  • Formal training or a degree in an accounting-related field is a requirement.

  • Written and spoken fluency in English are required.

  • Mastery of Excel, Sheets and Quicken or a similar software for financial management is required.

  • Familiarity with Canada Revenue Agency guidelines would be an asset.

  • Work experience in the not-for-profit sector would be an asset.

How to Apply:

Please submit a letter of application, including an updated resume and at least two professional or academic references, to: ottawafriendsoftibetoft@gmail.com. We ask that applicants carefully consider the Treasurer’s current responsibilities and challenges, and be prepared to talk about what they could do in light of their qualifications, aspirations and availability.

Deadline: April 15, 2024

Volunteering with Ottawa Friends of Tibet is a good opportunity for a graduate student or recent graduate to gain experience in their field, to learn about Tibetan culture and history, and to support a worthy cause.

For more information about OFT, please visit our website at www.oft.ca.