Financial Controller

Financial Controller (CPA) 

ABOUT CRI

The Civilization Research Institute (CRI) works on new approaches to the mitigation of global catastrophic risks. We are working to build a process to help humanity to navigate the inevitable challenges of the next century. Our mission is to create and disseminate actionable knowledge and wisdom that is essential for navigating the metacrisis, and undertake basic research and experimentation into viable future forms for global civilization.

THE ROLE

We’re seeking a skilled and detail-oriented Financial Controller with a passion for our mission and a deep commitment to addressing some of the world’s most intractable problems. As a Financial Controller , you’ll work with the Executive Director and other department leaders to create interoperable budgets and track the ongoing spending of each department. Our ideal candidate is interested in working in an innovative, flexible, and fast-moving start-up environment. This is a full-time, remote role with the requirement of quarterly visits to our headquarters in Asheville, NC.

Ideal Start Date: As soon as possible

REPORTING RELATIONSHIP

The Financial Controller will have a reporting relationship with both the COO and the Director of Compliance. The Financial Controller will regularly communicate and coordinate with leaders from every department, including the Board of Directors when needed.

OUTCOMES 

Leadership is equipped with timely financial information to make critical budgetary decisions 

• Leadership receives financial updates weekly
  • Clarify financial runway, monthly burn rates 
  • Create simulations on impacts to runway and burn rate, factoring possible new hires or large expenses
  • Create simulations on new financial runway and monthly burn rates once new funding is closed. 
• Leadership is always clear on the status of donations and how many additional new hires can be approved based on that activity.  
• Leadership is notified immediately when there is a meaningful shift in spending that is going to affect either budgets, donation compliance, or runway.

Develop budgetary and planning capacities

• Each department lead has a budget that includes a robust hiring plan, embedded HR and accounting fees, and other costs such as travel, software, etc. 
• All department budgets are interoperable and work with shared resources whenever possible.
• The allocation of staff members to projects is tracked as realistically as possible to enable more efficient ROI and cost projections of deliverables.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Quality control of accounting 

• Conduct internal audits of expenses and propose cost savings options: 
  • Identify subscriptions that are not being actively used enough to justify their expense
  • Research more cost-efficient or more comprehensive options for the same price for financial management software, service providers, etc. 
  • Identify places where multiple departments spent money on the same things and propose a more coordinated sharing of resources  
• Accurately track the spend of projects, factoring partial attribution staff across multiple projects, so we can retroactively assess the true cost of our deliverables. 
• Help leadership write up ROI considerations for new projects, factoring in the insights from accounting.  

Quality control of taxes 

• Provide quality control for all tax-related filings, in particular the 990.
• Review the 990’s of other organizations that we may consider granting to or partnering with to assess their risk profile. 
• Provide tax consultation to the CEO and other department leads for expansion strategies, such as joint ventures, for-profit collaborations, and the creation of new non-profit entities. 
• Work with the Director of Compliance to execute any expansion strategies.

Creation and maintenance of budgets 

• Work with the CEO and all department leads to generate org-wide, department, and project budgets that factor in fundraising timelines.
• Work with the Director of Compliance, internal department leads and our outsourced accounting team to ensure that CRI’s financials are appropriately managed, factoring in spending needs, donation revenue, and compliance. 
• Create weekly financial reports that show runway, runrate, primary categories of spend (by program, by department, by project). Meet with the CEO monthly to discuss.

Donation and Grant Tracking

• Work with the head of fundraising (currently the CEO) and leadership to create fundraising timelines associated with projected budgets and runway. 
• Track spending on restricted donations earmarked for certain projects. Ensure funds are allocated appropriately and that the results of those projects are summarized and sent to the relevant funders.
• Produce financial documentation for donors to facilitate grant compliance and deeper trust between CRI and the donors’ compliance team that funds are being spent well. 

THE EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE, AND/OR SKILLS YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED…

Requirements:

• A CPA degree with primary experience in non-profit taxes  
• Expertise in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• At least 5+ years experience in a financial management position overseeing multiple millions of dollars per year with multiple intersecting organizations (e.g. Private foundation, DAF, and multiple 501c3s)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly and effectively.
• Detail-oriented with a commitment to accuracy and clarity in all processes.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple projects simultaneously, and meet deadlines.

Ideally:

• Extensive experience in both non-profit and for-profit taxes
• Experience working in a family office that required both for-profit and non-profit capital management 
• Grant management experience
• Experience coordinating audit activities and managing reporting, budget development and analysis, accounts payable and receivable, general ledger, payroll, and accounting for investments
• Any additional financial or business degrees, such as an MSA, MBA, CMA, CGMA, etc.