9to5 National Association saves 20 hours a week on its $6.5M annual budget with BILL

In 1980, Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin brought working women's issues to the big screen with the hit movie 9 to 5. Although the story was pure fiction, it was inspired by the very real advocacy work of 9to5 National Association, founded in 1973 with the mission of "Winning Justice for Working Women."

Today, 9to5 has expanded that vital work through chapters in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Georgia, advocating for just living and working conditions and fighting for paid leave, affordable child care, housing rights, climate justice, and more. 

"We're advocating for economic justice for women and non-binary people of color," explains Carolyn Ouellet, Accountant at 9to5. "Our vision is a world where there's economic justice for everyone and all families thrive. We focus on grassroots organizing and building power with our members who inform our strategy and lead our policy change efforts."

With 50 employees spread across multiple states and a $6.5 million annual budget, 9to5 tackles critical issues including pay equity, affordable childcare, housing affordability, reasonable utility rates, and paid family leave. 

Their work has led to major policy victories, but their growth also came with the financial challenge of managing the back office for an active, national organization.

Challenge: Managing distributed finance ops with limited staff

Before adopting BILL, the organization had invoices and approvals being sent by email, given the organizations remote and distributed workforce. "Approvals were being done through email as well. It wasn't the easiest or most streamlined process, and things could get lost or duplicated at times."

The organization's expense management was equally cumbersome. "For our credit card receipts, it was all very manual," Ouellet says. "We sent out an Excel spreadsheet listing charges, and people had to submit receipts by uploading them into a Google folder. It was time-consuming and difficult to track."

With a finance team of three — a VP of Finance, an Accountant, and an Accounts Payable Clerk — efficiency was key. The team needed a solution that could handle their complex nonprofit accounting needs, especially for grant tracking, while accommodating a distributed workforce.

“Before we adopted BILL, we had a lot of things being sent by email, since the organization was remote. It wasn't the easiest or most streamlined process, and things could get lost or duplicated at times.”

Solution: BILL Accounts Payable

In 2021, 9to5 implemented BILL Accounts Payable, bringing immediate improvements to their financial operations. 

"Moving to BILL was a great step forward because it brought everything into one place—our contracts, our W-9s, our invoices. You don't have to be in the office because it's all stored centrally," Ouellet explains. "The approvals process is streamlined as well, with everything you need to view, including account history, right there in BILL."

For a nonprofit with complex accounting needs, the BILL integration with QuickBooks Online has been particularly valuable. "We've implemented a grant accounting structure with classes, customers, and locations," says Ouellet. "There's a lot we've been able to integrate and automate through BILL, which has been very helpful for the intricate coding that comes with nonprofit accounting."

The solution has also strengthened internal controls, a crucial consideration for nonprofits that must maintain transparency and accountability to donors and stakeholders.

"Not having to do checks and having that totally handled by BILL is a huge time saver. Just having that one central location saves us hours each week."

“BILL brought everything into one place—our contracts, our W-9s, our invoices. We've been able to integrate and automate so much, which has been very helpful for the intricate coding that comes with nonprofit accounting.”

Solution: BILL Spend & Expense

Building on the success of Accounts Payable, 9to5 added BILL Spend & Expense in 2022 to streamline their employee expense management. The impact was immediately felt across the organization, particularly with their distributed workforce of directors and program staff who travel frequently.

"What's been really great about BILL Spend & Expense is the real-time population of expenses and the ease of uploading receipts," Ouellet notes. "Also, for grant accounting, the ability to split transactions is very helpful because we're often charging expenses to multiple grants or program areas."

The solution has simplified expense management for special events, too. "For one of our big events, we gave out virtual cards to employees who weren't regular credit card holders," Ouellet shares. "That helped tremendously with our event planning and gatherings."*

With around 15 cardholders at any given time, the streamlined process has eliminated hours of administrative work chasing receipts and reconciling statements. "Everyone loves that they can just snap a picture of their receipt and they're done. The approval is centralized, which has strengthened our internal controls as well."

“What's been really great about BILL Spend & Expense is the real-time population of expenses and the ease of uploading receipts. Also, for grant accounting, the ability to split transactions is very helpful.”

Results: Time savings, stronger controls, and mission focus

The implementation of BILL's financial automation solutions has transformed 9to5's operations, allowing their lean team to accomplish more with less administrative burden.

"BILL saves us like half an employee within the organization," Ouellet estimates. "That's about 20 hours a week we can now put back into our mission."

Beyond the time savings, BILL has helped 9to5 strengthen its financial controls and reporting capabilities. The automatic coding and approval workflows ensure consistency and accuracy, while the centralized document storage makes audit preparation and grant reporting significantly easier.

"For research during our reporting time, looking back at BILL is so easy with the invoice right there," says Ouellet. "We can quickly investigate any discrepancies in an expense area of a report. The technology really helps."

The automated reminders for receipt submission have been especially valuable in reducing administrative follow-up. "I hated how much time went into follow-up and collecting receipts," Ouellet admits. "The automatic reminders, along with the quick filters to target what's missing, have saved us so much administrative time."

“BILL saves us like half an employee within the organization. That's about 20 hours a week we can now put back into our mission.”

Summary: Technology that amplifies nonprofit impact

For 9to5, implementing BILL wasn't just about improving financial operations—it was about amplifying the team's ability to fulfill their mission of winning justice for working women.

"When you're working at a nonprofit, you want to focus on the mission, not paperwork," says Ouellet. "BILL has freed up substantial time that we can now direct toward our advocacy work. It's also strengthened our internal controls and grant tracking, which is essential for maintaining the trust of our funders and members."

As 9to5 continues to advance policies that improve economic conditions for working women and their families, BILL's financial automation solutions remain a critical tool in their operational toolkit.

"If you're a nonprofit considering BILL, my recommendation is an automatic 'go for it,'" Ouellet concludes. "It really is a time-saver and streamlines processes while ensuring your internal controls are strong. I've had a positive experience with both solutions and highly recommend them for the nonprofit sector."

*The BILL Divvy Card is issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC and is not a deposit product.