What makes a truly great nonprofit CFO? In this episode of Inspired Nonprofit Leadership, I'm joined by Neil Shah—seasoned CFO and founder of Altruva.ai—to talk about the difference between tracking numbers and driving strategy. We explore the role of fractional CFOs, the power of financial storytelling, and how AI is transforming nonprofit finance. Whether you're managing a budget or presenting to your board, this episode will help you think more strategically about your financial leadership.

Episode Highlights

• 04:09 The Role of a Nonprofit CFO

• 04:48 Challenges and Solutions for Nonprofit CFOs

• 06:26 Neil's Journey to Becoming a CFO

• 11:40 The Value of a Fractional CFO

• 16:41 Financial Storytelling in Nonprofits

• 21:51 Visualizing Data with Graphs

• 22:36 Understanding Financial Trends

• 23:28 Key Financial Strategies for Nonprofits

• 28:22 Professional Development for CFOs

• 30:13 The Role of AI in Nonprofit Finance

Meet the Guest

My guest for this episode is Neil Shah.

Neil has spent the past two decades serving as an outsourced or in-house Chief Financial Officer for non-profit organizations across the United States, organizations with annual budgets ranging from a few million dollars to almost half a billion dollars in annual government and philanthropic revenue.

He has implemented audit/fraud-proof accounting and budgeting processes and procedures,

upgraded new financial software systems that reduced manual workloads, and brought boards

along the financial roadmap of the organization through education and storytelling.

He is a partner with leadership teams and is able to provide the financial perspective of an issue

while helping those teams understand the non-financial aspects of a situation, helping to find

common ground while still ensuring financial sustainability.

Neil received his bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

Connect with Neil:

https://www.cfogroups.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilshah26/

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