Financial clarity for nonprofits
Strategic finance support for mission-driven organizations, working alongside your existing finance team.
The layer above the books
Most nonprofits have someone keeping the books and an auditor reviewing them each year. Strategic finance is the layer above that: using financial information to plan and weigh trade-offs, so you have what you need to make decisions and your board has what it needs to govern.
It helps answer questions like:
- If a major funding source were cut, how long could we sustain our programs?
- What does each program actually cost to deliver, including shared costs?
- How much reserve is enough for us, and what should our reserve and investment policies say?
- Which programs are funded sustainably, and which depend on one-time money?
- Are the board and management seeing the information they need to make decisions?
I work alongside your bookkeeper, controller, or finance director and build on what they already produce.
Three offerings. Each stands on its own or leads into the next.
Financial Sustainability Diagnostic
For organizations that want a clear, independent view of their financial position.
- Review of financial statements, budgets, funding mix, and reserves
- Assessment of funding concentration and exposure to federal and state changes
- Written findings and prioritized recommendations, presented to leadership and the board
Pricing: Fixed fee, credited in full toward a Program Finance Build.
Program Finance Build
For organizations that need to understand the true cost and funding of one or more programs.
- A working financial model for each program, including shared costs and grant funding
- Scenario analysis for funding changes, growth, or changes in service
- Three months of decision support after delivery, tied to real decisions: the first monthly review, a board meeting, and a budget or grant renewal cycle
Pricing: Project fee based on the number of programs and funding streams, paid in stages as the work is delivered.
Strategic Finance Partnership
For organizations that want ongoing strategic finance support across the whole organization.
- An entity-wide model connecting programs, grants, and staffing
- Regular working sessions with leadership
- Board and finance committee preparation
- Reserve, investment, and long-range planning
Pricing: Flat monthly fee, based on the size of your organization and how closely we work together.
Working against a deadline?
A board meeting, a budget vote, a grant application, or a funding change often sets the schedule. I can scope focused work around a specific date, whether that's a few weeks out or sooner.
Flexible payment options available.
Emily Christy
For the past decade, I've been a strategic finance partner to the founders of growing organizations. I've worked alongside them on the decisions that set their direction: where to invest, how to fund growth, how to price, and how to plan for a strong year or a lean one. The models and reporting I built gave them a clear view of the trade-offs.
Before that, I spent years as an analyst for investment firms, including RBC Capital Markets and Stifel, covering healthcare, energy, and utility companies. The job was to look hard at an organization's finances, test its assumptions, and judge whether its plans would hold up. It's the same scrutiny funders and auditors bring.
Early in my career, I was General Manager of the Vero Beach Dodgers. Having run live sporting events, I understand the practical realities behind the numbers: staffing, timing, and everything that can change on the day.
Each engagement is grounded in the judgment of an operator, the discipline of an analyst, and the curiosity of a researcher, bringing clarity to complex decisions and confidence in moments of change.
I serve as Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair at Southern Maine Agency on Aging (SMAA), an Area Agency on Aging, and hold a Master's in Medical Gerontology from USC and a B.A. from Princeton. I live in Portland, Maine, spending my free time being active outdoors and enjoying the city's food scene.
From leaders of growing organizations I've worked with.
"One of my best early decisions was to engage Emily Christy as fractional CFO/strategy consultant... Emily hit the ground running with impactful collaboration, and easy integration into our team, that led to breakthroughs in strategic thinking and planning for the future. She created financial models that took complex information... and provided a map of our future that is still meaningful, over five years later... I consider Emily a trusted advisor."
Founder and CEO, Therapy Lab
"Emily was instrumental in building Everytable's financial infrastructure from the ground up. She has exceptional ability to pull data from disparate systems, synthesize it into meaningful metrics, and present it in a way that informed real business decisions... As our needs evolved, she quickly adapted the frameworks and reporting to match where we were headed, not just where we'd been."
Former Controller, Everytable
Start with a conversation
Tell me a little about your organization and what's on your mind.
Start with a conversation
Tell me a little about your organization and what’s on your mind