Things to do in Chicago

Here are some fun things to do in Chicago…and yes I snuck in a couple events that JMT will be hosting in Chicago this month.  Where are your favorite places to go and your favorite restaurants and activities to enjoy in the Windy City?

Lincoln Park Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo is a world class zoological institution located in Chicago’s historic Lincoln Park district. Founded in 1868, the zoo is rich with architectural treasures as well as award-winning progressively designed animal habitats. A conservation haven nestled in the heart of Chicago, the zoo operates one of the country’s largest zoo-based conservation and science programs. Committed to saving species locally and globally the zoo employs highly specialized experts in veterinary medicine, landscape ecology, cognitive and behavioral research, endocrinology, epidemiology and population biology. The not-for-profit Lincoln Park Zoo attracts an estimated 3 million visitors per year and is one of America’s last remaining free admission zoos.

The Black Ensemble Theater

The mission of the Black Ensemble Theater is to eradicate racism and its damaging effects upon our society through the utilization of theater arts. BE achieves its mission through productions and programs that perpetuate the history of the African American people, while reaching out to a cross-cultural audience and serving disenfranchised communities.

The Black Ensemble Theater’s theatrical productions and educational outreach programs have been featured in the New York Times, The New York Post, Crain’s Chicago Business, Jet and Ebony, just to name a few. Some of our most popular productions include “The Jackie Wilson Story”, “The Other Cinderella” and “Don’t Make Me Over: In Tribute to Dionne Warwick”.

1/13/11 JMT Consulting Group Sage MIP Fund Accounting Users Group

If you use Sage MIP Fund Accounting we cordially invite you to an upcoming User Group meeting we’re hosting on Thursday January 13 at the Chicago Hilton Garden Inn Downtown.

We will be looking at administrative functions and reporting tips that will help you prepare for your audit. We will be sharing a lot of helpful information about the software that you can benefit from but this is also an opportunity to grow your network and meet others who are putting the power of Sage MIP Fund Accounting to work for their nonprofit.

To register click here or contact Lyndsey Murphy, Marketing Coordinator
845.319.7610 lmurphy@jmtconsulting.com

The Children’s Discovery Museum

The mission of the Children’s Discovery Museum is to inspire the love of learning through the power of play.

The Children’s Discovery Museum is a different kind of museum — where touching the exhibits is actually encouraged. The exhibits are designed for kids of any age to touch, climb on, climb into, and even take apart and put back together. It’s a liberty kids are seldom afforded in a museum — or anywhere else!

1/13/11 A CFO’s Guide to Nonprofit Financials

Join us at Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush for lunch and a discussion on knowing when your organization is ready to change financial systems.  We’ll discuss how to determine the ROI of any system change, whether or not your current system is the cause of inefficiencies, what options are there for a nonprofit interested in hosting system in the cloud environment, and much more.

To register: Email nhasser@jmtconsulting.com or call 888.368.2463.

Victory Gardens Theater

From its founding in 1974 through the present day, Victory Gardens Theater has dedicated itself to playwrights and their works as well as emphasizing the development of an ethnically and culturally diverse community of artists. Recipient of the 2001 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Victory Gardens continues to expand on its new works initiative through its 14-member Playwrights Ensemble, as well as work from playwrights who are changing theater in the United States and abroad. Victory Gardens has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater.

New England Aquarium Enjoys Fund Accounting Efficiencies with Help from JMT Consulting Group, Sage MIP Fund Accounting

The New England Aquarium, located in Boston, hosts 1.3 million visitors every year.  In addition, it provides marine animal rescue and research; it develops and provide educational resources for teachers, students and the general public; and led the charge in the conservation of the Phoenix Islands, one of the world’s largest marine protected areas, to name just a few of its many programs.  “We’re a lot more than just a giant fish tank,” notes Director of Accounting Services Tricia Wong.

When Wong came to work for the New England Aquarium they were using a legacy DOS-based system that was requiring excessive amounts of manual reporting, “I knew there was a better way to do things,” states Wong, a veteran of numerous accounting software system implementations.  “We began our search and were open to viewing a variety of solutions.  However, we were adamant that the solution not require customizations.”

At any given time, New England Aquarium is managing 75 to 100 grants.  “The lengths of the grants vary dramatically.  Some of the grants are awarded for a 5 year project, others are 3 months in duration, and everything in between,” notes Wong, “In the past, we would close out the month in arrears and then it might be another 30 days before we were paid.  Those days are gone now that we are using Sage MIP Fund Accounting.  We generate our bills in Sage MIP Fund Accounting during the closing process.  No more manual invoicing in Excel.  Sage MIP Fund Accounting has made us operate much more efficiently.  We can now close the month in 5 business days, where with the old software is was double the time.”

Another efficiency New England Aquarium enjoys is in the area of allocations.  “The process was painful,” recalls Wong.  “It would take hours and hours just to run the various reports and even more time making adjustments.  Using Sage MIP Fund Accounting, I can complete the entire process in a half hour.  We love the software and would recommend it highly.”

Wong was impressed with the team from JMT Consulting Group, “We met with many different people from JMT,” Wong remembers.  “We stated that we were not interested in any customization and Jacki (Jacqueline M. Tiso, President and Founder of JMT) and her team patiently sat with us and showed us, using the software, how each process worked.”

Wong cautions other nonprofit organizations to be wary of purchasing any system that will require customizations, “The problem is that the customizations that you pay a high price for may very likely be rendered worthless with the next upgrade of the core software.  With customizations, you must either be forced to live with old version software, or pay to have the customization updated every time the software has a new release.  And for nonprofits, there is really no need for it.  Sage MIP Fund Accounting can do what nonprofits need it to do.  I can’t imagine using anything else.”