Director of accounting shares best practices at national conference

In early September, Anna Wagner found herself putting in some long days in a two-week stretch.

Wagner, director of accounting at The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham, finished a major phase of the annual audit and turned immediately towards prepping for the Finance, Administration, and Operations Group (FAOG) national conference.

On Sept. 10, she co-presented a session on “Continual Improvement and Best Practices” with Michael Bankert, controller for The San Francisco Foundation, and Jen Tingley, principal at CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen), based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Wagner, a member of FAOG’s accounting practices committee, said networking with and learning from peers is always a highlight. “Community foundations are very supportive of each other and openly share what they’ve learned with suggestions for ways to serve our donors and communities better,” she added. “Speaking at the conference was a great honor and joy to give back to the community by sharing what I’ve learned over the years on the hot topic of best practices to safeguard the assets we are entrusted with and improve processes in a constantly changing environment so that we can focus on our mission to give back to our community.”

The conference drew professionals working in the community foundation context from around the United States.  Among the keynote speakers was Catherine Bessant, CEO of Foundation for The Carolinas, the fifth-largest community foundation in the U.S. with nearly 3,000 charitable funds and more than $4 billion in funds.

FAOG hosted professional development sessions for administrators and staff working in all sizes of community foundations, and some geared specifically for certain sizes. The organization categorizes by size of endowment, so, for example, The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg Rockingham falls into the group of those with $250 million or less.