Case Study: PAWS Chicago achieves 40% more efficient payables and real-time program-level financial visibility with Sage Intacct

PAWS Chicago rescues its financial management with Sage Intacct

PAWS Chicago is a 20‑year‑old, $11M nonprofit working to make Chicago a “no kill” community—adopting out 5,000+ animals annually and running outreach programs that perform over 17,000 spay/neuter surgeries each year. As the organization grew, its QuickBooks-based accounting and an increasingly complex chart of accounts made it difficult to produce Form 990s or the program- and department‑level managerial reporting leadership needed.

Working with consultant Porte Brown, PAWS Chicago moved to Sage Intacct, consolidating purchasing, payables, and expense workflows into a single cloud financial system and restructuring its accounting around a multi‑dimensional general ledger. The change eliminated double‑entry, sped the monthly close (saving ~2 days) and cash reconciliations (1 day), made payables ~40% more efficient, delivered real‑time dashboards and program‑level visibility, shortened board meetings, and paid for itself in under three months while enabling better decision‑making and donor reporting.

PAWS Chicago

Alisa Brill

Chief Financial Officer