CFO for Impact
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Finance leadership for Canadian charities and nonprofits

Finance that keeps up with your mission.

For Canadian charities and not-for-profits that need finance to lead, not lag. Senior leadership, forward-looking planning, and board-ready clarity to match your mission.

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The reality

You should be leading your mission, not chasing your numbers.

These are the things we hear from executive directors and boards before they call us. If they sound familiar, you are not alone.

“We're making major organizational decisions without clear financial insight. It feels like we're flying blind.”

“I lie awake wondering if we will run out of cash before year-end. When the board asks if we will hit budget, I cannot give them a clear answer.”

“I honestly could not tell you which of our programs are financially healthy and which ones are quietly draining us.”

“Everything in finance feels manual. Reporting takes too long, the close drags on, and the rest of the organization is waiting on numbers that are never ready.”

Why CFO for Impact

A finance partner built for the nonprofit sector, and nothing else.

Most fractional finance firms treat nonprofits as one industry among many, and many present a controller as a CFO. We were built differently.

01

Boutique by design

Most firms grow by handing clients to more junior staff. We watched it happen, and we built CFO for Impact the other way. We stay deliberately small. Every engagement is led by a senior partner from the first conversation, not handed off after the sale, and we look for real fit before we say yes.

02

Specialists, not generalists

We work only with charities and not-for-profits. Not one industry among many. The only one. Every process, template and recommendation is shaped by the sector.

03

Operators, not just advisors

Every person on our bench has worked full-time inside a Canadian nonprofit's finance function. Some have also spent time on the audit side at a Big Four firm. We have lived the audit, the board meeting, and the cash crunch when funding ends.

04

A CFO in every engagement

Every engagement, big or small, has a CFO-level partner leading it. Strategic finance leadership is the floor of what we do, not an upgrade reserved for larger clients.

05

Built for boards, funders and auditors

Reporting your board can actually use. Controls that hold up. Fund and grant accounting that survives scrutiny. We build for the people who judge your finances.

How we help

Finance leadership, scaled to what you actually need.

Take the full leadership layer, a single role, or one focused project. We meet you where you are.

Our core engagement

Fractional CFO and Controller

Senior finance leadership for organizations that already have day-to-day accounting handled. A fractional CFO for strategy and a controller for oversight and reporting, working together as your finance leadership team. Two senior finance roles for less than the cost of one.

Best for Organizations with a bookkeeper in place that need the strategy, oversight and board-ready reporting only a senior finance team provides.

Fractional CFO

Forward-looking finance leadership. Strategic planning, cash flow forecasting and scenario modelling, plus a financial partnership with your board and funders that surfaces risks and opportunities while there is still time to act on them.

Best forOrganizations with day-to-day accounting handled that need strategy and a stronger financial partner for the board.

Your Outsourced Finance Department

The fullest option. We run the entire finance function, bookkeeping and payroll included, as one managed team.

Best forOrganizations that want finance fully handled, from daily transactions to board-level strategy, by one partner.

Audit Readiness & Remediation

Walk into your audit prepared. We fix the gaps before the auditor finds them.

Best forOrganizations heading into an audit, or recovering from one that surfaced findings.

Interim Finance Leadership

Your CFO, finance director or controller has moved on. We step in immediately to keep the close, board reporting and audit timeline on track while you find the right permanent hire.

Best forOrganizations between finance leaders that need experienced hands right away.

Finance Function Assessment

A clear-eyed review of where your finances stand, and a practical plan for what to do next.

Best forOrganizations that sense something is not working and want a clear, objective starting point.

Project Engagements

When a defined finance problem needs senior attention on a clear timeline. System implementations, controls remediation, fund accounting setup, multi-year forecasts, board policy work, finance team redesigns.

Best forOrganizations with a specific, time-bound finance problem that needs senior, hands-on attention until it is resolved.

The difference we make

What changes when finance is led well.

A few examples of the work, with organizations kept anonymous to respect their confidentiality.

From guesswork to a forecast they could trust

A growing community organization had no reliable cash flow forecast and could not confidently explain financial results to the board. Within 60 days, leadership had a rolling forecast, monthly budget-to-actual reporting, and a board that walked into meetings with answers instead of questions.

Community organization
Knowing which programs were really working

A national charity was receiving financial statements every month, yet leadership still could not tell which programs were financially sustainable. We built program-level reporting and dashboards that let the executive team and the board name the programs to invest in, the ones to fix, and the ones that needed honest conversations.

National charity
25+ days to 5

A health charity was taking more than 25 days to close the books each month, run by hand on spreadsheets. We rebuilt the process, automated what could be automated, and brought month-end close down to five business days, so leadership could act on this month's numbers, not last month's.

Health charity

Who we serve

Built for the full range of Canada's nonprofit sector.

We work with charities and not-for-profits across Canada, from established organizations to those growing into their next stage.

Charities & Foundations
Social Services & Community Organizations
Arts & Culture Organizations
Health Organizations & Hospital Foundations
Associations & Membership Organizations
Faith-Based Organizations

Free self-assessment

The Nonprofit Finance Health Check.

A two-minute check for executive directors and board members. Tick the statements that are true for your organization today.

Nothing is stored. This is just for you.
Ian Tsui, Founder of CFO for Impact

Meet the founder

Ian Tsui, Founder and Principal

CPA, CMA  •  Master of Accounting, University of Waterloo

CFO for Impact was founded by Ian Tsui, a Chartered Professional Accountant who has spent his career in the Canadian not-for-profit sector. Ian holds a Master of Accounting from the University of Waterloo and has led finance functions at some of the country's most recognized nonprofit organizations while overseeing HR, IT and Operations.

He started CFO for Impact on a simple conviction: that nonprofits, regardless of size or resources, deserve access to real finance leadership, not bookkeeping dressed up as something more.

The practice is founder-led and growing, supported by a network of experienced senior practitioners brought into engagements as they are needed. Every person who works on your finances has held a senior finance role inside a nonprofit. That is the standard, and it does not flex.

By design, we stay small. That is what lets every engagement keep the senior attention it was sold, from the first call onward.

Common questions

Questions worth asking.

What is a fractional CFO?

A fractional CFO is an experienced finance leader who works with your organization on a part-time or retained basis. You get senior strategic finance leadership, the kind that informs board decisions and long-term planning, without the cost of a full-time executive hire.

How is CFO for Impact different from our auditor or accounting firm?

Your auditor reviews your finances once a year. A traditional accounting firm typically focuses on tax and compliance. CFO for Impact provides ongoing finance leadership: the strategy, reporting, controls and audit readiness that keep your organization strong all year. We complement your auditor rather than replace them, and we make their job easier.

Will I actually work with a senior person, or get passed to a junior team after the sale?

You will work with a senior partner from your first conversation. By design, we stay a small firm: every engagement is led by an experienced practitioner who has held senior finance roles inside Canadian nonprofits, not by a salesperson who hands you off after you sign. It is a deliberate choice about how we grow, and it is the reason we are careful about how many clients we take on at any time.

We already have a bookkeeper. Do we still need this?

Often yes. A bookkeeper records transactions. A controller ensures accuracy, internal controls and reliable reporting. A CFO provides strategy and forward planning. CFO for Impact adds the controller and CFO layers your bookkeeper was never meant to cover, and we are glad to work alongside a bookkeeper you already trust.

How much does it cost?

Every engagement is scoped to the organization, so there is no fixed price list. As a guide, our model is designed to cost less than a single senior full-time finance hire while giving you both CFO and controller capability. We recommend starting with a Finance Function Assessment, which produces a clear, tailored proposal.

Do you work with organizations outside Ontario?

Yes. We are based in Ontario and work with charities and nonprofits across Canada, remotely. Modern finance work does not require us to be in the same room.

What size of organization do you work with?

We work with a range of nonprofits, from smaller organizations growing past the limits of bookkeeping to larger, established charities with complex funding. The Finance Function Assessment is the best way to confirm the right level of support for your organization.

Get in touch

Let's talk about your finances.

Book a complimentary, no-pressure consultation. We will listen to where your organization is, and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.

Emailinfo@cfoforimpact.ca
Phone416-931-4268
ServingCharities and nonprofits across Canada

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