Financials
Leadership
The Executive Director/CEO reports directly to the Board of Directors, which has 19 members, 40% of whom are blind or visually impaired. Blind and visually impaired individuals also constitute 40% of the agency staff. The Chief Development Officer (CDO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Human Resources/Facilities Manager and three managers of services and programs report directly to the Executive Director. The Chief Financial Officer oversees the financial management of the agency and reports directly to the Executive Director. The Human Resources/Facilities Manager oversees the human resources coordination and administrative management of the agency in its six locations. The CDO manages a team of five individuals who plan and implement all development and marketing activities in the agency’s five locations. The Director of Rehabilitation Services, the Alternative Information Services Department and the Director of Community Services supervise and coordinate the agency’s direct services.
Financial Control
Financial control of the LightHouse is overseen by the Board’s Finance and Audit Committees working through the Executive Director/CEO and Chief Financial Officer--who manages a finance team of three individuals. All accounting procedures are conducted and coordinated at the San Francisco headquarters. The four person team work closely together to ensure a careful system of checks and balances.
- Receivables: Accounts Receivable (AR) invoices are prepared and sent to customers monthly. AR is reconciled monthly and cash receipts are processed on a daily basis.
- Payables: Invoices are paid on a weekly basis according to their due date. Accounts Payable is reconciled monthly.
- Payroll: Payroll is processed twice a month using an outside payroll service, namely Automatic Data Processing (ADP).
- Financial Statements: Statements are prepared on a monthly basis and reviewed by all members of the executive management team and the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors.
- An external certified audit is conducted annually. The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors engages the CPA firm which conducts the audit and then presents the audited financial statements, first to the audit committee and then to the entire Board of Directors.
Funding Sources
The LightHouse meets the growing needs of the blind and visually impaired community with the support of a multifaceted revenue model. In spite of challenging economic times, the LightHouse has not wavered in its ability to meet the needs of the blind and visually impaired community. The LightHouse relies on individual supporters through individual and corporate donations (including bequests) at 23.44% of the $6,400,000 budget, LightHouse Enterprises (including Adaptations and Digital Data Scan) at 38.75%, return on investments at 24.48%, government grants and contracts at 12.18%, and other support at 1.15%.
Capital Assets and Operating Reserves
The LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired segregates its net assets into two board designated accounts.
A balance of $9,944,851 is designated for capital assets and acquisitions to guarantee the maintenance and preservation of the agency’s capital assets. Capital assets include the agency’s two story headquarters building in the San Francisco Civic Center area and the furniture and equipment housed therein; a 311 acre camp facility in Napa, California and all the structures, equipment and furniture on the site; the manufacturing equipment for its employment enterprise in Oakland, California (LightHouse Industries) and the computer equipment and furniture of the agency’s new document conversion enterprise (Digital Data Scan) in San Francisco, California, as well as the furniture and equipment in satellite offices in San Rafael and Eureka, California.
A balance of $25,306,962 is designated for the agency’s operating reserve and represents four times the annual LightHouse operating budget.
The LightHouse Board of Directors has a spending policy designed to increase the agency’s net assets while funding approximately $1,000,000 of the annual operating budget.
