Finance Director

Shalom House, Inc., seeks a seasoned finance director to join the leadership team of this beloved, well-established nonprofit organization in Portland, Maine. Shalom House offers hope for adults living with severe mental illness by providing an array of community-based mental health services and a choice of quality housing that helps people lead stable and fulfilling lives in the community. With 27 residential properties and revenue exceeding $23 million annually, Shalom House rests on a complex financial structure requiring sound administration of primarily public funds and strict regulatory compliance.

The new finance director will work in close collaboration with the executive director, the board’s finance committee, and other members of the leadership team to advance the organization’s mission and support sustainable growth.

The finance director directs, develops and administers all aspects of Shalom House’s financial operations, reporting to the executive director and directly managing a staff of three. This individual serves as a key financial resource to the board of directors and its committees, functions as staff liaison for the finance committee, and participates actively in assessing the organization’s financial position and the impact of strategic plans and programming decisions.

Major areas of responsibility include:

• Manage the agency’s assets to ensure proper liquidity and adequate return within the risk constraints imposed by Shalom House’s philosophy and government regulations
• Ensure that all accounting procedures are in accordance with GAAP and MAAP standards
• Provide accurate and timely financial reports and analyses on a regular basis and as needed, including detailed variances
• Oversee all financial, project/program and grant accounting and ensure the proper maintenance of financial records
• Lead the annual budgeting and planning process in conjunction with the executive director and other directors, administering and reviewing all financial plans and budgets, monitoring progress and changes, and keeping agency leaders abreast of the organization’s financial status
• Review, approve and monitor expenditures and cost allocations to ensure consistency with the budget and applicable accounting standards
• Coordinate and lead the annual audit process, liaising with external auditors and the board’s finance committee and assessing any changes necessary
• Manage organizational cash flow and forecasting
• Maintain productive working relationships with representatives of the agency’s funding sources and complete all cost reports and other contract reporting requirements in a timely manner
• Investigate opportunities for additional/alternative funding resources and pursue as appropriate
• Oversee all contracts and ensure other directors are aware of reporting expectations as applicable

• Hire, train, supervise, and evaluate the job performance of accounting staff, promoting adherence to the highest professional standards and attending to employees’ individual development goals
• Update and implement all necessary business policies and accounting practices; provide ongoing review, and as needed improvement, to the finance department’s overall policy and procedure manual

• Consult regularly with the executive director and other directors regarding issues facing the agency
• Assist the executive director with public relations and liaison work with community and funding resources
• Represent the executive director and the agency as needed with the board and committees and at community-based events

Shalom House, a nondenominational organization, began 54 years ago with one man’s commitment to creating a safe, caring place where people with mental illness could live in the community. In the late 1960s thousands of patients with mental illness were released from hospitals during the deinstitutionalization movement and forced to fend for themselves in unprepared and often unwelcoming communities. Birger Johnson’s brother was one of them, so with the help of like-minded friends and community and civic leaders, he opened Shalom House in 1972, as a…