House of Blues Music Forward Foundation Reduces General Expenses by 15% with ClickTime
Since 1993, the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation has been dedicated to fostering unity and creating opportunity through music. The organization educates youth about the role of music and culture in social change, invests in music education programs, creates performance opportunities for young and emerging musicians, and inspires young people with practical experience in the music industry.
Through ClickTime, the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation is better able to focus on their mission, and significantly reduce the amount of time and effort spent on operating and managing their business.
Tracking Time and Expenses
In the organization's early days, part-time and salaried employees tracked time via handwritten timesheets. There was no single system for easy time entry or reporting of employee utilization.
"It's important that we have a clear understanding of what our teams are working on," said Director of Operations Elisa Morimoto. "Both from an employee performance and accounting perspective, we need to accurately track and report on employee time. ClickTime transformed a challenging task into a simple one."
But it wasn't just tracking time that was challenging. Before ClickTime, it was difficult for the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation to manage, approve, and report on expenses. Employees would manually write out expense reports and wait for approvals.
"Now it's a really streamlined process," said Morimoto. "ClickTime expenses are easy for our employees to use and our department heads to approve. Our entire expense management system is centralized and easy to manage. It saves us a lot of headaches."
“ClickTime has changed how we run our business. We have centralized many of our processes and streamlined those processes with ClickTime's support, ultimately giving 15% more time back to our employees.”
— Elisa Morimoto, Director of Operations
Reporting on Functional Expenses
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in addition to total expenses, the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation has to report on functional expenses. Costs, including employee time and labor, must be reported and categorized as either Program, General, or Fundraising.
"I can tell you a pencil is for a specific program, but it doesn't work that way for other costs, like insurance," said Morimoto. "ClickTime allows me to allocate those expenses accurately based on employee time. I can use the reporting function instead of estimating or laboriously adding up times from handwritten timesheets; it saves a great deal of time and helps ensure the auditing process goes smoothly."
Between expedited time and expense entry, powerful reporting tools, and the ability to quickly access and audit data, ClickTime has made a major impact on operations at the foundation.
"ClickTime has changed how we run our business. It has helped us centralize many operational processes and process payments and payroll more quickly. The combination of centralizing processes and utilizing ClickTime has saved our employees 15% of their time," said Morimoto.
World-Class Customer Service
Despite great success with the application, there are times when Morimoto needs to reach out to the ClickTime team for support. With near-24/7 coverage from college-educated time tracking and resource planning experts, a helpful response to any question is never far away.
"I like that I can call ClickTime and somebody answers," said Morimoto. "That access to me is very important. Knowing that I can get a quick response is very helpful. They're always there for me."