When their legacy system couldn’t keep pace, they searched for accounting software for nonprofits and chose Shared Transactions, NetLoan for Borrowers, and NetClose to modernize their financial operations from within NetSuite.

A 20+ day close and no visibility

Before Netgain, TCFD’s finance team was wrestling with processes that consumed far more time and effort than they should have. Under their previous ERP, Great Plains, the month-end close stretched beyond 20 business days. Even after migrating to NetSuite, several critical workflows remained manual and fragmented:

• Time-consuming cost allocations: Each transaction required an Excel template, CSV export, and manual import. Roughly five minutes per allocation with no room for error.

• No centralized close management: Some team members kept checklists; others didn’t. There was no single view of where the team stood in the close, who was blocked, or which tasks were falling behind.

• Lengthy audit preparation: As a heavily regulated nonprofit, TCFD faces rigorous annual audits. Under Great Plains, audit prep didn’t begin until April. Even after moving to NetSuite, the team wasn’t ready until mid-March—leaving little room for review or course corrections.

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Why Netgain, and why three products

Anthony Gaglia first implemented Shared Transactions in 2023 after determining that it offered the right combination of flexibility, product maturity, and strong feedback from other users. At the time, TCFD needed a solution that could support point-in-time, line-level allocations within NetSuite, and Shared Transactions was the best fit for those needs. After that implementation proved successful, he expanded the relationship by adopting NetLoan to consolidate loan management and NetClose to centralize the close process.

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Cost played a role. Other close management tools were significantly more expensive, but it was a few other factors that made the decision straightforward:

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• Flexibility to fit complex needs: TCFD’s NetSuite instance uses a layered segment structure with departments, programs, regions, and grants. Netgain’s solution has helped the AP and GL teams manage that complexity more efficiently while improving visibility into how transactions are allocated. Having the ability to view the original transaction and its related allocation details in one place has been particularly valuable for tracking, review, and follow-up. Netgain has also been a strong partner in enhancing the solution over time to better support TCFD’s needs.

• Consistent vendor experience: After a strong experience with Shared Transactions, TCFD chose to consolidate with Netgain for loan management and close management. “Everyone we’ve dealt with at Netgain has been great,” Anthony says.

• Native to NetSuite: All three products operate inside NetSuite with no middleware. Everything operates inside the same NetSuite for nonprofits environment the team already uses, which was critical after a major ERP migration.

"Just having it all in one spot is what makes Netgain’s products so great. I can't emphasize that enough. Being able to see where we're at right now. There it is. You don't need to go searching around folders."

— Greg Zalewski, Director of Finance

6-day close and audit-ready by February

Before: 20+ business day close, manual CSV allocations, audit prep starting in April, no visibility into who was blocked or behind.

After: A 6-business-day close, one-click allocations, audit-ready by February, and a centralized dashboard showing exactly where the team stands.

The results came fast, and they compounded as the team adopted each product.

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Monthly close reduced from 20+ to 6 business days

The most dramatic result: TCFD cut its month-end close from more than 20 business days under Great Plains to just 6 business days today. That’s 12 days of capacity returned to the finance team every single month.

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Allocation time cut from 5 minutes to 30 seconds

With Shared Transactions, the old workflow of building an Excel template, verifying the allocation, exporting a CSV, and importing it into the system was replaced by a single selection at the transaction line level. “That whole process would take up to five minutes,” Anthony explains. “With Shared Transactions, it takes as little as 30 seconds.”

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Scaling without adding headcount

The efficiency gains have enabled TCFD to support organizational growth without increasing administrative burden on the finance function. “As we’ve grown, we’ve been able to manage that growth within our current finance structure,” Anthony says. “With our old systems, doing that effectively would have been much more challenging.”

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Audit-ready by February—weeks ahead of schedule

Under the old system, the team didn’t begin audit until late-March. Now, TCFD is ready for auditors by February. The faster close and cleaner data have cut billable audit time and given the team breathing room to review before the auditors arrive.

“Being able to do things a little quicker allows us more time to review, which prevents future adjustments. Just having that extra time is a big part of it.”

— Greg Zalewski, Director of Finance

Full visibility into the close for the first time

Before NetClose, the close process lived in people’s heads, in scattered checklists, and across disconnected folders. Now, Greg can see exactly where every task stands from a single dashboard. “Just having it all in one spot...I can’t emphasize that enough,” he says. “I can quickly identify bottlenecks and focus on the things that need most of my attention to meet our deliverables.”

The visibility also surfaced issues that had previously gone unnoticed like work papers that weren’t being completed correctly or tasks that needed explanation, forcing everything out in the open in a way that improved team accountability.

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Stronger team collaboration and communication

NetClose didn’t just organize the close; it changed how the finance team works together. The implementation process itself prompted the team to revisit legacy practices, surface inconsistencies, and align on how work should get done. “Working together to make the system work properly also brought those questions up in a way that helped us,” Greg reflects.

Looking ahead

With three Netgain products running in tandem, The Center for Discovery has transformed its finance operations from a manual, slow-moving function into a streamlined, audit-ready machine. The team is still early in its NetClose journey at just two months in at the time of this conversation, but the trajectory is clear. With Netgain’s accounting software for nonprofits, the team will continue to push for efficiency in their month-end close.

For Anthony, the bottom line is simple: “We shaved 12 days off the close. The results speak for themselves.”

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