When Bill Shields became Executive Director of American Society for Public Administration in January 2014, he arrived knowing the organization well. Having worked alongside ASPA for years at prior nonprofits, he knew its people, its members, and its mission. What he didn’t know was the extent of rebuilding that would be required. And where that was really apparent? In their finances.
A Mission Bridging Study and Service
Founded in 1939 at the University of Chicago, ASPA has spent more than eight decades doing something no other organization quite does: They bring together the people who study public service and the people who practice it. In a landscape full of specialized associations and siloed disciplines, ASPA proudly aims to remain a generalist and arm their members with a wide array of knowledge.
For more than 80 years, that has meant publishing Public Administration Review, one of the top-rated journals in the field. In 2026, it means providing a large library of free e-learning content to members, maintaining 40 local chapters across the country, managing 25 international partnerships, and hosting their annual conference. A conference only missed twice since 1939, once for World War II and the other for COVID, their conference brings 1,400+ public service professionals, academics, and students together in one place to learn, receive mentorship, and connect.
But the work goes beyond programming. As the federal landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, ASPA has stepped further into advocacy by issuing statements, providing congressional testimony, and serving as a trusted, principled voice for those who dedicate their careers to the public good.
That kind of reach requires an organization that runs well behind the scenes.
Unusable Information and a Board Unable to Do Its Job
When Bill arrived, ASPA had a finance director who wasn’t delivering, but receiving a salary well above what the role warranted. A replacement finance manager followed and didn’t work out either. By the end of 2016, Bill was ready for a different approach entirely.
But the personnel problem was only part of the picture. The financial systems were a deeper issue. Books were kept across multiple spreadsheets. Financial data arrived three to four months behind, too old for it to be effective. There was no regularity to reporting, no reliable process, and no visibility into where the organization actually stood at any given moment.
For an organization operating on tight margins, with revenue flowing in from their journal, membership dues, chapters, sections, an annual conference, and an endowment, the stakes of not knowing were high.
"Multiple sets of books and spreadsheets producing unusable information prohibited us from doing our job effectively — and our board and finance committee from doing their fiduciary responsibilities."
ASPA’s financial complexity only added to the challenge. The organization operates two separate entities: the main operating organization and the ASPA Endowment, a separate 501(c)(3) holding both endowed and non-endowed invested funds. Consolidating across both, while also managing dues for dozens of chapters and sections, required more than the existing system could provide.
Recommendation Leads to Partnership
The path to Chazin came through trust. A colleague of Bill’s knew Chazin by reputation and made the introduction. Bill interviewed with founder Adele Chazin and hired the firm shortly after. No lengthy RFP. Just a trusted recommendation, a strong first impression, and a clear sense that this was the right fit.
That was nearly nine years ago.
Reliable Design, Transformative Results
Chazin came in and got to work, starting with significant cleanup before establishing any kind of reliable rhythm. From there, the foundation built was straightforward in concept and transformative in practice: accurate books, delivered on time, every month.
Today, Bill receives monthly financial workbooks for both the operating organization and the endowment by the 20th of the month for the prior month. That consistency has changed how ASPA is managed at every level. Bill can report meaningfully to his finance committee and board at every meeting. The board can fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities. And Bill himself can do something that simply wasn’t possible before: look ahead.
"Their work has allowed me to become more focused on the actual
work that I should be doing."
The value of that focus shows up in concrete ways. As an example: ASPA’s budget projected a surplus of around $21,000 for 2025. Because Chazin had already delivered January financial statements and was closing February ahead of an upcoming committee meeting, Bill was able to identify, just three months into the fiscal year, that the organization was actually tracking toward approximately $110,000 in net income, based on funds already contracted, committed, or in hand. That kind of real-time clarity doesn’t come from spreadsheets and delayed reports. It comes from a financial partner who closes the books accurately and on time, every time.
Monthly Close, And More
Beyond the monthly close, Chazin handles the full scope of back-office financial and compliance work: audit preparation, annual corporate filings in Washington D.C. and Illinois, Department of Labor filings for ASPA’s retirement plan, insurance renewal surveys, accounts payable management, Bill.com setup, and vendor onboarding. Things that, as Bill puts it, he would have “delayed and pushed to the side to a point where it would get [him] into trouble” are handled consistently without him having to think about them.
The audit results speak for themselves. For three consecutive years, ASPA has closed its audit without a single journal entry adjustment, a result Bill attributes directly to Chazin’s work throughout the year.
"The fact that you're able to close out an audit, for the past three years, without any journal entry adjustments, that's not because of me. That's the work that Chazin has done over the course of the year."
More Than a Vendor Relationship
What stands out about the way Bill describes the relationship isn’t just the quality of the work, it’s the nature of it.
Chazin has grown with ASPA over nearly nine years, taking on additional tasks organically as needs have evolved, like managing filings, onboarding new vendors, or accelerating a monthly close when Bill needs it. The relationship has moved from bookkeeper to something much closer to a CFO function, with Bill able to ask anything and get a knowledgeable, timely answer.
"My best relationships with vendors are ones where I really don't see them as a vendor. I see them as a partner. Their success is our success."
For an organization like ASPA, one that wants its members to look at how it operates and feel confident, that kind of financial partnership isn’t just operationally valuable. It’s part of the mission.
"I've always wanted ASPA to be an organization where members knew it was being managed responsibly. Chazin has been absolutely essential to that. Absolutely essential."
Is Your Nonprofit Ready to Lead With Confidence?
If your organization is making decisions using financial data that’s months old, struggling to give your board what it needs, or relying on systems that aren’t built to last, you don’t have to stay there. Like ASPA, the right financial partner can give you the accuracy, timeliness, and clarity to manage with confidence and stay focused on the work that matters.
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