📍 Hello and welcome to the Hybrid School Builders Podcast. I’m your host, Rebecca Foley, and I’m so glad you’re joining me today. I’m a fellow grassroots founder, and my goal is to make your journey toward building a sustainable hybrid school a little bit easier.

If you’re dreaming of starting a hybrid school—or you’ve already gotten started—you’re in the right place.

Join me as we dive into real stories, practical tips, and hard-won lessons I’ve learned to help you launch and grow your program with confidence. Because building a hybrid school isn’t just about creating a business or creating jobs. It’s not even just about serving the children who attend your program.

It’s literally about reshaping the landscape of education—and we do that one community, one entrepreneur, and one program at a time.

Okay, so we’ve done several episodes on nonprofit leadership, governance, and boards, and now I want to shift gears and talk about some operational details, especially when you’re first getting started.

Once you’ve sent in your paperwork and you’re moving toward enrolling students and hiring staff, there’s an important step in between that you don’t want to skip—and that’s setting up your money flow and bookkeeping correctly.

This is one of those prep steps where a little effort up front will save you a lot of time and frustration later. If you set it up correctly from the beginning and stay on top of it, things get much easier.

Step One: Open a Business Bank Account

First, make sure you have a business bank account and keep all business funds completely separate from your personal money.

If you’re a nonprofit, you may be able to find banks with lower fees or better minimums, but a standard small business account usually works just fine. Pay attention to minimum balances and fees so you’re not surprised later.

You’ll also want to think ahead about who is listed as the account owner. If there are multiple owners, certain tasks—like adding signers—can become clunky because everyone has to be present. Having a single owner with multiple authorized signers can be more streamlined.

That said, if you’re a nonprofit, this is also where financial transparency comes in. From the beginning, think about how your treasurer or bookkeeper will access statements, whether statements get sent to more than one person, and how you’ll make sure there are multiple eyes on the account.

Connect to Bookkeeping Software

Next, connect your bank account to bookkeeping software so transactions automatically feed in.

I used Wave Apps for years. It’s free, works well for simple transactions, and is great when you’re just starting out. QuickBooks is the industry standard, but it can be expensive and more than you need early on.

Once your bank account is connected, all money going in and out—tuition, fees, donations—shows up in the software. Then comes the important part: labeling transactions.

This is where bookkeeping actually happens.

I’ll be honest—this is easy to procrastinate on. If you let it pile up, suddenly you’re staring at 20 transactions and can’t remember what “Check #104” was for. Ask me how I know.

If you’re small, go in once a week and label transactions. Use categories that make sense to you. You don’t need perfect accounting language right away—just clarity.

For example:

Supplies (books, pencils, curriculum)

Rent

Insurance

Payroll

Taxes

Ten or twelve clear categories is plenty when you’re starting out.

Why This Matters

Ultimately, this matters for two big reasons.

First, sustainability. You need to know where your money is going, whether you can cover expenses, and whether spending matches your budget.

Second, tax season. Whether you’re an LLC or a nonprofit, you will sit down with an accountant. They need to understand what happened with your money. If everything is labeled clearly, that process is much smoother.

What you don’t want is an accountant asking you to explain transactions from six months ago that you can’t remember. That’s stressful—and avoidable.

Special Notes for Nonprofits

If you’re a nonprofit, there are a few extra things to watch closely.

Be very clear when labeling:

Donations

Grants (especially restricted grants)

Fundraising income

If you receive a grant that must be spent on a specific purpose, label both the deposit and the expenses clearly so you can run reports later.

Another important distinction is program expenses vs. administrative expenses. Program expenses are things spent directly on students. Administrative expenses are back-office costs.

There can be gray areas here, and I’m not giving professional accounting advice—but be aware that this distinction matters in nonprofit reporting.

Hiring Help

Ideally, you’ll have a professional bookkeeper at some point. Even then, you still need to communicate clearly about how things are labeled. Make sure you understand their categories and that they understand yours.

Those categories are called a chart of accounts, and it’s worth making sure everyone is speaking the same language.

Once a year, all of this gets sent to an accountant to file taxes. If things are organized, that process is much easier.

One Last Nonprofit Tip: Platforms Matter

Be careful if you’re using the same platform for fundraising and operational payments.

For example, money collected for a field trip is not fundraising—it’s just pass-through money. But if you’re also using that same platform for actual fundraising events, things can get messy in bookkeeping.

If possible, separate platforms—or at least make sure you can generate reports by event so you can clearly label what was fundraising and what wasn’t.

I learned this the hard way, and it’s much easier to plan for it up front.

The guiding principle with bookkeeping is this:
Keep things separate, clearly labeled, and easy to interpret later.

If you set this up correctly from the beginning—and stay on top of it—you’ll save yourself a lot of time and stress down the road. And if you’re a nonprofit, building transparency practices early will serve you well long-term.

📍 Thanks so much for listening today. Don’t forget to subscribe, and be sure to check out the resources I’m developing at startahybridschool.com.
Send me an email anytime—I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time