Owned by you
A guardrails-first back-office framework for non-profits. Every gift, budget entry, and fund allocation is verified against accounting standards and your policies before it posts — not after. Built by a CPA with 15+ years inside these systems.
Back-office errors don't surface until it's expensive to fix them.
Manual reconciliation across disconnected platforms consumes 20+ hours per month at a typical non-profit. More damaging than the time: pre-built connectors routinely post donations as journal entries instead of sales receipts — an error that misrepresents revenue type, breaks fund reporting, and creates CRA compliance exposure.
TERN builds a verification layer between your operations and your ledger. Before anything posts, it checks the transaction type, fund restriction coding, and receipt eligibility. This is not just automation — it is automation with controls.
Spreadsheet-driven reconciliation across 3+ systems. Error-prone, unscalable, and unauditable.
Fully automated, auditable, and scalable. Every donation verified before it posts.
Why transaction type matters
Posted as a sales receipt — not a journal entry.
Pre-built connectors frequently get this wrong. TERN catches it before it reaches the ledger, preserving fund coding, receipt eligibility, and the audit trail your accountant and the CRA both need.
Based on a real national non-profit client. Low-code predecessor built with Microsoft Power Automate and Teams (2025).
One system. Three deep domains.
TERN isn't a collection of separate tools. It's a single intelligent system with deep expertise in the back-office workflows that consume non-profit capacity.
Embedded Across All Three Capabilities
Human Approval Checkpoints — built in, not bolted on.
TERN routes sensitive decisions to your team before execution — not after. Approval requests arrive in Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, or Slack. Your staff reviews and approves from tools they already use. No new logins. No separate dashboard.
Connects with the platforms you already run
Use the AI you have. Or let us bring it.
TERN works with your existing technology setup. You choose the deployment that fits your organisation — the guardrails are the same either way.
You already have an AI subscription.
If your organisation uses Claude Pro, Microsoft 365 Copilot, or OpenAI for Business — licence TERN connectors and run them through the AI you already pay for. Lower cost. Your AI, our guardrails.
No AI subscription required.
We deploy a purpose-built chat agent in your existing workspace — Teams, Google Chat, or Slack. Your team interacts with TERN in tools they already use. No new software. No new logins. We handle the infrastructure.
Want to know how this works technically? Our FAQ explains it in plain language.
Arctic Tern — longest migration of any animal on Earth
Precision built for the distance.
The Arctic Tern makes the longest migration of any animal on Earth — from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back, covering over 90,000 kilometres each year. It navigates with precision that defies its size, arrives exactly where it needs to be, and does it all on remarkably little.
That is the operating reality of every non-profit we work with. Long missions. Chronic under-resourcing. Financial systems that were never designed for fund accounting, grant compliance, and restricted revenue management — yet somehow navigated anyway, year after year.
TERN is named for that quality of navigation: purposeful, precise, built for the distance. “Built by the sector. Owned by you.” is not a tagline — it is a design constraint. Every architecture decision in TERN reflects it.
Have questions about the TERN Suite?
Browse our knowledge base for answers — or reach out directly and we'll respond personally.
Your back office should run. Not manage you.
TERN is in active development. The fastest path to early access is through the Mission Multiplier Program — where you build the operational fluency and AI skills to get the most from it.
Not ready for MMP? Join the waitlist. We'll reach out as capabilities roll out — no commitment, no pitch.