Background
When Judy Kruger became President and CEO of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce in June 2022, she inherited a membership organization that needed to come back to life after the pandemic. 4 years later, chamber revenue is up about 85%, its programming is bigger, and the back office has held steady through a turnaround, a wildfire response, and a leadership transition.
The challenge: a chamber to rebuild, from day one
Judy stepped in with one mandate: pull the chamber out of the pandemic. Her first read on the numbers showed a chamber that was $20k in the red at year-end.
She needed to bring live programming back after 2 years of virtual events and return the organization to vitality. What she did not have to do was go find those numbers because the bookkeeping, monthly financials, and board reporting were already in place.
So Judy's full attention in those first critical months went straight to strategy instead of forensic accounting.
What the new CEO didn't have to think about
The strongest thing a finance partner can give a new CEO is a shorter list of things to worry about. Judy's read on day one was less about what SPRCHRGR does and more about what she didn't have to worry about herself.
“It was a relief to come in to an organization and already have all the books lined up, all the monthly P&Ls in place. I didn't have to build a budget. I didn't have to start bookkeeping. It was all handled with SPRCHRGR, and packaged just beautifully.”
That relief is the product of an integrated back office running quietly underneath her. Instead of a list of tasks Judy has to manage, it shows up as a list of things she never touches:
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She doesn't reconcile the books or build the reports. The year-end and monthly P&Ls she uses to steer the organization arrive done, in a format she can act on.
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She doesn't chase grant billing. As new grant funding comes in, SPRCHRGR stands up the invoicing and bills funders month over month as the work gets delivered. One current grant runs to $300,000, with 3 vendors under a single contract, and Judy never has to track who invoiced what.
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She doesn't stitch the membership data to the accounting. Dues, sponsorships, and event income all live in the chamber's ChamberMaster CRM. Shana, the chamber's lead on the account, works fluently inside it, so the membership numbers and the books stay in sync without Judy playing translator.
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She doesn't run payroll or HR. Payroll funding, benefits, and 1099s run through TriNet, connected to the rest of the books.
Every other week, Judy meets with Shana. The calls cover open questions, new vendors, the chamber's 4 major annual events, and budget variances like a health-insurance line running over estimate, decisions Judy makes with clean numbers already in front of her.
“It's a package deal that is really an advantage to our organization.”
The partnership also takes on a risk every CEO now carries: fraud. Judy has been targeted before. At a prior organization, an overseas hacker got into her email and mimicked her voice and tone to request a large payment. So the chamber runs clear checks and balances. The board treasurer sees the finance emails. Requests above a set threshold get a second set of eyes. If a payment request looks off, Shana calls Judy directly before anything moves. It is one more thing Judy doesn't have to catch alone.
Three chapters of continuity: COVID to the Palisades Fire
The case for a steady finance partner is made across the moments when everything else is moving. Over seven years, two different CEOs, and three extraordinary challenges most recently, the chamber stood strong on consistent books and back office support.
Chapter one: the pandemic
SPRCHRGR started with the chamber in July 2019, just months before COVID closed Santa Monica down. Through 2 years of virtual events and upended budgets, under Judy's predecessor, the monthly close never stopped. The books that Judy would later call “packaged just beautifully” were being kept clean the entire time she was still somewhere else.
Chapter two: the turnaround
Judy arrived in June 2022 into the recovery. With reliable reporting in front of her, she could see exactly where to cut and where to bring money in, and move fast. That clarity is what turned a chamber $20,000 in the red into one growing revenue about 85% over the four years that followed. The financial continuity from chapter one is what made chapter two a strategy problem instead of a cleanup problem.
Chapter three: the Palisades Fire
The hardest test came in early 2025. With the Palisades Fire burning miles away, the chamber put its own work on hold and opened its doors to residents and businesses in need.
“We could rely on SPRCHRGR to continue all the documentation that we needed, keeping track of our expenses as well as our income, while we really just focused on what does this community need in this unique disaster.”
A year later, the chamber ran its first Rebuild, Health, and Wellness Expo, funded through a Santa Monica College grant with more recovery funding in the pipeline. The aim was to help local architects, builders, and trades capture the multi-year rebuild of the 6,000 homes lost, and keep that spending inside the Santa Monica economy rather than watching it go out of state. As Judy noted, rebuilding 6,000 homes is a 5 to 10 year project, and the chamber intends to capture as much of it as it can for the West LA region.
Two CEOs, three inflection points, and one finance partner keeping the books steady the whole way. Financial continuity is what freed the chamber to lead through each one.
The results: 85% revenue growth and programming that lasts
Over 4 years, Judy grew chamber revenue by about 85%. She points to financial stewardship as the heart of the CEO role, and to the tight link between funding and programs.
“As a CEO, your number one role is really financial stewardship of an organization.”
With clear numbers and reliable reporting, the chamber matched programming to what an annual member survey said members actually needed, then found the funding to run it. The result is an expanded grant portfolio, a new business workshop series, and a stronger culture of diversity.
Built to outlast the transition
In June 2026, Judy stepped away from the chamber to launch her own public and community affairs firm. Her advice to the incoming CEO is to rely on what is already running.
“The accounting system is strong, it's in place, and the next CEO just needs to step in and rely on the good work that SPRCHRGR does.”
That is what a finance partnership is built for: continuity that survives a change at the top. The next CEO inherits a back office that already works, and the years of steady books that prove it.
Who partners well with SPRCHRGR
If you lead a nonprofit or a growing business, your time is best spent on mission and money coming in, not on the close cycle. Judy's read on the right fit is simple: accounting is one area a leader can hand off completely.
“This is one area you can delegate off well, so a CEO can focus on the real role: bringing in money, developing programming, recruiting and training the right staff, setting the vision. The person that understands the value of delegating accounting out.”
Lead a nonprofit or a growing organization and want your accounting, reporting, CRM, and payroll working together, so you can get back to the mission? Let's talk!
