OnPay frees Texas Agricultural Land Trust up to focus on conservation

About Texas Agricultural Land Trust:

Company Size: 10+ employees
Where: San Antonio, TX
Client Industry: Agriculture | 501(3)(c)
Joined OnPay: December 2021

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Stewards of the land become protectors of the state

In 2007, leaders of Texas’s statewide agricultural initiatives became aware their rural lands were disappearing faster than any other state in the nation. Anything but ordinary, these acres played a critical role in food production, wildlife habitats, rural economies, and providing clean water to local communities. They were also approaching a tipping point, as any further erosion of these spaces could harm water quality and increase demand for county services.

How could they prevent these issues from escalating? By coming together with wildlife and landowner organizations to form the Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT). As landowners themselves, they were already familiar with the day-to-day challenges of farming and ranching, what was at stake, and how to prevent the irreversible loss of rural lands. So they took action.

A steering committee consisting of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the Texas Wildlife Association, and the Texas Farm Bureau convened to develop the new land trust’s mission and core values. By recognizing landowners’ property rights and establishing safeguards to prevent those rights from eroding over time, families are able to keep their land, while Texas remains protected through continued conservation efforts.

THE CHALLENGE

Simplifying payroll, while maximizing impact

Dina McIlhenny has been TALT’s Director of Finance for almost 10 years, taking pride in being part of the nonprofit’s growth, sharing its vision, and making a positive impact on the state’s wildlife and agriculture. She wanted TALT to continue scaling but without compromising its operations, which meant taking a closer look at the organization’s processes. At the top of the list was running payroll more efficiently.

The TALT team had already spent a lot of time and energy trying to improve the payroll process, but issues kept cropping up, whether they worked with a local payroll company or a big-name provider. For example, reaching support was becoming a challenge regardless of the vendor. “In my business, there are just times when I need to be able to call and speak to a live person,” Dina explains. “Most companies were not responsive, so it was always difficult to get answers when we ran into problems.”

THE SEARCH

Big pain points with a big price

From unanswered tax questions to incorrect filings and unexpected extra fees, Dina struggled to get answers. “We were spending about $2,000 to $2,200 a year alone on our payroll software. [Our provider] was charging us for W-2s or added pay runs, delivery charges, and a bunch of extra fees.”

These additional costs were straining the budget, and provider shortcomings became a distraction.

Dina began to search for a new provider, believing a better payroll software existed that checked all the boxes. She knew TALT needed:

• Simple, affordable payroll software that delivered good value
• The ability to pay employees by direct deposit – and in multiple states
• Accurate, automated tax filings and payments for a 501(c)(3)

THE SOLUTION

Maximized time (and money) through the OnPay x TechSoup network

Dina had extensive experience working with nonprofits and using TechSoup, a marketplace of vendors and resources for the nonprofit sector. Over the years, this network had introduced her to many useful services that helped the organizations she worked for — and made her job easier. She learned about OnPay’s payroll and HR software through that same network.

After coming across OnPay, she was impressed by the range of features as well as the perks available through the OnPay x TechSoup partnership. It was also reassuring to know that TechSoup thoroughly vets each of its partners, so Dina could be confident that OnPay would be trustworthy and reliable.

Once she got the green light from her organization to switch providers, everything else was seamless. OnPay had a dedicated onboarding specialist guide Dina and TALT through the onboarding process from start to finish. In addition, OnPay’s team took care of the legwork to migrate all of TALT’s prior wages and employee data for free.

From there, OnPay helped streamline TALT’s operations by automating tax filings and payments. Paying employees across multiple states became a breeze (with the addition of direct deposit payments, too). The employee self-service accounts also made it easy for their staff to update their own banking information and personal details. Thanks to OnPay, TALT successfully streamlined numerous time-consuming processes.