Connecting to the natural world can positively impact our physical and mental health. Fresh air and beautiful surroundings can relieve daily stress and provide space to have fun and get inspired. And beyond feeling better, those with a deeper connection to nature are more likely to develop habits that preserve the environment for future generations.
That’s why the mission of Hidden Villa is so essential. Stretching over 1,600 acres of open space in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California's San Francisco Bay Area, this stunning educational nonprofit and organic farm hosts picturesque views, a hostel, a beautiful garden, event centers, summer camps, and miles of hiking trails through the wilderness. Tens of thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds enjoy everything Hidden Villa offers each year.
Just like an explorer needs a map and compass to navigate the road ahead, a business needs tools to gain control and guide them toward a sustainable financial future. Hidden Villa has remained resilient and pushed through several major challenges over the past years, from pandemic disruptions to increased operational costs. Along the way, they looked for ways to streamline and simplify their financial operations—and that’s where BILL solutions come in.
Founded in 1924 by Frank and Josephine Duveneck, Hidden Villa has a rich history of supporting social change and being a gathering place for discussion and reflection.
The property held the first multiracial summer camp in the 1940s and served as a shelter for refugees fleeing from the Nazis and for Japanese-American families returning from internment camps. By 1960, Hidden Villa had officially become a nonprofit organization, hosting Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the National Farm Workers Movement to organize their first strike of California grape pickers and the American boycott of table grapes.
Today, almost 100 years after its founding, Hidden Villa still supports food justice and social reform. It’s also simply a place to relax, hike, or learn how to milk a cow and make cheese. It’s touched many people over the years, including Accounting Controller Heather Jensen.
Jensen first visited the farm as a second-grader on an overnight field trip. She’s since brought her four children, hiked there, and bought produce from them at the farmers' market. When the opportunity to work there arose a few years ago—she took it in a flash.
Hidden Villa has many financial complexities. With multiple revenue streams from various departments. This includes field trips, summer camps, educational programs, facility rentals, selling their product at the farmer’s market, and more, so the organization functions almost like multiple businesses in one. As a result, they have a robust audit involving numerous program managers and approvers.
Before BILL, Hidden Villa used to manage their payments by mailing paper checks to vendors. While paying 20-30 bills per week, checks would sometimes get lost, and it took a lot of time to make and receive payments.
Managing expenses was also challenging. The 1,600 acre property, with 15 buildings, animals, and farm, continually needed items for upkeep. The team would buy necessary supplies––from animal feed to chainsaws––and hold on to paper receipts for up to a month. Then, the finance team would download all transactions and
In 2020, as the team started working from home during shelter-in-place, their financial processes became increasingly cumbersome. “Our colleague, Lucy Zhang, would spend hours coming in every few days, printing checks, driving around to deliver them and get signatures, and then coming back to mail them,” recalled Jensen. “She’d have to be available for a last-minute check or last-minute anything.”
Jensen was excited to bring BILL to Hidden Villa. “At a previous position, we had 300 clients and used BILL for accounts payable (AP) because we were 100% remote and could enter and pay bills anytime. I just loved BILL so much,” she explained.
The team found BILL easy to implement and immediately appreciated that it helped them adapt to change. “When our longtime executive director left, BILL helped make it easy for another signer to pay our bills,” said Jensen. “It was also so helpful in enabling us to work remotely and now hybrid.”
“As soon as I started at Hidden Villa, I switched to BILL instead of doing paper checks and trying to track people down to sign them. It's just been really easy.” — Heather Jensen, Accounting Controller
The team appreciated fast ePayments and improved organization. “We don’t have to scan paper or look around the office––everything is in BILL,” explained Jensen. “When vendors say, ‘Oh, I don't think you paid that.’ I can quickly show them the payment. It’s fast and vendors can look in BILL and see payment status if they’ve set up a free account. I also like how you can see the actual bill next to the invoice to ensure everything’s right. That’s really beneficial for ensuring everything’s accurate.”
BILL also helped give the team more control and simplified their complex audit process. “I appreciate the robust user controls in BILL,” Jensen continued. “Some team members can just enter bills, others can be approvers, and only the leadership team can make changes once approved. It’s easy to show that to auditors or print the audit history and cashed checks.”
Jessica DuVal, Hidden Villa’s Director of Development and Communications added, “Our accounting team can now easily manage and keep track of all bills and the approval process. That's where BILL really helps. It's a super simple, stress-free process.”
When it comes to accounts receivable (AR) and receiving payments, BILL has also helped in their fundraising efforts. “Some of our foundations are connected through the BILL link, so that's a much easier payment method than sharing bank account information or waiting for an important check.”
Soon after implementing BILL for AP and AR, Hidden Villa gained even more control over finances by adopting BILL Spend & Expense. “Cardholders have come back to me saying, ‘I love [BILL Spend & Expense] so much––I wish we switched sooner,’” said DuVal.
Explains DuVal, “Now, when anyone buys something, We just snap a picture of the receipt right then and there. As a user, I absolutely love [BILL Spend & Expense]. It’s fantastic for real-time visibility into our spend and easy for our team to use.”
“With [BILL Spend & Expense], it’s just one email for the approval of all monthly expenses. We’ve cut the process from days to hours.” — Heather Jensen, Accounting Controller, Hidden Villa
“[BILL Spend & Expense] gently prompts me to make a note to remember what the purchase is for,” continues DuVal. "Everything from hay, gas, and car repairs goes on BILL Spend & Expense] now. Since adopting [BILL Spend & Expense], we’ve been able to account for 100% of our receipts.”
“Our accountant, Lucy, is also ecstatic that she doesn’t have to download all the receipts and go through them one by one anymore. She even emailed us saying how happy she was,” said Jensen. “That’s a huge benefit to our team. With [BILL Spend & Expense], all our spend is in one place and it all syncs into QuickBooks.”
Beyond streamlining expense management, the team appreciates the flexibility in easily adjusting cardholder budgets and having greater security. “With regular credit cards, each holder had to cancel and add us back to the account because it was in their name as well as Hidden Villa,” explained DuVal. “With the number of online purchases that lead to fraud, we had to cancel cards numerous times in the last year. We can avoid all that now.”
With BILL streamlining AP, AR, and expense management, the days of driving to get signatures and spending days reviewing paper receipts are in the past. The team at Hidden Villa now has more time to make strategic decisions for the business’s future. They are already planning next year’s budget process and are excited to be able to take vacations and work hybrid.
“I’m feeling optimistic again,” said DuVal. As schools begin to do field trips and campers return to Hidden Villa, the staff is excited to help a new generation connect with nature and build lasting memories. “I can think of many stories of teachers being appreciative to come here,” she recalled. “It's different being in a beautiful environment and kids respond more openly. There’s more curiosity, and people are more relaxed and excited.”
Next year, Hidden Villa celebrates its centennial and the passionate team is committed to keeping it a place where people can connect with the beauty of nature and create lasting memories. Whatever lies ahead, they’ll have support from
“Whenever our accounting team’s workflow becomes simpler with tools like BILL that frees up time to support our managers in making strategic or even more tactical decisions.” — Jessica DuVal, Director of Development and Communications, Hidden Villa
