Skilled volunteers build nonprofit capacity through business process assessment, helping ensure financial stability for more people in underserved communities
Sponsored by Duke Energy Foundation
Urban League of Central Carolinas’ (ULCC) mission is to empower the community to reach financial stability and social justice in a global economy through education, training, placement and entrepreneurship. ULCC works to advocate for and equip all underserved communities with the tools to achieve social and economic equality.
ULCC reached out to Apparo for assistance with documenting and identifying best way to improve current processes across their organization, particularly those related to data collection, aggregation, and reporting required for grants. Apparo matched ULCC to a team of volunteers from Duke Energy, Method and Moran Technology Consulting. Duke Energy also generously sponsored this project.
Volunteers supported ULCC in this Community Impact Project by documenting current processes, opportunities for increased efficiencies, and mitigation of risks.
After the project was complete we met with Robyn Hamilton, President & CEO, to learn about the significance and anticipated impact.
She explains, “We came to Apparo for help because we weren’t working efficiently or optimally. We want to be an effective, thoughtful mission driven organization and we needed help to get back on track after many changes in a short period of time. People jumped in to help, but now it’s time to put the fire hoses down and focus on improvements.”
Working with skilled volunteers, ULCC has been able to:
- Document processes and identify areas where they were duplicating efforts
- Align priorities across the organization
- Centralize information to support succession planning and reduce loss of staff knowledge/data
- Identify reporting and data tracking process improvements that they anticipate will:
- Cut grant-related administrative work time by half – saving 500+ hours annually
- Help increase revenue by making them more attractive to donors/funders who will appreciate an improved ability to storytell with data
- Improve security and save time spent managing multiple log-ins through use of a password tool
- Increase staff confidence through clarity in their roles and processes
Nonprofit capacity improvement will help double reach of critical workforce development programming
In conclusion, Robyn shares, “One of the greatest gifts you can give is clarity. This process forced us to sit down and get clear. This work is going to free up unimaginable amounts of time, allowing us to increase our nonprofit capacity in our core programming and make improvements to ensure this programming excels. It’s absolutely a no brainer that we should see increased revenue and I’m confident that in less than a year we will double the reach of our core programming. I want to express my gratitude again for this work. It is so refreshing to have someone else, a whole team, thinking about your challenges. I can’t say enough about your diligence and thoughtful approach to helping us figure out what’s next.”
Skilled volunteers also shared their project highlights and appreciation
Josh Glassberg – Duke Energy – “I enjoyed working with a wonderful team of volunteers to break down the details of grant management. I look forward to hearing how Urban League incorporates these new processes.”
Michael Ifkovits – Method – “What I like most about this project is how quickly it will pay off for Urban League – our deliverables are immediately leverageable. Having these processes documented and understood allows the organization to spread the effort of the critical grant application process.”
Eric Hoffman – Moran Technology Consulting – “It was a great experience helping the Urban League better understand how to streamline their grants management process so that they continue to grow their impact on the Charlotte community.”
