Volunteer Team: M&S Consulting
Project Description
The founder of Lily Pad Haven developed a custom database using .ASP & MySQL years ago. Staff has been using this as their CRM to track client data, staff time sheets, and volunteer information, making it difficult to access historical data and perform reporting. They turned to Apparo for help.
Apparo matched them with a volunteer team from M&S Consulting to help them put their current Salesforce license to use. They helped Lily Pad Haven create the business process for tracking clients, daily staff notes/time, volunteer information, and, potentially, maintenance requests, and then customize Salesforce to fit these needs.
Specifically, the volunteers helped Lily Pad Haven with the following:
- Requirements Definition – They reviewed the current forms being used for data entry, documented and prioritized the requirements, and determined user roles.
- Salesforce Configuration – Then they configured Salesforce per the requirements, set up users and user roles, and integrated an online volunteer form with Salesforce.
- Salesforce Testing + Training – Lily Pad Haven users confirmed access set up and testing forms, then M&S Consulting provided in-person testing, which also acted as a training session for staff. The testing team logged defects and noted changes required. Then, M&S Consulting fixed the defects and made the requested changes.
- Salesforce Data Migration + Go Live – The M&S Consulting team then migrated the data from the old system to Salesforce and moved the Salesforce configuration from Sandbox to Production.
- Salesforce Post Production Validation – Next, they ensured all users were able to successfully log in. Then, they validated data migrated from the old system to the new system and ensured the functionality was working as expected.
- Salesforce Post Production Support – Finally, M&S Consulting provided training to Lily Pad Haven admin to ensure sustainability of the system.
Project Impact
Fully implementing and transitioning to Salesforce has streamlined many of Lily Pad Haven’s processes and allowed for accurate reporting.
Here are some of the specific ways this is streamlining work:
- Data entry previously required many manual steps, but is now directly entered into one system.
- Reporting and training tracking will move from a very time consuming task to something that can be done with a click of a button.
- Donor information previously emailed and manually entered is now directly available in Salesforce.
These improved operational efficiencies for Lily Pad Haven are expected to save approximately 80 hours per month for staff.
With these time savings, staff can now spend more time providing psychiatric care to clients. This allows for more concentration on healing. They can also put saved time toward promoting programs and opportunities in the community, developing key partnerships, and conducting targeted fundraising campaigns.
The targeted fundraising campaigns will also be enhanced thanks to improved data and reporting capabilities. This means a potential increase in donor revenue for Lily Pad Haven. Better data and reporting means a better understanding of donor behaviors, allowing for a more strategy to go into these campaigns. It also means they can write stronger grant proposals, chock-full of accurate and comprehensive program data.
Further, Lily Pad Haven can now more easily access donor contact information, simplifying the process of communicating upcoming events and fundraising opportunities. They can also now more easily identify donors that have donated specific goods in the past, thereby improving their ability to reach out for the same goods again in the future. This will save Lily Pad Haven from having to make the purchase.
It’s no surprise that these increases in donations will also allow Lily Pad Haven to provide deeper care for the guests they are serving, just like the saved time.
Finally, using Salesforce in an effective way is decreasing the risk of inaccurate, missing or stolen data for Lily Pad Haven. They now have a central and secure point of input for all data types.
In the past, their old system did not allow access to historically input data. Conversely, Salesforce reporting allows them to pull data entered at any point in the past. Further, data security risk is vastly improved with Salesforce, so guests can rest assured knowing their personal information is protected.
In total, M&S Consulting volunteered 494 hours toward Lily Pad Haven’s mission. Together, we delivered a solution with a market value of $83,100. That is a value 99x that which Lily Pad Haven invested for this Community Impact Project.
To ensure this project leaves a sustainable impact on Lily Pad Haven, Apparo will meet with the organization in September to discuss long term support options. This will include training opportunities, as well.
Reflecting on the impact of this project, and M&S Consulting’s generous support, Alexa Nagy, Community Outreach and Development Coordinator with Lily Pad Haven, said:
Our new Salesforce database has already made such a positive impact on our organization, with needed data becoming so readily accessible. Because the database saves us so much time day-to-day, we are able to spend more time providing psychiatric care for the guests in our program, raising awareness of human trafficking in our community, and garnering an increase in funds for the organization.
Nonprofit Overview
Lily Pad Haven provides housing for survivors of human trafficking. They have a network of safe houses throughout Charlotte. Their guests are referred by Government and Non-government organizations that work with victims of human trafficking. Lily Pad Haven also provides services and programs to help these women transition back into society.
Thank You!
A huge thank you to our Community Impact Project volunteers from M&S Consulting. Your commitment and generosity are leaving a huge impact on Lily Pad Haven. We appreciate your partnership.
