Duke Energy volunteers aided Charlotte Community ToolBank with process technology improvements to increase efficiency and better serve their constituents.
G.A.I.N. – Powered by Lowe’s
Charlotte Community ToolBank is a nonprofit tool lending program that provides charitable organizations with year-round access to an inventory of tools for use in their volunteer projects, facility and grounds maintenance as well as special events. They provide tools, equipment and expertise to empower the charitable sector’s most ambitious goals.
Apparo’s G.A.I.N. (Growth, Agility, and Innovation for Nonprofits) Grant Program provides nonprofit participants with the tools, training, and other support they need to implement and sustain their technology and process improvements. G.A.I.N. delivers a one-year journey of technology and process improvement to a cohort of nonprofits to help them overcome their technological challenges and amplify their nonprofit impact. The G.A.I.N. program is generously sponsored by Lowe’s.
Charlotte Community ToolBank needed help documenting their existing technology processes and with technology software programs.
Prior to beginning this project, the ToolBank did not have documentation of their technology processes. While the ToolBank did not have a lot of redundancy in software programs, they did need direction to plan, especially with the recent growth they have been experiencing.
Apparo assigned Charlotte Community ToolBank a volunteer mentor and a team of volunteers from Duke Energy through the G.A.I.N. program. The Duke Energy and Apparo team met to help Charlotte Community ToolBank discuss ways to document and improve their nonprofit technology processes.
Nonprofit Team: Maureen Krueger
G.A.I.N. Mentor: Josh Glassberg
Duke Energy Volunteer Team: Porsche Gaines, Parker Ramsey, Lavanya Devulapalli
Comporium Volunteer: Matt Mahood
After the project ended, we met with Maureen Krueger, the Executive Director of Charlotte Community ToolBank to learn about the significance of the project.
She stated at the beginning of the project that “Everything lives in my computer and in my head, and that’s not okay anymore. As we have grown and look to be more efficient, we need to document our processes and create a plan to make it easier in the cases of a transition, for existing employees, and in the event a succession plan is needed.”
By standardizing their technology processes, ToolBank employees can delegate and share tech responsibilities more efficiently amongst team members.
Maureen can now focus the majority of her time and energy on mission work, and transition some of her responsibilities to other staff members with more ease.
Due to the success of this project, the ToolBank also anticipate the following:
- Reduction of succession risk
- Reduction of data loss
- Regular cybersecurity training
- Complete transfer to OneDrive and discontinue use of DropBox
- Will be able to spend more time connecting with donors
The increase in efficiency can set the ToolBank up for expansion and an increased demand if they are granted an increase in funding in the future.
The ToolBank also benefitted from the templates Apparo provided during this project and throughout the G.A.I.N. powered by Lowe’s program. Maureen shared the ToolBank is using these templates as a roadmap on the ToolBank’s technology journey. She shared her mentor, Josh Glassberg, also said he would fill a committee role to help them with their progress. She knows there is a lot of work to come but feels hopeful that the plan is positioning them for a better future.
In conclusion, Maureen shared the following about the benefits of the G.A.I.N. program:
“I want to remember this as a time we were part of a program that really helped us make these connections, take these steps, and make the changes to help us improve. It’s a living document we can continue to work on.”
Lavanya Devulapalli, Duke Energy volunteer – “It was a fun and interesting project to be on. Brenna kept us all organized and kept the momentum going. It was great teaming up with other Duke mates and Matt Mahood. Working with Maureen was such a pleasure. She is very patient, knowledgeable, cheerful, and open to ideas.”
“Thank you so much to Apparo and to our volunteer teams. The questions and conversations we had each week really helped me think about the way we work in a different light. We are a lot more thoughtful about the opportunities and what we need to be paying attention to for our time to be maximized. We appreciate you all so much!” Maureen Krueger, Executive Director of Charlotte Tool Bank.
