Wells Fargo’s skilled volunteers helped Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Carolinas by conducting a technology and data process assessment to select the best donor software to amplify their mission of impacting children’s lives and building better futures.
BBBS provides children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better. The organization’s mission is to make a lasting impact by helping children realize their potential and build their future.
BBBS came to Apparo for assistance in addressing technology challenges related to their donor data management process. The nonprofit sought to streamline its process and procedures for collecting and reporting donor data to better support its fundraising efforts. Following the project, BBBS decided to continue using DonorPerfect, their existing system.
We checked in with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Team one year after project completion. The BBBS team felt sticking with DonorPerfect while learning how to use it more effectively had significantly increased their capacity. At the time of the project, both Tyler Hoffman, the Data and Research Manager, and Kalishia Mitchell, VP of Advancement, were new employees. Tyler swiftly learned how to use the product due to his experience and background.
Toni Freeman, the Grants Manager of BBBS, stated, “One of the biggest things we learned from this project was that we were not as knowledgeable about the existing product as we thought we were.” Wells Fargo did a deep dive and showed the nonprofit how they could use the product they already had in ways they didn’t know they could.
Using DonorPerfect has more effectively helped BBBS employees save time they can now dedicate to important mission work.
“It would take months to reconcile revenue, and now we are down to hours or days,” Tyler shared.
After completing the project, Tyler focused on ensuring BBBS employees were adequately trained. This strategy helped BBBS understand how the database worked, leading to the following outcomes:
- Donation acknowledgments are now processed more quickly with automated letters.
- Year-end tax letters are now completed within 30 days
- Enabled add-ons increased their return on investment in the product
- Increased training helped staff understand how to use the product effectively
- Learned how to use systems like the “matchmaker system” to send out mailers and received monetary gifts they may not have received otherwise
- The system helps improve the retention rate of donors
- Previously, 20% of the data entries were duplications, and these have now been reduced to 0%
- Tyler diligently reviews these records every week, ensuring data accuracy and system efficiency
- The nonprofit enabled TruthFinder to ensure all information on their donors is correct to help reduce duplications and returned mail.
After Kalishia decided to keep DonorPerfect, she also hired an Individual Donor Manager who uses the product regularly. BBBS’ product use has helped increase capacity and learn more about its donors, which will eventually increase individual donations.
The Individual Donor Manager can now pull a targeted list to reengage donors within the organization, potentially increasing retention numbers and revenue.
In conclusion, the BBBS team now has the training and the tool they need to be more efficient and more effectively communicate with their donors.
“Our donors are much better served now. We know we are in a much better position to create goals for increasing our donations and individual donors. We can look at giving history, trends, and what opportunity we have with each one of our donors right at our fingertips.” Kalishia said.
“Our team spent a lot of time looking at all the products, and we were so appreciative of the Wells Fargo Team. It wasn’t just one and done. Apparo and Wells Fargo really helped us do a deep dive, and we looked at several products. We are so thankful for their support, and more importantly for the time they contributed to the project that will allow us to amplify our mission of bettering children’s lives in our community.” – Toni Freeman shared.
