Hylaine volunteers delivered actionable plan for nonprofit technology improvements
G.A.I.N. – Powered by Lowe’s
Sponsored by Bank of America
ASPIRE Community Capital is an organization committed to helping business owners in under-resourced neighborhoods in the Greater Charlotte area take full advantage of the promise of the American dream. ASPIRE is on a mission to do this by providing business training, mentorship, business coaching and access to loans and other capital resources. These resources help people gain the access they need to turn a passion into a sustainable, scalable business.
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 technology challenges and amplify their nonprofit impact. The G.A.I.N. program is generously sponsored by Lowe’s. This project is generously sponsored by Bank of America.
In this phase of their G.A.I.N. journey, Apparo matched ASPIRE to skilled volunteers from Hylaine, who supported them in creating a detailed nonprofit technology plan to help amplify their impact. Volunteers documented ASPIRE’s current technology challenges to then provide recommendations for improvement. Through the G.A.I.N. program, ASPIRE will additionally receive assistance from the skilled volunteers to effectively implement changes throughout the organization.
- Nonprofit Team: ASPIRE Community Capital
- Ariele Bowen
- Manuel Campbell
- Natalie Williams
- Volunteer Team: Hylaine
- Matthew Burke
- Jerry Palladino
- G.A.I.N. Mentor: Accenture
- Simon Pfister
After the project was completed, we met with Natalie Williams, Director of Operations, to learn about its significance and anticipated impact.
Implementation of nonprofit technology improvements will drive critical benefits
ASPIRE anticipates:
Enhanced business owner experience, increased reach and saved time through implementation of Learning Management System
- Improved ability to collaborate with other business owners and instructors
- Flexibility to serve business owners who cannot attend in person with virtual content
- Saving of up to 120 hours of time a year – which frees critical time to focus on expanding their service offerings into microlending
Improved fundraising and decision making through critical Salesforce training
- Increased data integrity
- More thorough and effective in gathering and sharing data for fundraising and grants
- Better access to data needed to make programmatic business decisions
Additional fundraising boost through new donor management system that will help increase revenue by increasing administrative efficiency.
Members of the nonprofit technology plan team share words of appreciation
Natalie Williams – “We want to be sure that we’re operating as efficiently and effectively as possible. The technology plan helps do this by directing us on how to time and prioritize each initiative. It gives us confidence, helps us avoid wasting time on things distracting us from our mission and supports the sustainability of our organization.”
Matthew Burke, Hylaine – ““Once again, working with Apparo, along with ASPIRE, has been a gratifying and enjoyable experience. The Team was great to work with and hopefully our efforts will help Aspire continue to grow and be successful. Volunteering is a cool way to meet new people and strengthens your ties to the community. I highly recommend engaging in one of these opportunities.”
Jerry Palladino, Hylaine – “With this being my first time working with Apparo, I was a little apprehensive at first. I wondered if I had anything I could offer to the non-profit and to the project. Allison and her team made it easy to contribute toward the success of the project. I absolutely recommend working with them. It was a fulfilling process, and in the end, it was a lot of fun!”
Simon Pfister, Accenture – “Helping ASPIRE unpack their existing technology landscape, to get to the root of some of the challenges and be able to layout a plan and roadmap the future has been incredibly rewarding. It’s exciting to see that they are actively making plans to address some of this in parallel and I look forward to the rest of the G.A.I.N. program.”
