Salesforce Configuration and Nonprofit Background
CrossRoads Corporation is a nonprofit organization honoring the history and supporting the collective vision of rejuvenation, economic stability, healthy living, and educational achievement within the Grier Heights community of Charlotte, NC.
CrossRoads reached out for Apparo’s help to assist the current Director of Development, Markita Smalls with her Salesforce skills to train a new employee as Markita transitions into a neighbor-facing position. Through Apparo’s Tech Therapy program, Tech Therapist, Jerri Grant, connected Markita with Jonathan Waites of JiLaSoan to bolster Markita’s Salesforce skills.
Markita came to CrossRoads two years ago in the Director of Development position and was new to using Salesforce. She shared her biggest frustration was navigating the system. Markita felt she wasted a lot of time, because she would input data that would not always save or populate correctly. She reached out to Salesforce for help but did not find the level of support she needed. Markita now feels the “dots are connected,” because of Jonathan’s assistance with the Salesforce configuration. Markita shared, “I was on the struggle bus until Apparo came along.” Now, she can look at the dashboard and see how much money they raised this month, how many new donors they have, and pull data for the Board much more quickly.
Salesforce Configuration Saves Time and Creates Efficiencies
Prior to receiving Apparo and Jonathan’s help through Tech Therapy, Markita was spending two to three days pulling together Board reports. She had to pull information from four donation platforms and Salesforce then produce the graphs in Canva or PowerPoint manually. Now, she can pull the aggregated information directly from the Salesforce system. With the Salesforce configuration, Markita reduced reporting time from 2-3 days to the click of a button. Overall, the nonprofit will save over 288 hours of staff time. This saved time translates to better meeting the needs of the neighbors of Grier Heights that they support.
Markita also spent a lot of time tracking donors and creating manual acknowledgment letters. Jonathan helped her automate this process, reducing the time and the money it took to send out snail mail letters. Now, for most of their donors, Markita sends out the automated donation letters directly from Salesforce.
Salesforce Configuration Impact
With the saved time and efficiencies Markita is now able to focus on what matters most: the neighbors of Grier Heights.
“We essentially prioritize all the neighbors in Grier Heights and are responsible for navigating and facilitating resources and programs they need. We are responsible, not only for providing, but also enhancing relationships within the neighborhood through various activities. Whether the neighbors need to pay their rent to stay housed or pay their car note, because they need to get to work, we act as the quarterback organization and must figure out a way to make sure they are supported. In this community, it’s tricky, because most of the neighbors earn less than $16,000 annually. Grier Heights is surrounded by million-dollar homes and neighbors. The children go to Myers Park, but they’re living in poverty. So one of the main things we do is try to help them have experiences they would not ordinarily have, so when they leave the community, they feel comfortable and are able to adjust.”
“Because of this it’s really important for us to have a streamlined process, so we are maximizing our time to help the community and pouring as much money into the neighbors as we can.”
Praise for Salesforce Configuration Volunteer and Apparo Staff
Markita spoke about Jerri Grant, the Tech Therapist who facilitated the project, and Jonathan Waites, the skilled volunteer who helped her with her Salesforce skills. “Jerri was on top of it, which I love, because I sometimes go down a rabbit hole.”
“And Jonathan, I have so many great things to say about him. He is going to continue assisting CrossRoads with Salesforce. His help was invaluable, and he is just a wealth of knowledge. He didn’t allow me to get too ahead of myself and provided me step-by-step guidance before moving onto the next item. Jonathan was very structured and succinct, and helped me fill in the knowledge gaps so I would feel comfortable using Salesforce. He was a wonderful volunteer.”
In conclusion, the Tech Therapy CrossRoads Corporation received will help them to serve the neighbors of the Grier Heights community more efficiently. Markita feels comfortable moving into her new role as a Life Navigator and training the incoming Director of Development on Salesforce. “Without Apparo and Jonathan Waites’ help, this would not have been possible,” Markita shared.
