Coca-Cola Consolidated Industries skilled volunteers assisted The Kindness Closet with a technology adoption plan to increase efficiency and better serve their constituents.
G.A.I.N. – Powered by Lowe’s
The Kindness Closet is committed to addressing hygiene poverty in North Carolina. Hygiene poverty is the lack of access to hygiene products such as soap, shampoo, toilet paper, feminine products and laundry detergent, which government programs do not cover. The Kindness Closet distributes these items to local schools and other nonprofits to distribute to their constituents.
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.
The Kindness Closet needed assistance developing a technology plan and processes.
Prior to beginning this project, The Kindness Closet did not have a technology process in place and were using mainly pen and paper to track data. As Founder Anne Mautner states, “we were a blank slate.” The team and volunteers were spending a lot of time looking through boxes of papers to find information, which took time away from growing their mission.
Apparo partnered The Kindness Closet with a volunteer mentor and a team of volunteers from Coca-Cola Consolidated Industries (CCCI) through the G.A.I.N. program. The CCCI and Apparo team met to help The Kindness Closet discuss ways to document and improve their nonprofit technology processes.
The Kindness Closet implements technology tools to ease their workload and allow time to grow their mission.
After the project, The Kindness Closet has implemented some of the technology applications outlined in their technology roadmap. They have implemented Microsoft Teams, which makes it easier to communicate and share files throughout the team. They also began using Odoo to track their inventory, drastically reducing the amount of time spent manually logging information. These tools allow them to work smarter, not harder, and focus more energy on serving their constituents.
“All these little things add up to free my time so I can focus on writing grants and focusing on our mission. It will ease my workload and provide the foundational tools so that we can grow.” – Anne Mautner.
With the implementation of the technology plan, The Kindness Closet will increase data security and reduce costs.
As part of their technology roadmap, volunteers outlined cybersecurity measures to protect their data. Mautner states, “This program has made me more aware of risks and being more protective of our data. Having these protections on the frontend gives me peace of mind.”
Implementing TechSoup has been a cost reducer for the nonprofit. The Kindness Closet anticipates saving $780 per year due to their new technology processes, which is huge for a small nonprofit.
The increase in efficiency can set The Kindness Closet up for expansion and increased impact in the state.
The Kindness Closet has a goal of being the hygiene bank for the state of North Carolina. With the success of this project, they have more time to think strategically and grow in a responsible way. Mautner states “We could not have moved to the next level without this support and hardware. I can’t tell you how appreciative and relieved I am that I don’t have to figure these things out on my own.”
