BlueLinx volunteers provided data management support for Streetwise Georgia by assessing their needs to help them choose a new CRM platform, and the nonprofit estimates this will help them save 96 hours of staff time a month.
StreetWise Georgia aims to be a one-stop resource center for the community to help struggling families move toward independent functioning. Their mission is to offer the necessary physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual tools to help people stabilize their lives, improve their environment, and move from a state of dependency to a state of well-being and self-sufficiency.
The organization’s Client Services department, which oversees the collection and management of data, found themselves struggling under the weight of over two decades’ worth of data that has been managed without the benefit of a comprehensive, forward-facing plan for management. While the department would benefit from an overall analysis to identify redundancies and opportunities for streamlining processes, their immediate priority is to find a tool to replace a large, 15-year-old Excel spreadsheet that contained demographic data for more than 6,000 families. The spreadsheet requires significant manual management and puts the organization at risk for data loss due to the lack of a robust backup strategy.
StreetWise records limited data in Oasis Insight and Virtuous to satisfy external requirements and manage donor and volunteer data. They do not want client data housed in either of those tools, due to a recommendation from their Board of Directors. The focus of this Community Impact Project with Apparo was to identify a platform for collecting and managing client data. The StreetWise team was particularly interested in a platform that can integrate with Acuity Scheduling, their current appointment booking system. Apparo matched the organization with a team of skilled volunteers who will work alongside StreetWise to assess their data management and business processes to identify areas for improvements including a new software tool, opportunities for integrating platforms, and streamlining business processes, bolstering the organization’s ability to fulfill their nonprofit mission.
Streetwise Nonprofit Team: Tracy Joseph, Maria Fallo, Dominique Tedder
BlueLinx Skilled Volunteer Team: Jeffrey Hallmark, Jimmy Allcorn, John Van Zelst, Kage Dees, Praveen Gautam, Ron Allard, Sara Houston, Shree Iyer, Stephanie Anderson-Hyde
At the beginning of the project, the BlueLinx skilled volunteer team analyzed Streetwise’s existing processes.
After gaining an understanding of their budgets, the team performed marketplace research. Once this was complete, the team and nonprofit participants went through a series of demos. Ultimately, the CRM recommendations were PlanStreet, Montera, and CharityProud. The nonprofit ultimately ruled out CharityProud due to its donation-drive focus. Although they have not made a final decision, the forerunner is PlanStreet, and they are awaiting a more detailed conversation and demo on its scheduling feature before making the final decision.
Once implementation of the chosen CRM is complete, Dominique and Maria estimate saving 30% of their time in both of their positions. This will result in a times savings of 96 hours per month, which will allow them both to focus their energy on other nonprofit needs.
Maria stated she felt they could possibly extend programming with time saved from implementing the CRM, including working on the family Pantry Night. Additionally, volunteer admins who are currently supporting manual data processes of the database could also be freed up to help Streetwise with other projects and potential new program offerings. The nonprofit could also begin to focus on offering more programs and coordinate future programs and events, because of the ease of reporting and communication through the CRM.
The nonprofit will also be able to reduce risk by consolidating antiquated technologies that have high labor investments for staff and volunteers, and a potential risk of loss data. The new CRM will have consistent backups, which will better protect Streetwise and their clients creating a better reputation risk for the nonprofit. The reduction in manual processes will also reduce the risk of data errors and losses.
Other benefits of implementation for Streetwise include:
- Improving the grant application management process – potentially increasing revenue
- Inventory features will allow team to better communicate resources to families in need
- The foundational system will allow Streetwise to operate from a main hub and expand to satellite locations, potentially expanding their capacity to serve more families.
Tracy shared another benefit of having easier access to data and reporting numbers could help them create speaking points at Galas and social media posts. He said, “Having a tool like this that we can use to show the public and our clients the work we are doing is priceless.” In fact, previously they noticed a trend where working families struggled to get there because they couldn’t lose hours or skip work, and this allowed them to begin a new program on Thursday nights. This new tool will help them more easily access trends like this to see what kind of shifts they need to do in their programming to best serve their clients. This tool can also help them show clients how far they’ve come in achieving their own goals toward independent living too.
Tracy Joseph shared, “Once we have implemented the CRM, in the long run, it will help our ability for us to deliver our mission and to serve our clients and get them to a place of stability, because our data will be safe. We will be able to warehouse more data and expedite reservations. Potentially, in the future, we could have one main hub and satellite services, and we could expand programming to help even more people live independently.”
Dominque, “Thank you Apparo and the Blue Linx Team for working with us on this project. We are excited about choosing a product and implementing it and sharing how that goes with the Blue Linx team once it is done.”
The BlueLinx volunteers shared their experience with volunteering on this project.
“It was awesome to work with Streetwise and Apparo on this project! The team came together to help select the right technology for Streetwise to optimize their operations to free up time to better serve their customers. BlueLinx Team learned a lot about Streetwise and collaborated well to arrive at the final recommendation. We hope to continue to our partnership with Apparo to help other non-profit organizations,” Praveen Gautam, CIO of BlueLinx Corp shared.
“Collaborating with Streetwise has been an enriching journey for BlueLinx Corp. Assisting with vendor software selection has been both fulfilling and impactful. Streetwise’s dedication to food security and community services is truly inspiring. Together, we have enhanced their efficiency, enabling them to better serve those in need. We are honored to have contributed to their mission and look forward to future opportunities to support their invaluable work,” Sara Houston, Senior EDI Analyst of BlueLinx Corp shared.
