Volunteer Team: Slalom
Project Description
The YMCA of Greater Charlotte, Social Responsibility area, sought help to address their manual, time-consuming, Excel-based processes of tracking, reporting and evaluation of their programs. Apparo matched them to a volunteer team from Slalom.
This project had two phases:
- Short-term data analytics – determine best ways to utilize data analytics tools and dashboard(s) while still using Excel as their underlying database.
- Software selection – in parallel to #1, evaluate a software database alternative to Excel. This part of the project included: documenting requirements, providing marketplace research, watching demos, completing price comparisons, and providing a recommendation.
Project Impact
Upon implementation of the selected software solution, YMCA’s Social Responsibility group will be able to make more informed, data-driven decisions, thanks to more robust and efficient reporting. This will also result in:
- Reduction in the time required to conduct reporting, allowing staff more time to focus on mission-critical objectives.
- Access to more data analytics, enabling the YMCA to better tell their impact story over time (an especially important outcome for communicating with funders).
By the end of the project, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte received $43,047 of consulting service – a return that was 43X their investment. In total, Slalom Consulting contributed 159 volunteer hours.
Beyond the quantifiable impact of Slalom’s work, Lauren Lewer, Manager of Evaluation for the YMCA, reflected on the value of receiving the Slalom volunteers’ expertise and time. “The team completed in-depth research for us that we did not have the current capacity to begin or complete. Their expertise lead to valuable recommendations for a software solution that will help us collect and analyze our programmatic outcome data.”
And while the Slalom volunteer team gave a lot, they also received a lot.
“When we started working with the YMCA, it was clear that we would be supporting an organization that does a lot of good for the community,” said Karl Schelhammer, Data Analyst for Slalom. “Programs like Y Readers, Y Achievers and others form a pillar of support that improves lives all around Charlotte. It’s been an honor and a privilege to give our time toward the YMCA in support of their mission, and to see the impact we have made in helping to shape their data and analytics ecosystem.”
Nonprofit Overview
The Social Responsibility area of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte oversees a number outreach programs including Level Up, Y Readers, Y Achievers, Safety around Water, Parents as Teachers, and After-School Literacy. All of the families/students they serve are in the economic opportunity crescent.
