Organizational Background:
Established in 1994, Ladder Up is a nonprofit organization that offers free financial assistance to its clients. Brainchild of businessman and philanthropist Robert Burke, the organization has undergone significant growth, opening satellite offices across the state of Illinois. Fueled by public support, business leaders engaged ShapeConnect to help them better manage their donation protocols and procedures.
Challenges To Be Solved
Situational Analysis:
Ladder Up’s primary management tool from a large CRM company had become outdated, cost prohibitive, and somewhat unwieldy for an organization of Ladder Up’s size, so the nonprofit reached out for assistance. Mark Kennedy, ShapeConnect’s go-to Software Selection expert, was instantly ready to answer the call. “They engaged us to essentially select…a new CRM,” says Kennedy. To do so, Mark first met with the nonprofit’s leaders, spending a considerable amount of time developing a keen understanding of the specific goals at each level of the organizational hierarchy. This information, once collected and carefully reviewed, confirmed the transition to a new Customer Relations Management system (CRM) would be more cost effective than further investment in the existing platform.
Client Actionables:
Mark and his team then began a detailed audit of Ladder Up’s existing software and systems, creating an inventory of data points that could be cross-referenced with available alternatives. During the course of this evaluation, Mark discovered that one of the company’s platforms—Aplos—had all of the functionality that they wanted; it just was not being utilized. The advantages of the system were obvious, explains Kennedy:
“Aplos had the accounting package, which is where the donors’ funds go. We then configured the Aplos CRM module so we could very easily detect donation [statistics]. We could anticipate then what to expect in coming years. We could reach out to previous donors. Whatever the case.” Mark Kennedy - ShapeConnect Software Solutions Expert
Leveraging the full functionality of the Aplos system, Mark and our team revamped the organization’s web page, streamlining the donation process, and making it even more secure. Donations are now automatically recorded directly into Aplos, eliminating the monotony of manual record-keeping. Moreover, through partnership with a third-party payment vendor, the payments themselves are handled on the spot, removing the need to handoff personal financial information to another party; a procedural step that could result in delays.
Outcome:
The research, data-driven acumen with which Mark and his team evaluated, devised, identified, and ultimately addressed Ladder Up’s needs serves as a luminous testament to the benefits of ShapeConnect’s expert care and service offerings. Rather than simply matching the nonprofit with alternative software, the careful attention and detail with which Mark took the time to systematically assess the particularities of the situation yielded a level of informed awareness that saved time and money.
By leveraging the inherent capabilities of existing tools, Mark and ShapeConnect revolutionized organizational processes simply with what had been available all along. No additional software required. Automated record-keeping has streamlined the transfer of donor funds, making the undertaking significantly less arduous.
Winning Results