CRM for Veteran's Charity

Charities come in all shapes and sizes, serving all sorts of different groups in society. We were pleased to be asked to support a Veterans charity for the first time.

Veteran’s HQ Liverpool provides much-needed support to hundreds of ex-servicemen and women right across the Merseyside region. The leadership team of the charity and its committed volunteers were beginning to struggle to keep track of all the many diverse requests for support and a busy schedule of participation in a range of groups and activities.

Using our Cimpl CRM application which utilises the security and versatility of the Salesforce platform we were able to deliver a user-friendly and cost-effective solution. In order to ensure that new users to the system had the best possible start we travelled to Liverpool to deliver in-person training.

In particular the in-built report and dashboard features that Cimpl offers have transformed the way that the charity reports back to its various funders, really taking the sting out of producing detailed reports on activity and impact.

Don’t be shy to get in touch if you’d like a demo of how our Cimpl CRM could make a difference to the way your charity manages its data.

Cimpl arrives in Cumbria

The roster of charities around the UK switching to our Cimpl CRM continues to grow with the latest deployment on behalf of a charity in Kendal serving those who are homeless, vulnerable housed, lonely or needing support.

As is often the case, the charity had an existing CRM but it was no longer meeting their needs. The legacy system was causing staff and volunteers a lot of frustration, sapping their time, and all sorts of workarounds were needed to account for its inability to adapt their ever-evolving service.

Having got to know the charity first through a piece of strategic work looking at Theory of Change and a new outcomes framework we were well versed in the impact that the charity was making and the demands of its funders with respect to reporting on that impact.

At Goodlabs we always encourage an ‘impact-first’ approach. This ensures data management is constructed around measuring the things that matter most. Upskilling staff is key to this too, because however well designed the CRM may be ultimately the reports and dashboards it presents are only as good as the data going in. Patiently overcoming system-adoption anxieties is key, including when necessary going at the pace of users who need additional hand-holding.

Feedback from the charity has been really encouraging. It’s great to know that we’ve been able to deliver on our promise to “make impact easier”.

If you’d like a demo of Cimpl drop a line to: cimpl@goodlabs.uk

Pic by Jonny Gios, Unsplash

From Access to Salesforce

Bristol-based counselling charity Kinergy are a very busy service dealing with hundreds of clients per year across Bristol, Avon and the wider area. They came to us with a range of data management headaches.

At the heart of the problem was the fact that their old server-based Microsoft Access database had become pretty much obsolete. It was no longer serving their needs, particularly with respect to remote working, and also due to difficulties when seeking to report their impact to funders. Compounding this was the fact that a commercial Salesforce developer lacking experience in the charity sector had attempted to solve their problems and failed. Frustration was running high and time was running short!

Following an introduction via the Lloyds Bank Foundation we got to work assessing the functional requirements of the charity. Our ability to compare and contrast their operating model with that of dozens of other charities we’ve worked with meant that time could be spent more efficiently. It became apparent that the basic system architecture could be assembled by bringing together a number of tried and tested elements from other Salesforce development projects we’ve led. A number of custom features could then be woven in to ensure organisation-specific needs were met. As a further element of the project we were able to exceed client expectations by introducing new features they hadn’t previously known were deliverable. Moving all referral processes online using digital forms was a real game-changer in terms of efficiency, along with a fundamental shift towards paperless working.

The charity’s business manager Bert Weenink comments:

“We were getting increasingly frustrated that we could not make Salesforce match our very specific needs. This was after spending a considerable amount of money on ‘expert’ help provided by advisors who just didn’t understand what we wanted our new database to produce. Through the Enhance programme sponsored by the Lloyds Bank Foundation we contacted Matt Wilson. From the moment our Clinical Manager and myself started talking to Matt we found that he understood exactly what we were looking for and what could be done to make Salesforce to fit our needs. Matt’s understanding of the needs of our charity and his awareness of technical solutions were second to none. We are deeply grateful to him for getting our new CRM ready for use!”

New CRM system for Rape Crisis

Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland belongs to the national network of Rape Crisis centres, providing vital services for women who have experienced sexual abuse, exploitation and violence. Our connection came via our delivery relationship with Lloyds Bank Foundation, one of RCTN’s funders, along with the Ministry of Justice and others.

Like many charities in receipt of funding from major public and corporate sector sources RCTN has to navigate a vast array of statistics about the work that it is delivering. Historically this had been done via a Microsoft Access database but this technology was fast becoming obsolete and its limitations myriad.

Goodlabs supported RCTN through a multi-phased project that involved reflecting critically on systems and processes for client/case management, along with development of a Theory of Change and Outcomes Framework. This was followed by the production of a detailed specification outlining the essential functionality of the new CRM, and then taking this to the market via a proportionate tendering process. Systems were demoed, providers shortlisted and interviewed and eventually a decision made.

Finally Goodlabs provided arms-length project management through the build and implementation phase, support with export and import of historic data, plus the coaching and training of key staff to ensure rapid adoption of the new platform (a custom iteration of the Salesforce based ‘In-Form’ supplied by Homeless Link).