American Red Cross, Bay Area Chapter Streamlines Volunteer Program and Lifts Resource Burden with Salesforce CRM

Challenge

• The Bay Area chapter of the American Red Cross—the country’s leading disaster recovery organization—required a CRM solution to track thousands of volunteers and partners
• An existing system proved too complex and inflexible to effectively manage internal data on 4,000 volunteers
• Myriad criteria—such as the ability to centralize data, reporting capabilities, and customizability drove the decision-making process
• As part of an organization that relies on volunteers and partners to respond to 70,000 disasters, train millions in preparedness and CPR/first aid, and collect over half of the national blood supply, choosing the right system was crucial

Solution

• The American Red Cross, Bay Area Chapter deployed Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition to 70 users to meet the individual needs of the chapter, while ensuring information is centrally accessible when a disaster strikes
• A database administrator took advantage of admin training through Salesforce.com Training & Certification to learn to optimally manage the system
• Partner information is consolidated so that the chapter can work with partners in a more efficient and comprehensive manner – providing training, coordinating disaster response, receiving donations, and so forth
• By integrating VerticalResponse, an email and direct mail app from the AppExchange marketplace, the organization distributes newsletters to its volunteer base and partners directly from Salesforce CRM
• Dashboards track the number of people who take Red Cross training through Prepare Bay Area, a project designed to promote disaster preparedness
• Custom tabs such as Agencies, Red Cross Offices, Orientations, and Volunteer Jobs track pertinent volunteer-related information—fitting the organization's workflow processes

Results

• Centralized access to information enables the organization to place volunteers and coordinate partner resources at a moments' notice
• Salesforce CRM automates the volunteer intake process and unifies partner information across all departments
• Insight into historical data and ongoing activities helps the Red Cross effectively plan and focus efforts
• Scarce resources are diverted away from managing cumbersome and costly traditional software to building a solution that fits the way the Red Cross works
• The organization can now measure the retention rate of volunteers, conversion rate of interested volunteers, and click-through rate data of who’s reading its newsletters
• Expanding the management of external partners via Salesforce CRM will further advance the organization’s vital mission