Challenge

• Nonprofit provider of workforce development programs for urban young adults needed a system to help manage its mission critical data
• Disparate solutions—Excel, Efforts to Outcomes, and DonorPerfect—made it difficult to get a comprehensive view of operations and to track students and program outcomes
• Wanted a centralized, all-inclusive data system that would help manage relationships with key constituents – participants, donors, internship partners, and volunteers

Solution

• Considered Raiser’s Edge, Education Edge, an expanded rollout of Efforts to Outcomes, and building a custom solution
• Chose the Sales Cloud for its easy customization and rapid deployment
• With early help from Exponent Partners, customized and deployed to 260 employees in seven U.S. locations
• Consolidated student, donor, internship and volunteer information in a centralized database
Student records include data from all stages of the participant lifecycle – from admissions to program participation to post program outcomes
Donor, Internship and Volunteer records provide a full history of interactions with the organization and with students
• Customized the interface to show staff the most relevant information for their roles
• Created dashboards and reports to highlight real-time student admissions, retention and post program metrics as well as progress towards goal of internship placements and volunteer recruitment
• Built an innovative development tracking tool using Force.com that allows for real time analysis of development efforts
• Added workflows and alerts to help keep programs on track and ensure consistency
• Added mobile functionality to give execs quick access to contact records
• Installed Force.com’s connect for Microsoft Office to easily generate weekly Excel performance reports
• Participated in online trainings to help administrators get the most out of the deployment and stay up to date

Results

• Increased access to data helps employees be more efficient and successful at their jobs and provide better service to students and key constituents
• Comprehensive student and donor information makes recruitment and donation efforts more impactful
•  Complete, real-time information improves planning and decision-making
• Scalable solution can be easily expanded as the organization grows
• Increased transparency of program outcomes and significantly improved ability to satisfy reporting requirements of our donors
• Winner of Fast Company / Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award, Year Up has been recognized nationally as a results driven entrepreneurial non profit organization