Founded in 2008, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) is an international NGO with a guiding mission of a world in which unaccompanied and separated children’s rights and well-being are protected as they seek safety. KIND’s work to achieve this vision includes making sure children have legal representation in immigration court, supporting laws and policies that center children’s rights to protection and due process, and working with countries of origin, transit and destination to develop humane and lasting solutions to address the root causes of child migration.
Implementing Salesforce: Phase One
Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)
North Peak worked with KIND over a 7-month period to implement Salesforce’s NPSP. The goal of the implementation was to provide a single source of truth that the Development team could rely on as they built a refreshed fundraising model with Salesforce.
Since implementing NPSP, the Development team has been able to more easily track and record revenue and show trends in data. This empowers the team to make real-time decisions to increase revenue and reduce costs.
The new system has also led to better communication among departments. For example, the policy team can use data from Salesforce and Engaging Networks to help inform their work and strategies, and the whole organization benefits from having access to accurate data on giving trends and overall fundraising results.
Our old CRM didn’t provide the level of information and donor activity detail that we needed to scale up an omnichannel fundraising department. We couldn’t forecast and analyze data trends, and that really limited our ability to work with leadership and the Board on a multiyear growth strategy. Since implementing Salesforce, the Development team has grown significantly, and we all rely on the quality of data entered into the system. This is important because as a remote team there aren’t that many opportunities for face-to-face interactions, so the database becomes the hub for tracking and analyzing the work of the department. Every team member relies on Salesforce to do their job.
Implementing Salesforce: Phase Two
Portfolio and Moves Management
Once the first phase of the implementation project was complete, North Peak moved on to phase two. The goal of the portfolio and moves management work was to set up a more automated, standardized moves management system that used clearly defined portfolios (a group of individuals who are donors/are being cultivated as donors) that enable KIND to grow their donor base in a cost-efficient way.
Now that these changes are in place, KIND can more easily cultivate donors and move them through the various giving stages, thus increasing the effectiveness of their touchpoints, creating meaningful experiences for donors, and growing their overall donor base.
Sage Intacct Integration
The other important part of the phase two implementation work was setting up an integration between Salesforce and Sage Intacct. KIND uses Sage for all accounting and finance operations, and the integration ensures that the Development and Finance departments are now seamlessly communicating with each other.
Financial reconciliation between the Development and Finance departments used to take days to complete and often created immense challenges that required complicated workarounds to solve. North Peak’s rigorous and methodical approach to understanding the result that each team needed to maintain donor compliance and accounting requirements meant that the solution they proposed and implemented was a huge success for KIND. Rather than spending 20 hours a month on reconciliation, we can now accomplish this in a few hours.
Transitioning to Advanced Support Services
With the implementation work complete, KIND has now transitioned over to North Peak’s Advanced Admin Support Services. These services are a great way for the KIND Development team to get extra help in key areas. Specifically, North Peak has been working with KIND to help manage the Engaging Networks integration, which includes training and supporting KIND’s Salesforce Manager and building flows to help streamline the process. Other aspects of the Advanced Support work include troubleshooting integration issues and installing new apps.
Advanced Support has worked well for us because as we have matured and professionalized our use of Salesforce, we have had less of a need for continual hands-on support and instead pivoted to needing support in building system improvements and new functionalities that reflect our growing and evolving department. Knowing that North Peak is only an email away as a thought partner, problem solver, and technical expert has meant that we are never alone.
I have volunteered with many organizations that provide help to asylum seekers, including shelters for undocumented minors. KIND’s information appears in the paperwork provided to the children when they leave the shelter, so I was familiar with their work. Being able to support the work that they do, this time from a Salesforce perspective, has been the perfect way to help an organization that I admire, and a cause I’m deeply passionate about.
A Trusted Implementation Partner is Key to Success
When it comes to implementing Salesforce, having an experienced consulting partner to lead the work is crucial. North Peak’s methodical way of working, combined with the focus on in-depth Discovery processes helped ensure that all the relevant details of the project and KIND’s specific needs were discussed and considered, from the very beginning.
Although there can be a tendency to want to rush to the finish on big projects like these, North Peak’s approach of putting in the time and effort upfront helped ensure that the final solution was fully informed by all available information. This detailed way of doing things also helped the project stay on track and within budget, and ensured the team was ready when the final solution was launched.
North Peak’s detailed approach to the project was so helpful. I needed a partner that I could trust to unearth all the relevant details and ask smart questions to help anticipate what I would need now, and in the future to run a sophisticated Development program.
KIND staff are now accomplishing more because they are working more efficiently and are able to set priorities based on a nuanced understanding of data and results. And, the data provided from Salesforce is foundational to decisions that the team makes on what to prioritize and how to set goals.
The KIND Development team now has a tool in place that’s optimized for success and scalable as the organization grows and evolves.
If you’re considering a move to Salesforce, or want more information on how a high-functioning database platform can streamline workflows while improving data management and service delivery, please reach out to schedule a call.
About North Peak
North Peak provides Salesforce-based services for nonprofits, foundations and the affordable housing sector who want to utilize the power of high-functioning CRM and GMS platforms to become and stay data-driven. We achieve this through a holistic set of services, tailored to the needs of our clients.
In Case You Missed It
North Peak Solutions has helped many organizations successfully make the transition from foundationConnect to Outbound Funds Module got Grant Management. Read How to Prepare for the Transition from foundationConnect, to learn more.
