Bringing it All Together: People, Process, and Technology to Achieve Nonprofit Success

Published: October 30, 2024 | By: Ascent Solutions

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How to Leverage Technology as a Catalyst for Nonprofit Success

How Nonprofits Achieve Missions and Scale Through Technology

Unique, bespoke, and beneficiary led look simple on paper but are actually very complex in practice. These are words and phrases I have used, and heard consistently, about nonprofit organisations — whether working in or leading them — and talking with industry peers.

So what’s the challenge of this heart led mission driven narrative relative to technology? Well, to put simply, it’s really hard for nonprofits to create leverage when they have been built with heart, instead of head.

Engaging with a cause from the heart can mean sticking plasters and using workarounds just to get your job done. An approach that would not be tolerated in a commercial work environment but it is an accepted part of the sacrifice made by those working for, and with, nonprofits. Here is the crux of the real issue: employees are proud of this sacrifice, the fortitude and commitment they show going the extra mile to get the job done. It’s part of their identity in how they view their contribution to the mission!

How Can Digital Technology Make a Child's Wish Come True

How Nonprofits Achieve Missions and Scale Through Technology

Technology can transform nonprofits if leadership is committed to change management and shifting how employees feel and think about their roles. Technology enables a different way of working, which isn’t what a nonprofit typically does to achieve its goals. This is why so many projects don’t deliver all they could for nonprofits, as they miss out on the power of partnership because of the deep change management work needed for success.

There is also the challenge of budget as technology continuously evolves and can be perceived as expensive relative to other nonprofit operational costs. However, it’s no longer an optional extra you can cut, when funding targets are not met. Technology that enables you to do more with less is a strong investment case and one that can be funded — or resourced — in a variety of ways, including pro-bono programs and powerful partnerships.

When I joined Make-A-Wish UK (MAW) it was clear to me the organisational opportunity to better adopt technology and have a strategy for leveraging community networks to reach more critically ill children. The team had done its best but it was lacking technology skills, projects had not been delivered successfully, and the team was frustrated and disbelieving that change was possible.

My mandate at MAW was to fix the problems, rebuild trust in technology, and develop an enabling infrastructure capable of delivering the strategy to reach more children whilst reducing the cost base for technology investments. Fortunately, I like challenges!
I knew success was only going to be possible through networks of support and creative experts in the tech space. One such person I met early on was Fabio Massetta at Ascent Solutions, as I set out to build a team of experts, internally and externally, who could reconfigure our Salesforce CRM system.

Our first call was late on a Friday (Fabio is based in the US) and it’s an understatement to say it made my weekend. I explained how we thought about wishes for context:

(1) “to have a wish” is primarily focused on a physical thing, like a laptop, gaming PC, etc.
(2) “to be a wish” using an elf or princess as examples of what might be needed to fulfil a wish.

Fabio then took us through how the wish requirements, which were bespoke to the child, could be built out of the wish story using Ascent Solutions cloud ERP application in Salesforce.

The first use case seemed simple: the component was a laptop and we could add “wish magic” to bring the sparkle and unique experience for the child.

The second use case was more complex but Ascent showed us how a princess dress, shoes, tiara, carriage with horses, afternoon tea, etc. could be captured as requirements and along with wish magic, as a stated item, this brought the wish to life on screen in Salesforce.

We also discovered that not only could we define requirements, we could also define how we wanted to source them. To achieve our strategy of reaching more children this was a crucial step. We needed to be able to define whether an item would be sourced and paid by cash or if it would be sought as a gift in kind. This is where a donor can give an item(s) such as a horse and carriage to donate for use on the day of the Princess Wish, for example.

As part of the process we defined how validation would work, how goods were received, how they were paid for or gifted in kind, and how we would expose requirements through our website and volunteer platform to ensure the wish could go ahead.

Make-A-Wish UK's Digital Journey

Unlocking Potential: Empowering Change Through Technology and Collaboration

It was quite incredible that the hunch I’d had, which came from my finance experience in manufacturing, that embedding an inventory management system to connect enablers with requirements, in real time, was not only possible but looked easy and simple.

Ascent was able to spin up a simple proof of concept on screen as we talked and everyone recognised the potential of this technology to unlock scale so we could reach many more children. We were so excited and energised by what we had seen, but we also knew we were not the requirements designers, for this we would need our wish granting, fundraising and volunteering leads. We needed them to work with us to design the solution that met all of our needs.

Our responsibility as the MAW tech team was getting to a proof of concept so colleagues could imagine a different way of working. By designing this new system, stakeholders were embracing the fundamental challenge of removing any fear that came with adopting new technology. The project was a lot of fun and it’s incredibly rewarding to know that a critically ill child could have their wish granted through means that had not been possible up to that point.

To wrap up, bringing a mission-focused strategy to life is possible, if you are prepared to leverage technology, build a network of experts around you, and collectively problem solve to empower change management within the organisation.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this topic as well, please connect with me on LinkedIn or contact Ascent Solutions to learn more about the project.

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