Compelling Client Stories February 7, 2010

We just published our February eNewsletter which had three compelling client stories.  I think they captured the essence of the transformation that GiftWorks can help inject into an organization. I am going to reprint them here this week just in case you're not on our email list or you zipped through your inbox before reading the whole enewsletter.  (You can get on the email list by subscribing here).

The story below emphasizes the efficiencies an organization gains by using the right software.  If a nonprofit spends hours or days on activities that really should take alot less, it might not be serving its mission as well as is could be.  If you could save 5 hours a week, or 1 whole day a week, what would you do with it? I suspect you would do alot...

Please comment if your organization has identified or implemented operational efficiencies that others may benefit from! 

Haiti: Emergency Aid and In It For the Long Term
In a critical time for its mission, Health and Education for Haiti is thankful for the efficiencies that GiftWorks has brought to their operation.

"This month Health and Education for Haiti has three medical teams operating in the Jeremie area of Haiti (approximately 100 miles west of Port-au-Prince)," reports Treasurer Richard P. Gustafson. Each team (consisting of 8-14 health care professionals — doctors, nurses, pharmacists) serves one week — providing basic medical care; in more challenging cases (requiring surgery or ongoing care), they refer patients to other providers in the region--and cover the costs of the patient's care.   

Since their organization relies so heavily on outside help, the GiftWorks Volunteers Add-in is especially valuable. "The ability to track all of our volunteers and their skill sets is critical.  Our medical mission coordinator can easily identify which doctors have gone on missions, their specialties, and our experiences with them.  It enables us to fill our missions, such as the current crisis, with the right providers at the right time," according to Gustafson.

Health and Education for Haiti was founded in 2008 to provide medical services, education, infrastructure, and basic needs to less privileged Haitian citizens. In many areas of Haiti, the only functioning organizations in the lives of the villagers are their local Catholic parishes; Health and Education for Haiti works with these parishes to provide better lives for Haiti's citizens.

Beyond the current crisis, Health and Education for Haiti works in four program areas: medical missions, education (sponsoring students and supporting teachers), infrastructure(communications, water, power), and basic needs (developing sustainable food and shelter). They work primarily in the Grande-Anse Department (province) in Haiti, which has historically been underserved by both the Haitian Government and International Non-Government Organizations (NGOs).

Donations are received online and elsewhere — and 100% of donated funds goes directly to the services in Haiti. The Board itself underwrites all of their fundraising, general, and administrative expenses.

Health and Education for Haiti has used GiftWorks software for about eight months; "it's really helped us to improve our focus on mission delivery.  The software has reduced the administrative tasks around our fundraising.  The integration between GiftWorks and QuickBooks has enabled us to enter information once and have it appear everywhere we need it. ("Before using GiftWorks we had to enter our donor information into QuickBooks and Excel [for mail merge], and also enter the donation information into QuickBooks and Word [for receipts and thank you letters].) Now we are able to enter all of this information once into GiftWorks, and it manages all the other activities for us."

For more information or to donate to Health and Education for Haiti, visit http://site.hehonline.org.