nonprofit-technology-strategy

Digital Overhaul Unifies Nonprofit

Digital Overhaul Unifies Nonprofit

96,000

Pet Foster Volunteers Recruited

Enterprise-level nonprofit Greater Good Charities called on CauseMic for help to untangle complex systems and internal processes after a failed software implementation. The first order of business: implementing Salesforce CRM and FormAssembly in a hurry to support an immediate need to rescue thousands of shelter animals from euthanasia.

At a Glance

Greater Good Charities is an independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization devoted to improving the health and well-being of people, pets, and the planet. To date, Greater Good Charities has given $350 million in cash and in-kind grants to charity partners that support their mission.

Disparate systems from a failed software implementation had left Seattle-based nonprofit Greater Good Charities in the dark when making marketing and fundraising decisions. In addition to technology problems, their complex mission to serve people, pets, and the planet had led to inconsistent branding and siloed communications that lacked a clear, cohesive message to prospective donors. They called on CauseMic to help after capacity constraints left them unsure how to resolve their challenges.

What started as a reconfiguration and technical integration effort transformed into a far greater, long-standing partnership. 

IMG_9941 (1)

What We Did

Digital transformation

Website development and design

Donor acquisition

Donor conversion

Salesforce CRM

Salesforce FormAssembly implementation

Marketing Suite reconfiguration

Platform integration (Hubspot and Salesforce)

Multi-channel marketing

Marketing automation

Paid media management

SEO and content marketing

technology

If you are considering what next steps to take to grow your nonprofit, book a strategy session with CauseMic to explore what it would take to reach your full potential.

The Challenge

Initially, Greater Good Charities needed help reconfiguring and bridging their systems — or implementing an entirely new tech solution that would better meet their requirements after a failed software implementation. Lack of visibility to data left them unable to make strategic marketing and fundraising decisions. But it turned out a more pressing matter, spurred by the pandemic, would jump to the front of the line. Practically overnight, lockdowns from the pandemic threatened thousands of shelter animals’ lives as workers were required to stay home. They needed to innovate quickly to stand up a program called “Stay Home and Foster.”

Additionally, Greater Good Charities faced a challenge that many nonprofits experience: as their programs grew, they struggled to communicate how they were unified under one core brand and mission. They lacked a clear, cohesive message to share with prospective donors.

With each complex challenge CauseMic solved, Greater Good Charities realized what they needed was a holistic digital transformation, so we got to work.

GreaterGood Foster
Greater Good Foster 2

The Solution

In one four-day design sprint, CauseMic’s team was able to implement a Salesforce CRM with FormAssembly to help Greater Good Charities match volunteer fosters with shelters in any given 50-mile radius across the country. Using Visualforce pages (essentially smart web pages), we helped them use their internal Salesforce database to pull and display a list of potential volunteers to shelters “in range,” and likewise, a list of shelters to nearby volunteers.

Once CauseMic had the technical tools in place to facilitate the largest emergency foster care program in the nonprofit’s history, we ran paid ads to generate leads. We did this by building an integrated landing page with a compelling story, an optimized and embedded intake form, and a clear call to action. We also built social media kits with pre-approved messaging and images that shelter partners could use to promote the program and recruit volunteers. Next, we launched a strategic email campaign to drive traffic to the program’s landing page.

The results were outstanding! We helped Greater Good Charities recruit 96,000 volunteer fosters that matched with upwards of 4,800 shelters nationwide.

A few months later, the organization wanted to execute two digital media contests with photo and video entries from around the world. CauseMic implemented the platform Gather Voices and facilitated marketing activities for the contests.

After these successes, Greater Good Charities was ready to consider a complete digital transformation which included process improvements, people strategy, and a tech assessment. We determined that Hubspot CMS and Marketing with integration into Salesforce would give them the flexibility and benefits of a best-in-class nonprofit CRM to deliver their integrated marketing strategy.

After we implemented these new tools, CauseMic conducted a website content overhaul and restructuring to meet SEO best practices. We also helped with their branding and messaging, donor conversion, and process and organizational strategy to position them for rapid revenue growth.

The Results

By helping to stand up the program Stay Home and Foster on a tight timeline, we enabled Greater Good Charities to recruit 96,000 volunteer fosters that matched with upwards of 4,800 animal shelters nationwide within any give 50-mile radius. This is an impressive feat, given we had four days to execute and meet the skyrocketing demand for foster care during the pandemic. This initial success led to additional projects with Greater Good that resulted in a digital transformation of their tools and processes, positioning them for accelerated growth.

4 days

To implement Salesforce + FormAssembly

4,800

Shelters supported

96,000

Volunteers recruited

“Traditional implementation partners aren’t nonprofit experts that have boots-on-the-ground experience like what Matt and his team at CauseMic bring to the table. In order to trust this journey, I learned that I needed a partner that understood my organization and the nuances of using digital tools in the nonprofit world. I needed someone who just ‘got it’ and had already walked a mile in my shoes.

Having CauseMic as a long term partner is a great peace of mind. By starting with an urgent need and then gradually building our partnership to focus on the area that will give us the next best ROI, we’ve made incredible progress and gained a ton of efficiencies.”

Noah Horton
Chief Marketing Officer, Greater Good Charities