Resources for Food Banks

Introduction

Today, food banks are facing unprecedented demand. Having a comprehensive CRM ecosystem is critical to meet the dramatic increase in volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries.

Many institutions face hurdles with outdated and fragmented technology systems that hinder operational efficiency and personalized appeals. By modernizing these systems and integrating sophisticated analytics and AI applications, advancement leaders can significantly improve donor data management and overall fundraising effectiveness.

Embracing these strategies will enable advancement leaders to navigate the pressures of reduced funding and increased demands, ultimately driving long-term success for their institutions. With a forward-thinking approach, they can transform challenges into opportunities and ensure their institutions thrive in the future.

When COVID-19 hit, food banks saw a near-immediate surge in demand for services. For many, the demand hasn’t slowed, and their technology has failed to keep pace with the emerging needs of their constituents.

Download our guide today to learn how your food bank can optimize your current CRM, meet today’s demand for services, and prepare your technology foundation for the future.

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How food banks are using Salesforce

Salesforce has a lot to offer food banks, across the organization.

For example:

For programs, tracking geography, demographic information from children to seniors, and agency partner data can supercharge activity across programs.
For volunteer management, tracking volunteer opportunities, schedules, and participation can help scale volunteer support up or down as demand for services changes.
For fundraising departments, access to a more complete view of constituents, including their volunteer activities, can transform communications and ultimately raise more money for the organization.

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Case study: Alameda County Community Food Bank

Challenge: Building a thoughtful technology plan

Solution: A strategic and multi-phased approach to digital transformation

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Does your tech stack look like this?

Food banks are incredibly resourceful organizations. The work it takes to fulfill their missions of ending hunger typically involves a great deal of complex relationship and logistical management. Because they usually carry out their work on very thin budgets, what they accomplish is remarkable.

For those reasons, it is not surprising to see food banks end up with a dizzying web of systems and data flow. Often the tools were customized at various points in the past to meet specific needs. Over time, as needs expand and evolve, tweaks are made here and there to keep things running department by department, but the picture starts to get muddy.

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“Working with Heller to define our roadmap made it clear to the organization that we needed to change how we were thinking about our constituent data.”

— Elizabeth Whamond, Information Technology Director, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley

How to settle fights between programs and fundraising at your food bank

Gaining buy in for new CRM technology across multiple departments challenges even the nimblest organizations. For food banks, the needs and interests of program staff and the fundraising department require careful consideration, especially in cases where not everyone agrees on the best path forward.

Balance the needs of each department by considering the factors that favor change or that make change more difficult within each.

What are Heller Accelerators for food banks?

Case Study: Alameda County Community Food Bank

Technology Strategy and Partnership

For more than 35 years, Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) has passionately pursued a hunger-free community. Their vision: a community in which children, adults, and seniors of Alameda County, California do not worry about where their next meal is coming from.

Highlights

ACCFB sought a partner to help build a long-term technology strategy and a clear plan to help the organization improve programs and processes.
The Heller Consulting team worked closely with ACCFB to identify optimal technology solutions to meet ACCFB’s digital transformation goals.
Working with Heller Consulting, ACCFB now has the right mix of integrated solutions to improve volunteer management, fundraising and marketing activities, and a food recovery program while working more efficiently and interacting more effectively with constituents and donors.

Challenge: Building a thoughtful technology plan

ACCFB wanted to create a technology plan to help them work more efficiently and effectively across the entire organization. Rather than solving each department’s technological changes in an isolated manner, they recognized that a more holistic and cross-departmental approach was needed.

The ACCFB team sought a technology partner that would help them design a technology strategy, implement that strategy in an intentional way, and support the process with change management. They also wanted to work with a partner that understands how food banks work and whose values align with those of ACCFB.

“The Heller team’s deep understanding of technology and commitment to our organization, plus their experience working with other food banks, has made our work with them smooth and efficient. They appreciate our goals and challenges, and they built a relationship with our staff that felt like a true partnership.”

— Gina Schumacher, Salesforce Administrator, Alameda County Community Food Bank

Solution: A strategic and multi-phased approach to digital transformation

Assessment

ACCFB started its journey with Heller Consulting by going through a needs assessment. The assessment allowed the Heller team to understand the food bank’s unique business processes, and then tailor technology recommendations based on that understanding.

Overall technology strategy

The Heller team collaborated with ACCFB to develop a technology roadmap that aligned technology solutions with the organization’s goals. The solution included moving ACCFB from the Blackbaud CRM fundraising and customer relationship management (CRM) platform to a technology stack centered around Salesforce.

Accelerated Volunteers for Salesforce solution

The Heller team started with an accelerated implementation of the Volunteers for Salesforce solution to help ACCFB address an immediate need to engage, manage, and track more volunteers to support increased demand for services during the global pandemic. The solution included mapping of new processes within the new system and customized forms to handle both individual and group sign-ups.

Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) solution

Heller Consulting implemented Salesforce NPSP, configuring it to meet ACCFB’s specific needs. The Heller team also helped ACCFB to select and integrate Neon Fundraise with NPSP to support online fundraising activities, including their Virtual Food Drive. As part of this phase of the overall project, the Heller team guided ACCFB through decisions about terminology and configuration to ensure consistency across their new Salesforce-based solutions.

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement solution

Working with ACCFB, the Heller team implemented Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly called Pardot), a marketing automation tool in the Salesforce ecosystem. The solution allows ACCFB to build sophisticated and automated email campaigns, fundraising appeals, and other marketing communications.

Solution for ACCFB food recovery program

The Heller team worked with ACCFB to implement the Salesforce Program Management Module to help streamline ACCFB’s food recovery program in which food donors (such as grocery stores that donate food) work with partner agencies (such as churches that distribute food). As a facilitator between these two entities, ACCFB matches donors with agencies, provides scheduling support, and tracks food safety compliance. The solution integrates with the Ceres food bank software system that ACCFB uses, which ties in the pounds of food distributed, giving ACCFB a complete view of their food recovery program in one place and allowing them to report on it effectively.

Overall change management support

With Heller Consulting’s change management approach, ACCFB felt supported throughout the organization’s digital transformation. ACCFB staff members and Heller team members built a strong relationship, and Heller’s deep knowledge of ACCFB’s business processes helped get the right staff members involved at the right stages of the project.

Result: Integrated technology solutions that support ACCFB’s goals

ACCFB has successfully moved to a new technology ecosystem that aligns with the organization’s long-term goals. With the Salesforce platform at the core, the solutions work together to streamline processes and improve the effectiveness of fundraising, marketing, and program efforts. ACCFB now has a more complete view of individuals who interact with the organization that, for example, allows the development team to market to volunteers and allows volunteer directors to see when volunteers have also made food or monetary donations. ACCFB can also now report more accurately and extensively on volunteer interactions, partnerships, food distributions, and more.

We're ready to help!

As a nonprofit technology specialist since 1996, our team here at Heller Consulting has extensive experience and knowledge of CRM products for the sector. We can help you determine which products are right for your organization and help you implement and support the solutions.

We have deep expertise with nonprofit technology, such as products from Microsoft and Blackbaud, digital engagement platforms, data management tools, and more.

We’re uniquely positioned to help if you need a:

Sounding board to talk about your technology approach
Comparative analysis or fit assessment to confirm your technology direction
Full technology roadmap to take your nonprofit into the future
Partner to help with the technology implementation and support

For nearly three decades, Heller Consulting has focused on helping organizations to plan and implement technology strategies. With thousands of projects and engagements under our belts, our team of experienced technology experts helps nonprofit organizations and education institutions advance their missions and meet their business objectives.

No matter where our clients are in their journey, we help them make the most of technology.