San Antonio Food Bank
Before the Coronavirus swept through the country and millions were left unemployed, a typical giveaway for San Antonio Food Bank would serve 200 families with the help of 20 volunteers. Leading up to a giveaway at the Alamodome on Friday, April 17, 2020, they were prepared to hand out food to more than 2,000 households while managing 400 volunteers. The staggering increase in numbers could be seen in the rows of cars lining up, some camping out overnight in the hopes of receiving food. And the lines kept increasing with each giveaway, demanding more of the food bank to maintain funds, food, and volunteer support.
Digital Transformation Process
Beginning in 2018, San Antonio Food Bank began a process of digital transformation. The effort focused on two priorities, enhancing digital fundraising efforts and improving the volunteer management experience. In partnership with Heller Consulting, we developed a CRM ecosystem that placed Salesforce’s Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) at its center. Additional tools and functionality were then integrated including Volunteers for Salesforce to transform their volunteer tracking, FormAssembly to create custom volunteer sign up experiences, and Rallybound to allow San Antonio Food Bank’s development team to improve the online donation interface.
During the COVID-19 crisis, having the CRM and fundraising technology already in place was a godsend.
Michael Guerra
Chief Resource Officer
San Antonio Food Bank
Integration Was Key
With these systems in place, they are now able to lean on the technology to support their efforts during the fallout from COVID-19. The volunteers have found the user side helpful and easy, allowing them to sign up and move shifts in real time. With the integration of NPSP, Mr. Guerra explained that now his staff is able to connect volunteer records with donor records to get a more complete view of individuals interacting with the organization. Speaking about the data the food bank will have after waves of increased donations and volunteers, he noted, “We’ll have great information about the donor and the volunteer and see when they are one in the same.”
Bringing the Community Together to Raise Funds
Calling on faith communities in San Antonio, the food bank created “A Day of Prayer and Fasting” for Good Friday through Easter Sunday. Using Rallybound, they created a fundraising landing page. Churches then created subpages complete with videos and sent those links out to their specific congregations, asking the communities to give meals they were fasting to those who are going without food due to economic hardship. The “All Faiths Fasting Friday” effort paid off, raising more than $78,000. Individuals were also easily set up on Rallybound. One entrepreneur asked for a landing page with the goal of fundraising $100,000 and quickly surpassed that, raising over $250,000.