How San Antonio Food Bank Scaled to Support a Dramatic increase in Volunteers, Donors and Beneficiaries through its customized Salesforce CRM

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, they were preparing to hand out food to more than 2,000 households while managing 400 volunteers.  

The staggering increase in numbers can be seen in the rows of cars lining up, some camping out overnight in the hopes of receiving food. And the lines keep increasing with each giveaway, demanding more of the food bank to maintain funds, food, and volunteer support.  

Integration is Key  

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.  

With these systems in place, they are now able to lean on the technology to support their efforts during this time of crisis.  

“It’s been a godsend,” said Michael Guerra, Chief Resource Officer.  

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 Fundraise  

What caught San Antonio Food Bank’s attention originally about Rallybound was the ability to have beautiful fundraising pages, and that very feature aided them in raising more than $78,000 over Easter weekend during the crisis.  

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, and Mr. Guerra and his team plan to replicate the process during Ramadan after more faith leaders asked to be involved. 

Individuals are also stepping up to fundraise on behalf of San Antonio Food Bank and they are 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.   

Donate Today  

Having the technology in place, staff trained, and processes mapped out has allowed San Antonio Food Bank to quickly respond and create fundraisers that bring in much needed donations and onboard volunteers to support the dramatic increase in demand. We’re proud to continue partnering with the San Antonio Food Bank team as they work tirelessly to ensure no one in their community goes hungry.  

To support San Antonio Food Bank’s ongoing efforts, please donate here.  

How to Get Started 

If your organization would benefit from any of the technology, training or insights from Heller Consulting’s work with San Antonio Food Bank, please contact us and we’ll put you in touch with one of our experts.  

Join the list

Want more nonprofit tech resources delivered to your inbox? Fill out the quick form below!