Summary

As DILI grew so did the number of their constituents - partners, sponsors, and volunteers. In addition, as the organization grew and branched out so did the number of recipients and employees. Keeping track of the dream requests and matching them with donors was imperative. Each department was keeping their own database that was not very functional or useful. DILI did not have a system that allowed for all of this information to be in one central organized area. DILI decided that it needed centralized and exclusive system that could assist with keeping all this information in one place and accessible to all. However, they were also on a very tight budget and could not afford to spend much on a new computer system.

The Background

Dream It, Live It (DILI), based in Chicago, is a nonprofit organization that grants dreams for children that are terminally ill. DILI started in 1990 as a small project to help terminally ill children in the local areas surrounding Chicago. As DILI fulfilled dreams the requests began to come in from different parts of the country and DILI set out to fulfill these dreams too. Today DILI is a national children`s non-profit organization that makes the dreams of America`s terminally ill youth come to life through the help of public, private and corporate donations and grants.

The Solution

DILI decided that Constituent Relationship Management(CRM) was the best solution for their organization. CRM software provides a one-stop platform for tracking, planning, implementation and reporting on all relationships.Of the many CRM solutions on the market, Salesforce has proven to be particularly effective for a number of nonprofits. Salesforce allowed for consolidated area of all partner, sponsor, volunteer, and recipient information in a centralized database. It helped to keep track of important data pertaining to the recipient`s wish, demographics, and dates. Donor, partner and volunteer records provide a full history of interactions with DILI. Cost was a major factor for DILI. The Salesforce.com Foundation donates 10 Enterprise Edition licenses to qualified nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions in an effort to help organizations working for social good more effectively achieve their missions. DILI began using Salesforce by signing up for their free trial and applied for a donation. They needed 5 additional licenses which Salesforce offers at a steep discount to nonprofit organizations.

Lessons Learned

Having a centralized location of data for employees allowed everyone to be more efficient and successful at their jobs and provide better service to their recipients and constituents. Comprehensive donor and volunteer information makes donor and volunteer recruitment efforts more impactful. Having complete real time information improves planning and decision making. Overall, the use if Salesforce helped DILI to be more efficient as an organization, streamline their communications, and easily track and share their impact.