Top Digital Transformations of 2022
Looking back at 2022, we’re feeling full of gratitude for the opportunity to partner with so many impactful nonprofit missions. The past couple of years have not been easy ones for many organizations and have required major operational shifts through global disruptions. Prioritizing digital transformation in these times can feel daunting, but investing in solid technology infrastructure sets your nonprofit up for mission success in the long run.
We want to acknowledge a few of the organizations making that investment in their future and their mission, so we’ve compiled three of our favorite digital transformation stories of 2022.
1. Conservation Legacy
Conservation Legacy engages youth, young adults, and veterans in conservation work across 15 program sites in the United States. Every year their participants contribute millions of hours of service to public lands in the U.S. When we met Conservation Legacy, their team was using several systems to track information about their members, program operations, and partner relationships. With multiple sources of information, it was difficult to keep all systems up-to-date, and efficiently report on that data. The Conservation Legacy team knew that moving to a single source of truth would make processes more efficient and reduce errors, so they reached out to our team of consultants for help. Read the full case study to hear how automations within Salesforce and added community features positioned Conservation Legacy to take control of their data and use it to further impact.
2. Jewish Community Relations Council
With a mission to mobilize the Jewish community on critical issues and amplify their voice, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) provides nuanced consultations on sensitive community and government relations matters. With a wide range of community relationships, JCRC wanted a database that would allow them to interact with their constituents in a more robust way. Because their database was challenging to use, JCRC completed an information technology audit to roadmap their organization’s needs. After carefully considering each use case scenario, it became clear that the best solution would be implementing Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack. Although the task of migrating unhealthy data was a challenging one, it was a relief to finally have their data consolidated safely in their new system. Read the full case study to learn how JCRC uses their new Salesforce database to track relationships, integrate new tools, and more.
3. James Beard Foundation
Established over 30 years ago, the James Beard Foundation’s (JBF) mission is to celebrate, support, and elevate the people behind America’s food culture and champion a standard of good food anchored in talent, equity, and sustainability. When Idealist Consulting met JBF’s Database Manager in 2019, their legacy CRM was no longer keeping up with the complexity of their growing network of chefs, judges, members, and grantees. They were looking for an opportunity to rethink their processes, expand their reach, and foster deeper relationships with their constituents. Idealist Consulting migrated JBF from their legacy system, Neon, to Salesforce’s Nonprofit Success Pack for a 360-degree view of their constituents with centralized data, increased automation, engagement tracking, and membership management. Then came 2020, with the pandemic bringing unprecedented restaurant closures and a halt to in-person events. Read the full case study to see how JBF navigated this massive disruption while activating their new Salesforce tools to support their community in a time of great need.
It’s energizing for us to look back at some noteworthy projects from the past year and integrate what we’ve learned (like our Recipe for Navigating Disruptive Events). Even in years of upheaval or uncertainty, organizations can benefit from investing in their digital future. If you’re inspired by these stories of digital transformation and want to talk to an Idealist about optimizing your nonprofit’s system, drop us a line.
