Implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) tool can be a daunting task for any organization. For nonprofits with smaller staffs and limited budgets, it presents a myriad of challenges. But with Salesforce’s Nonprofit Cloud, it can be a walk in the park. From its cost-effectiveness to its ability to drive fundraising, donor engagement, and project success, the world’s #1 CRM helps empower nonprofits to new heights. 

The Most Cost-effective Nonprofit CRM

For many smaller and medium-sized nonprofits, the biggest barrier to implementing a CRM solution is often the cost. This keeps these organizations operating out of ad hoc solutions that include everything from Google Sheets and Docs to free versions of Notion, with data spread out all over the place and manual entry for any updates, donations, or new contacts.

At B Local Georgia, an Atlanta-based nonprofit focused on the Georgia B Corp Community (of which Ad Victoriam Solutions, commonly referred to as AdVic® is a part), this was the case for them. “We’re a small, volunteer-led organization with no paid staff and a small budget that’s used to host community events. We couldn’t justify the expense that comes with software licenses, but we knew this was limiting our ability to scale,” B Local Georgia’s Board Chair, Nathan Stuck, told us. 

But with Salesforce’s “Power of Us” program, which waives the first ten license fees, it was free to start using. For organizations like B Local Georgia, “free was a game changer,” Stuck stated. Between an MBA board fellow with previous Salesforce experience and the help of AdVic’s Victory Project, they were able to turn on Nonprofit Cloud and now use it to track attendees, promote events, and stay on top of the Georgia B Corp community’s needs. 

Focus on Fundraising & Donor Engagement

For Raleigh-based nonprofit, A Place At the Table (APATT), they needed a CRM that could do more of everything. As a nonprofit restaurant, the staff is not only running a nonprofit, but they’re also open six days a week for breakfast and lunch and rely on sales, customer donations, and regular donor gifts for funding. 

“We never had the time to focus on fundraising and donors,” Executive Director Maggie Kane confessed. “With Salesforce, the reports give us so much more visibility and we’ve been able to engage different levels of donors in different ways and it’s helped us raise more money,” she added. 

Like B Local Georgia, APATT also took advantage of the Power of Us program to secure ten free licenses. But Kane also appealed to her board to allocate funds to hire AdVic, who also contributed some pro bono Victory Project hours, to fully implement and integrate some of their legacy software.

The investment was worth it. Not only have they increased fundraising, but they’ve also freed up time, including at the end of the year when donation receipts have to be mailed out. “Oh my God, it’s all automated now and I don’t dread all of the end-of-year bookkeeping,” Kane enthused. “We do love Salesforce.”

Measuring Program Effectiveness

When an incredible opportunity to partner with Creature Comforts’ Get Comfortable Foundation on an impactful literacy initiative in Athens, Georgia arose, local nonprofit Books For Keeps was excited to be a part of the program. However, given the high stakes of the pilot, they wanted to ensure they had the data to track and measure the program’s success. 

With the help of AdVic, they applied for their free Salesforce licenses and received a grant from AdVic’s Victory Project to customize and implement the software. Together, they created a simple Jotform that allowed the program mentors to fill out a two-minute survey after every school visit, capturing data that included the student’s name, how many books were read, how long they engaged, and the level of engagement. Combined with reading aptitude test scores, Books for Keeps was able to determine the right recipe for success.

“As we prepare to expand to three schools in 2024, we were able to use that data to identify how frequently our mentors should engage with their mentees, how many books they should be reading, and even identify what kind of volunteer mentor to be recruiting,” Executive Director Justin Bray told us. He continued, “The ability to capture data in real-time, see it update on our dashboards, and slice it a million ways with the reporting functions went beyond our wildest dreams of what we thought Salesforce could do for us.” 

The Best Nonprofit CRM

For any nonprofit, eliminating the cost of the first ten licenses is an incredible offer–and licenses beyond ten are highly discounted. Whether you have the budget to fully integrate all of your legacy software or you just plan on utilizing the features in the Nonprofit Starter Pack, Salesforce can take your CRM out of Google Suite and prepare you to scale your organization’s impact. 

Additionally, it will free your team from administrative work and give you data-driven insights that drive donations, stakeholder engagement, and program success. 

If you have questions about Nonprofit Cloud, you can reach out to AdVic here. We’re happy to help you weigh the pros and cons of the platform for your specific needs, as well as discuss potential implementation costs. You can also apply to our Victory Project by clicking here. 

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If the past two years have shown us anything, it’s that, in spite of a lot of progress over time, the world still needs a lot of fixing. 

There are many opportunities to make a difference for the greater good, even if it’s small, it has an impact. For example, what if your hour of picking up trash, of mentoring an at-risk child, of serving food at a homeless shelter does matter? What if that tiny ripple is a part of a larger wave? 

At Ad Victoriam Solutions, we believe that it is. It’s one of the reasons we give every employee 40 hours of paid time-off to volunteer every year. It’s also why we have our own adopted highway and encourage our employees to get involved in their communities, to give back, regardless of cause or organization, to make their own ripple. 

We talked to some of our most dedicated volunteers to get their perspective and came up with four simple ways anybody can get involved and give back. We hope they will help you find some inspiration and your own calling to give back. 

1. Sign Up For Something

The simplest step is to sign up for something. From sites like VolunteerMatch and GivePulse, to company organized events through tools like Selflessly, signing up for a volunteer day has never been easier. If you’ve been on the bench for a while and are afraid to get back in the give-back game, sign up for something you know you can do. 

AdVic Tatiana Romanko, an alumnus from our Elevate program epitomized that sentiment when she told us that, “I noticed pretty quickly that AdVic had a culture of service and giving back. Soon after I started, I saw a call for volunteers at the Gasparilla Music Festival and signed up. And I had a blast!”    

And like Newton’s First Law of Motion taught us, an object in motion stays in motion. A simple Saturday volunteer shift led Romanko to continue that volunteerism throughout the year, adding, “That day reminded me how much I enjoy serving–I found myself signing up for volunteer events and raising my hand for company community initiatives like never before. This year, I set a goal to finish in the top three at the company for overall volunteer hours.” 

2. Volunteer Your Skills

For those that don’t know, AdVic specializes in Salesforce implementations, which include custom build-outs, integrations that often require custom code, and an incredibly meticulous loading of existing data. In layman’s terms, we have some really smart people with an incredibly rare skill set. 

As we move to the new normal of remote work, opportunities abound to give back virtually, especially for those with technical skills. 

AdVic’s own Grant Keller spearheaded our first career development program with Goodwill of North Georgia, which brought in AdVic employees as mentors and culminated with a one-day event where the students put their new knowledge into use, building out real Salesforce orgs for four deserving nonprofits. “This was an incredibly fulfilling way to give back”, Keller says, adding that “a virtual opportunity offered me and several other employees the chance to give back in a city I didn’t live in, but in a cause I truly believed in.” 

There are now a ton of virtual volunteer opportunities for those with technology (and beyond) skills. If commuting, work-life balance, or other time-related commitments are getting in the way of you giving back, think about volunteering virtually. (Pictured, below: Recent volunteer events for the AdVic Team.)

3. Join a Nonprofit Board

There are more than 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. And almost every single one of them has a board of directors, usually consisting of 8-10 volunteers. Using some simple math (and a calculator), that’s 12,000,000-15,000,000 nonprofit board seats that need to be filled. 

While they require more commitment than a Saturday sign-up, few volunteer experiences offer the opportunity to give back, while also directing and driving the impact an organization makes. At AdVic, no one embodies this spirit like our Director of Corporate Culture & Strategic Impact, Nathan Stuck.

Stuck serves on four different nonprofit boards and chairs both Keep Athens Beautiful and B Local Georgia. He told us, “Serving on a board is incredibly rewarding. Not only do I get involved in community outreach events, but I also get to play a part in the overall strategy.” Through his work, Stuck has adopted clean-up highways, created awareness and fundraising programs, and helped nonprofits drive donations and scale their impact. 

His advice is simple: “Follow some of your favorite nonprofits. They all have boards and some of those seats turn over every year. When you see the announcement calling for board nominations, submit one. You’ll be blown away by the incredible change you can bring to your community by serving on a board.” 

4. Pursue Your Passion

At AdVic, we want our team to choose a way to give back based on their passion.. From mentoring students to picking up trash, we encourage everyone to find their civic passion and pursue it. So, find your own passion and find a way to give back. 

Our best example comes from Marshall Hunt, our 2021 Volunteer of the Year. Marshall volunteered over 260 hours to his church and a youth camp at which he spent his 40 hours of VTO (volunteer time-off) chaperoning. “My church, and my faith, have given me more than I could have ever imagined. I live my life to pay back that debt and provide others with the same guidance and direction that I received,” Hunt remarked. 

Marshall’s advice is rather simple: “Whatever cause you’re passionate about, get involved and jump in feet first. It’s been the most rewarding experience of my life.”  

Take Action, Make Progress

No matter your passion, your skill set, or your available free time, find a way to get involved. Every hour of service adds up to the bigger change we need in this world. And it is our duty as citizens to give back, as Muhammad Ali famously remarked, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” 

You alone cannot fix it, but we all need to take action so we can make progress as a society. So open that browser, and search “Google opportunities near me,” and sign up. Heck, maybe we’ll see you there!

Volunteerism is just a small part of how AdVic – a Certified B Corporation – gives back to our communities and the world at-large. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

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Nonprofit organizations are usually high on passion and purpose, but often lack the resources needed to take their mission to the next level. One of the biggest challenges they face can be access to technology, prohibited by the cost of licenses and proper implementation. Most of these organizations start off in a free version of Excel or Google, relying on manual data loading, emails, and more, leaving their volunteer staff stretched thin and limiting their ability to maximize their impact. 

For four nonprofit organizations in the southeast, this story was all too similar. And even though all four were in different phases of growth, they all needed to take the next step in their organization’s progress. And that’s where Salesforce® and Ad Victoriam Solutions (AdVic) stepped up to help. 

Salesforce’s “Power of Us” Nonprofits Program

Through Salesforce’s Power of Us program, each of these wonderful nonprofits was able to acquire 10 free licenses to the Nonprofit Success Pack. And through AdVic’s Victory Project program, each nonprofit had their data loaded, reports built and generated, and email templates created, which allowed them to send different emails to different groups with the click of a button. Additionally, each nonprofit will now have new contacts automatically imported into their Salesforce org, eliminating another manual component of the process and saving valuable time. 

The implementations were run through AdVic’s Victory Project, a first of its kind event that paired AdVic consultants with students from the AdVic Enable career development program in partnership with Goodwill of North Georgia. And the nonprofits were thrilled with the results they got. 

The Victory Project in Action

HYPE, whose mission is to empower and prepare girls of color for careers in technology, was one of the nonprofits involved. And their Executive Director, Kristina Newton, told us how important getting Salesforce was to them. 

“We’d been sitting on our free nonprofit licenses offered by Salesforce for over a year with little progress in actually using it to support our business needs and activities. Having the support of Ad Victoriam’s Salesforce professionals during The Victory Project event helped us to upgrade our processes for tracking data, engaging with donors and volunteers, and managing leads and contacts to support our outreach efforts. It was a wonderful experience and we’re excited to start finally using the power of Salesforce on our team!”

The other nonprofit beneficiaries of the Victory Project, all B Corp-related organizations, were Florida For Good, B Tennessee, and B Local Georgia. 

As a certified B Corp, AdVic was excited to make an impact with these organizations, whose mission is to educate and grow the number of companies using business as a force for good. 

Nonprofits are short on resources and big on ideas. AdVic wants to eliminate this barrier so nonprofits can expand their reach and increase their impact. That’s where The Victory Project comes in. As part of this program, our experienced nonprofit Salesforce consultants help implement or enhance Salesforce, at zero cost to a nonprofit organization. Does your nonprofit organization need help with its technology solutions? Let’s talk!

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AdVic and Goodwill of North Georgia recently partnered to provide a unique training program for residents of Athens-Clarke County, GA. The 12-week program taught participants the basics of Salesforce® and prepared them for a career in the growing technology industry.

The first cohort of students consisted of 10 participants with varying professional backgrounds who are looking to pivot from a job to a career, as well as significantly increase their earning potential. Salesforce is the global leader in CRM (customer relationship management) software, controlling around 20% of the market share, with some figures estimating that over 90% of Fortune 500 companies currently use the software. As such, the ecosystem is a rich source of high-paying jobs where demand for skilled workers often outpaces the supply of talent.

Making a Positive Impact

The AdVic Team saw this challenge to work with Goodwill as an opportunity to make a positive impact on multiple fronts. With the right attitude and drive, we know anyone can develop the skills to work on the Salesforce platform in high-paying jobs. And it’s a fact that these days employers are caring more about the ability to configure and build than they care about traditional employment requirements, like years of experience or formal education.

And that thinking aligned perfectly with Goodwill’s mission to put people to work.

“Programs like this one, and partners like AdVic, provide job seekers with the training they need to transition out of simply ‘a job and a paycheck’ and into a career,” remarks Alicia Battle, Goodwill’s Director of Workforce Development. “At Goodwill, we consistently study workforce trends and data to ensure our programs are meeting the demands of the job market and preparing our job seekers for high-growth industries. We understand the value of technological skills for the workforce of today and for the future. We look forward to helping this cohort of students begin to build a successful career.”

Just Getting Started

While the scale of this initial program is small, there are ambitious plans to increase the class-size and offer it throughout the year, meaning more and more high-paying jobs being created for area residents. “Innovative public-private skills training partnerships like this develop Athens’ home-grown technology talent base and increase community members’ access to jobs offering higher wages and benefits,” said Ilka McConnell, Director of Economic Development for Athens-Clarke County, “which also helps us as a community to attract and retain technology companies here in the Classic City.”

This program is a creative solution to multiple problems, and demonstrates the combined powers of collaboration and action. Together AdVic and Goodwill are helping local residents launch a career in technology, filling a supply void in the industry and giving back to the community. Together, we have the power to effect positive change.

Ad Victoriam is a Salesforce and MuleSoft® Partner who provides multi-cloud consulting services, from strategy to implementation. Our nimble team of certified professionals across the United States accelerates businesses by simplifying complex problems through cloud and data expertise. As a Certified B Corp – and a founding member of B Local Georgia – we balance purpose with profits and have made a strong commitment to the community. If you’re interested in talking about your nonprofit and its tech needs, contact us here.

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The Daily Agenda

For Ad Victoriam, the conference started on Monday, September 16, with the B Local Summit.

AdVic’s Director of Culture and the Chair of B Local Georgia, Nathan Stuck, spent the day with B Local leaders and community organizers from across the country. They shared strategies to build local organizations and the B Corp movement as a whole. From the more established chapters like Portland to the newer chapters like B Corp Local in Georgia, discussions centered on synergies and opportunities for collaboration.

After an incredible opening reception on Monday evening, the conference kicked into full swing on Tuesday. With a focus on building a regenerative and inclusive economy, attendees heard from Patagonia CEO Rose Marcurio, who spoke on the need for B Corps, and businesses in general, to lead by example and not accept “business as usual.” Breakout sessions focused on networking and creating a more inclusive economy, one that works for everyone.

On Wednesday morning, Ad Victoriam’s Stuck was elated to be called on stage to receive a Collective Action award with other B Local leaders from across the country. The award recognizes significant efforts to lead the movement, raise awareness, and promote growth.

Later on Wednesday, attendees were treated to an incredible session with Bart Houlahan, co-founder of B Lab, and Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts and the newest B Lab board member. There was also an incredible breakout session focused on recertification, which AdVic will have to start working on in mid-2020.

Making the Pledge

AdVic’s proudest moment of the Champions Retreat was taking the Pledge to Build the B Economy from Within. With this signature, we pledged to:

– Support the B Corp community
– Speed up the building of an inclusive and sustainable economy
– Truly use business as a force for good
– Share knowledge with our fellow B Corps
– Align our purchases with our values
– Consider B Corps first when making decisions
– Promoting B Corps to our employees and networks

This trek to Los Angeles was an intense three days of meeting some of the most inspiring people. These people are being the change they want to see in the world. We can hardly wait until 2020’s Champions Retreat!

But until then, we are committed to advancing to the next level. We’re striving to ensure that purpose is intertwined with profit and businesses to serve both our employees and communities.

About B Corp
B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today, Ad Victoriam Solutions, along with the more than 3,000 other B Corps around the globe, is working toward one unifying goal — to redefine success in business.

So, would you like to learn more about how your company can become a certified B Corp? AdVic’s recent three-part blog series has all the information you need to succeed: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3. You may also find this recent AdVic B Corp/Corporate Social Responsibility webinar helpful, too. If you have any questions, contact us here.

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