Nonprofit Starter Pack and MapAnything: Assisting with Water Crises on a Global Scale
The Client
Waterkeeper Alliance ensures that the world’s Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Affiliates are as connected to each other as they are to their local waters and communities, organizing the fight for clean water into a coordinated global movement. United as one powerful force, Waterkeeper Alliance fights for the right to clean water in every community.
Part scientist, teacher, and law officer, every Waterkeeper and Waterkeeper Affiliate combines firsthand knowledge of their waterway with an unwavering commitment protecting clean water. Whether they’re on the water tracking down polluters, in a courtroom advocating for stronger enforcement of environmental laws, rallying community support in town meetings, or in a classroom educating young people, Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Affiliates speak for the waters they defend.
Challenges
Waterkeeper Alliance, both as a non-profit organization with heavy data storage, organization and visualization needs, and as a support network that keeps a tremendous amount of data about its member organizations, was managing their data in several different systems with little uniformity and a multitude of users and styles. Information on their member organizations was kept on a Google spreadsheet matrix that often crashed and suffered from version control. The Development and Operations team was tracking donors in Donor Perfect, and then doing accounting in Quickbooks. The Communications and Advocacy departments were using Salsa for communication on issues, petitions, and other fundraising initiatives. “Our data was not easily accessible nor was it maintained efficiently. Locating resources during a water crisis was a burdensome task that involved searching multiple databases for a particular resource like, specialized water equipment or a boat,” stated Maia Raposo, Senior Digital Strategist. Another challenge faced by Waterkeeper Alliance was not always knowing where these resources were stored. If a Waterkeeper or Waterkeeper Affiliate needed access to a particular resource close to them, there was not a simple way to find out which Waterkeeper had that resource near by.
Solutions
With over 100,000 data sets stored in three different places, Waterkeeper Alliance selected Nonprofit Starter Pack (NPSP) with Cloud for Good’s Fundraising Package, as well as an integration with MapAnything, to house all of their crucial information. Custom creation of different account record types was utilized to build relationships between individuals and organizations allowing data to be stored more efficiently. A calendar of events was created for individuals letting them know when they were scheduled to attend an event or speaking engagement.
Cloud for Good’s Fundraising package was implemented to identify and track major gift opportunities, as well as to plan gifts through cultivation of future donor estate plans. Grants are also now tracked and managed within the Salesforce platform, noting the grant milestones and installments and automating the reporting process. Individual contacts are now associated with campaigns and can be bulk added or updated. This has led to improved segmentation for future outreach, and better stewardship processes for all donors.
Using MapAnything, Waterkeeper Alliance is able to auto-populate the map with all jurisdictions for Waterkeeper organizations using Salesforce data.
Results
“Our goals for this project were to create transparency and increase efficiencies while creating relationships between Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Affiliates. Cloud for Good implemented a platform that has exceeded those goals,” said Raposo. By utilizing the Household Account Model in NPSP 3.0, Waterkeeper Alliance was able to get a 360 degree view of their donors and Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Affiliates for the very first time. The organization was able to take their one dimensional view of their Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Affiliates and expand it to provide a robust three dimensional view of not only the Waterkeeper and Waterkeeper Affiliate Accounts, but any contacts associated with a Waterkeeper or Waterkeeper Affiliate, and any activities the Waterkeeper Organization or Affiliate was involved with including advocacy work, environmental clean ups, legal proceedings and fundraising events. With the advent of a new custom object to store Waterkeeper Assets, when a threat or issue comes up Waterkeeper Alliance can very quickly see where more resources are needed and who has the resources to fill a given need. Also, in an effort to grow the Waterkeeper movement by licensing new Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Affiliates, all prospective leads are now being tracked in Salesforce with every call, email and networking connection logged for reference, and geo-tag information on every prospect added to visualize recruitment efforts. Furthermore, critical information like water quality threats, emerging issues and an assessment of the likelihood of launching a Waterkeeper or Affiliate program for all of the prospects is on the very near horizon thanks to the tools now afforded.
By utilizing the powerful GIS mapping application MapAnything, Waterkeeper Alliance can see up-to-date resources for any Waterkeeper Organization and Waterkeeper Affiliate, as well as current population demographics, congressional districts and other demographic data. Now, if there is a media explosion or an environmental threat, Waterkeeper Alliance can assess, respond and coordinate efforts needed to fulfill their mission of ensuring swimmable, drinkable, fishable water worldwide.
