Western Michigan University Adds Salesforce Support Through Talent for Good

Written by Gianna Weissensel

Western Michigan University (WMU) is a learner-centered, research university based in Kalamazoo, MI. As a public university, WMU seeks to build intellectual inquiry and discovery into undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in a way that fosters knowledge and innovation, and transforms wisdom into action. The University also provides leadership in teaching, research, learning, and service, and is committed to enhancing the future landscape of global citizenry. WMU has been a longtime partner of Cloud for Good, who previously implemented Student Success Hub for the University to better track, engage, and communicate with students, and with whom WMU is also currently partnering for a Managed Services engagement. It was through WMU and Cloud for Good’s ongoing relationship that they found an additional opportunity to partner with one another.

The Opportunity

WMU has three Salesforce instances on campus: the University CRM, the Enrollment CRM, and the Alumni CRM. The University CRM and Enrollment CRM instances mainly support students, while the Alumni CRM services WMU’s University Advancement.

The University Advancement office was looking to build their team as a result of growth on campus when the need for a Salesforce resource arose.

“We were on a journey of scaling our team because we have a lot of growth happening,” explained Alaina Tuohy, Director of Advancement Services at WMU. “In order for us to act as a service office to the rest of the University Advancement, we needed to be thoughtful about scaling and resourcing our team. We hadn’t had great success in posting the position just generically. So, working with an organization to help identify talent seemed to be a better route for us.”

Tuohy and her team were planning to seek help from a temp agency to source, find, and hire the talent they needed when Kristen DeVries, Vice President of University Advancement at WMU, told them about Cloud for Good and the Talent for Good program. DeVries had been working closely with the University CRM and Enrollment CRM Salesforce groups, which were engaging with Cloud for Good on WMU’s strategy and solutioning technology moving forward.

“Learning about the Talent for Good program was like finding our needle in a haystack. Our Talent for Good Analyst was even local, which is quite extraordinary considering that the program is national and people are remote,” said Tuohy.

Once the agreement was in hand, Cloud for Good identified an individual who met their requirements and who fit with the dynamics of their team. It also happened that the Talent for Good Analyst selected to work with Tuohy and the University Advancement team, was also a WMU alumnus!

The Solution

The Analyst was already a member of the Talent for Good cohort at the time WMU expressed an interest in the program. During her Talent for Good engagement, the resource worked as a full-time extension of the University Advancement team, serving as a dedicated in-house system administrator, as well as serving in other capacities aligned with her Salesforce experience. The Analyst was quick to learn and eventually gained an extensive knowledge of the University Advancement’s Salesforce system, and data to support the programs the University Advancement team amplified.

“There are a lot of different programs within our organization that it’s great when somebody becomes an expert and knows how that data works inside our system,” said Tuohy. “Our Bronco Athletic Fund for Athletics, for example, is a pretty intensive program, so it’s really nice to have somebody, like an alum, know all the details of how that data is working together in our system.”

Among the highlights of the Talent for Good Analyst’s work included:

Partnering with WMU’s Data Out Team for Projects

WMU’s Alumni CRM team is organized by a “Data In” team and a “Data Out” team, with both teams working hand in hand. The Data In team manages the creation of processes, mirroring processes, determining how data goes into their system, where data lives in the system, creating new fields, object management, and the system’s architecture and strategy. The Data Out team does the opposite of what the Data In team does and focuses on reporting, analytics, and insights, with WMU beginning to move more into that insight and analytical space through Salesforce’s CRM.

Initially, the intention was for the Analyst to focus more on data reporting for WMU’s Data Out team, as the need for Salesforce support in that area was great. However, because of the Analyst’s prior training and exposure, she was able to also assist with some projects for the Data In team.

Co-owning Ad Hoc Report Requests and Dashboards

For this area, the Analyst worked on generic and ad hoc report requests, various inbound data requests, and writing for WMU’s annual fund. Within this role, she demonstrated strong communication skills while interfacing with clients and constituents, especially those who requested donor data that WMU is not allowed to share.

“It does take a skill set to be able to speak kindly to a constituent, say no, and then, on top of that, find a way to still give them something that they can work with,” explained Tuohy, “but our Analyst’s personality was a good fit for that. I think she works very well with our constituents to find a solution for them, even though it’s not always easy to say, ‘No, we can’t get you exactly what you’re requesting, but maybe we can work with you in this capacity’”.

In addition, the Analyst was charged with creating and leading dashboards and developing strategies for using that data—including assigning who oversees what and how to divvy up workload among the Advancement team in a more meaningful way. For this initiative, the Analyst completed supplemental demos and training to further strengthen her skills, and she utilized Tableau and CRM Analytics for data reporting, data visualization, and predictive modeling. Along the way, she contributed to the Advancement team’s adoption of Tableau, a method for how to report annual data, helped expand policies for the CRM, and simplified and revamped complicated processes.

Point Role for Planned Giving, WMU Giving Day, WMU Medical School, and Donor Recognition Team

The Analyst served as a point role for WMU’s annual Giving Day event, a 24-hour fundraiser organized by University Advancement in support of the institution’s many causes, programs, departments, and areas. She also drove email communications and engagement, audience segmentation, and procuring contact lists with targeted recipients to maximize WMU Giving Day’s fundraising goals, which raised more than $960K.

Similarly, the Analyst also served as a point role for Planned Giving, which is a new program in University Advancement, and for donor relations for WMU’s medical school during the latter half of her engagement with WMU.

Tuohy explained, “Planned giving can be very confusing and cumbersome. It’s a fairly new program at WMU and an evolving piece. But our Analyst has just done an amazing job of really working with a lot of ambiguity and helping us build this program inside our system, advise us of how we’re going to track it, and how we’re going to be able to report and do. Her knowledge in that space already is just phenomenal.”

The Results

One of the strategic advantages that Talent for Good’s contract-to-hire structure offers clients is vetted individuals who have the Cloud for Good team’s ongoing support, coaching, training, and collective expertise, which traditional staffing agencies usually cannot provide. As a result, Talent for Good clients gain a valuable resource who not only has quality Salesforce talent, but who also can easily access and provide them the guidance and expertise of a Salesforce consulting partner with over fifteen years of industry experience to facilitate successful results. This advantage can help create a meaningful relationship between the resource and the client, which was the case with WMU’s Talent for Good Analyst and the University Advancement team.

“It was a good fit it was for both our Analyst and for ourselves, and it was nice that our Analyst continued to get additional coaching and mentoring from Cloud for Good,” said Tuohy. “Cloud for Good was really involved in the process and they had an investment in ensuring the success of our Talent for Good Analyst as well as our success. It felt like a two-pronged approach and not just one way or the other, which I think is very important that everyone’s needs are met.”

Tuohy also praised Talent for Good’s vetting process, citing it as a pivotal factor for their successful engagement in the program. “The vetting process in the Talent for Good program and the competitiveness of getting into it makes it clear that anyone who is in the program is a pretty diligent worker and person,” she shared. “That in of itself, for me, puts the program and the talent identification process on a whole different level than other programs do.”

As a result of the Talent for Good Analyst’s performance, contributions, work ethic, and skills, she was offered a full-time position as a System Specialist with WMU’s Data Out team for the Alumni CRM Salesforce instance.

“It was nice that our Talent for Good Analyst had been in the industry before, had worked in an office where she had exposure to Salesforce, and had a nice blend of talents,” said Tuohy. “I think knowing the competitiveness of what it takes to get into Talent for Good’s program had done a lot of groundwork for us to know that our Analyst was clearly a devoted, loyal, talented, thoughtful employee, and the fact that she had just even made it into your program spoke highly of her.”

In her role at WMU, the Talent for Good Analyst will continue doing the work and responsibilities she had during her Talent for Good apprenticeship, but she plans to further advance her expertise and knowledge of Salesforce. In addition, the Analyst will serve as an in-house expert on the Advancement team for dashboards, predictive models, and setting up systems to create more informed insights for the Advancement team.

To learn more about the University Advancement office at WMU, visit www.wmualumni.org/about.