Harnessing Salesforce for United Way: A Decade of Digital Transformation and How You Can Benefit

August 07, 2024

We are proud to have dedicated a decade to partnering with United Ways across the country, leveraging Salesforce to help them achieve their community impact goals.

The nonprofit sector is increasingly investing in technology to support their most critical work – relying on digital platforms for speed, agility, omnipresence, and cost effectiveness. The strategic importance of moving to a more powerful platform cannot be overstated. Through the power of Salesforce there is now a pivotal opportunity to embrace a more dynamic, individualized approach. Your organization will unlock deeper, more meaningful connections with prospects, donors, community partners, volunteers, and advocates. The shift from transactional to relational engagement allows you to foster stronger relationships and drive greater community impact. With Salesforce - data silos, manually importing and exporting spreadsheets, and heavy administrative time reconciling multiple systems, will become a thing of the past. As the current market leader in AI, Salesforce will put you at the forefront of general advancement. Your CRM will become a powerful tool, and team members will have the time and data insights to focus on what matters most – driving greater community impact. Explore our journey with United Way and learn how you can embark on your path to digital transformation:

Milestones in Our Journey
Bringing Fundraisers & Finance Teams
Leveraging Applications for Increased Efficiency
Maximizing Impact and Community Outcomes
Starting Your Digital Transformation Journey

Milestones in Our Journey

Milestones of the journey of BTH bringing Salesforce to United Way

2014: United Ways nationwide were adapting to a rapidly evolving fundraising landscape and technology. Seeking modern, cloud-based platforms, Beyond the Horizon completed our first engagement with a local United Way to begin this transformative journey.
2017: As United Ways increasingly adopted Salesforce, it emerged as the top choice for its optimal balance of core functionalities and configuration capabilities. Despite initial challenges with complex workplace campaign processes, the Salesforce platform demonstrated its potential for enhancing program delivery and donor engagement.
2018: United Way for Greater Houston, a leader in digital transformation, partnered with BTH to develop the first iteration of Salesforce-based campaign processing. This milestone included batch gift entry and campaign forecasting, setting the stage for future growth.
2021: Responding to demand for innovation in campaign processing, BTH launched multiple United Ways onto Salesforce, transitioning from various legacy systems of record. This solution streamlined fundraising and finance processes and many successful implementations have taken place, including Central Indiana, Greater Austin, Midland County, Greater Lehigh Valley, Coastal Empire, and Greater Kansas City, among many others.
2023: United Ways advanced their digital transformation by integrating Salesforce applications for digital communication, online fundraising, and document generation, further enhancing operational efficiency and impact.
2024: Looking ahead, more United Ways are leveraging Salesforce for comprehensive business management. Starting with one department and expanding across the organization is now easier than ever, enabling a unified approach to harnessing data and AI for future growth.

Empowering Fundraisers & Finance Teams

Building on our partnership with United Way for Greater Houston, BTH addresses the unique needs of United Ways. Through implementations that integrate fundraising and finance functions, providing tools that make it easy for fundraisers to log donor interactions from their phone and enabling finance to manage the financial complexities of batch entry, bulk payment, and agency payouts. Salesforce offers flexibility and scalability, allowing United Ways to adapt and innovate at their own pace. Package Features: Batch Processing Fee Management GL Reconciliation Adjustments Payment Distribution Agency Payout Portfolio Management Engagement Donor Network Memberships Campaign Forecasting Dynamic Campaign Reporting Application Integrations, helps bring Salesforce to United Ways

Package Features: Batch Processing Fee Management GL Reconciliation Adjustments Payment Distribution Agency Payout Portfolio Management Engagement Donor Network Memberships Campaign Forecasting Dynamic Campaign Reporting Application Integrations, helps bring Salesforce to United Ways

Strong and Scalable United Way Framework

Flexible: Salesforce's configurability, allows United Ways to adapt the platform to their unique business processes, accommodating varying resources, fundraising strategies, and internal rules.
Thoughtful and Intuitive: Our implementation experts ensure that solutions are designed with end-users in mind. We continuously enhance functionality to support your team's needs.
Empowering System Administrators: We believe in empowering your team with the knowledge to manage Salesforce independently. Our System Administrator enablement ensures you can configure the platform with ease.

Are you ready to make the move to a modern CRM? Request a demo.

Leveraging Applications for Increased Efficiency

Examples of Salesforce Native and Third-Party Applications to leverage Salesforce for United Way

Salesforce Native Applications: Salesforce's native applications, such as Marketing Cloud and Experience Cloud, enhance stakeholder communications and provide tools for building branded portals with seamless CRM data integration.
Third-Party Applications: The Salesforce ecosystem includes a range of third-party applications, like Goodworld for workplace and online fundraising and Apsona for document generation, offering tailored solutions with built-in integrations. Meaning you spend less of your time and dollars building complex integrations, and more time focused on impact.

Maximizing Impact And Community Outcomes

Engaging Stakeholders: By consolidating fundraising, finance, and community impact teams within Salesforce, United Ways can effectively demonstrate the impact of donations and deepen their affinity for United Way.

Connected teams, systems, and data equip United Way to deepen engagement

Navigation and Referral Programs: Salesforce supports efficient program delivery, from coordinated care plans for community members to VITA scheduling for tax preparation across multiple regions.

United Way of Greenville County’s VITA program dashboard, and United Way of New York City’s ATLAS program model.

Grantmaking Efficiency: Managing grant processes within Salesforce ties donor contributions to their impact, facilitating easier funding program management and outcomes reporting.

United Way of Greater Kansas City’s grant and agency disbursement portal.

Starting Your Digital Transformation Journey

From Manual Data Management to Efficient Operations

In 2020, United Way for Greater Austin (UWATX) recognized the need for modern infrastructure following pandemic-related challenges. Partnering with BTH, UWATX transitioned from manual data management and a server-based system to a streamlined, efficient ecosystem with Salesforce at the core. United Way for Greater Austin's digital transformation phases leveraging Salesforce for United Way

United Way for Greater Austin's digital transformation phases leveraging Salesforce for United Way

In Phase 1, UWATX implemented Salesforce and reduced the number of manual integrations to other applications. From there, UWATX continued to streamline by consolidating their workplace and online giving into a single, integrated platform. By 2024, they were well equipped to celebrate their growth and continued opportunities for their 100-year centennial.

Begin Your Transformation

It’s never been easier to start your digital transformation journey. Book a free consultation with BTH today and discover how Salesforce can help your United Way prepare for the future.