Every tax season for more than a decade, United Way of Greenville County connects thousands of residents with free, high quality tax preparation through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. For many in the community, this service is more than just a refund—it’s a path to greater financial stability.
As demand grew and staffing remained limited, United Way needed a smarter, more scalable way to serve residents efficiently while maintaining the personal, trusted support their community expects.
Enter Service Cloud Voice.
Why Service Cloud Voice?
Service Cloud Voice, on the Salesforce platform, gives nonprofits the power to manage phone-based support with the same intelligence and automation used across other engagement channels. It transforms the humble phone call into a data-rich interaction—integrated, trackable, and intelligent.
For a phone-heavy program like VITA, where most clients book appointments and ask questions by phone, this was a game changer. Adding automation to handle simple tasks allows agents can focus their effort on strategy and empathy, according to the State of Service report.
The Challenge
United Way’s VITA program relied heavily on volunteers and staff manually fielding calls, writing down messages, and following up with appointment confirmations. During peak tax season, voicemails would pile up. Staff faced a constant juggling act: supporting appointments, returning calls, and managing the ever-growing waitlist.
United Way came to Beyond the Horizon with a question: Can we modernize our VITA program without losing the human touch?
The Solution: Service Cloud Voice + Omni-Channel
Working together, we implemented Service Cloud Voice to create a unified, intelligent contact center experience for the VITA team. Here’s how it works:
- Automated Call Routing: Incoming calls are intelligently routed based on program area and time of day, ensuring clients reach the right person.
- Screen Pop & Call Logging: As soon as a call comes in, Salesforce pulls up the client’s record, showing past appointments, tax years served, and relevant notes. No more searching while someone’s waiting on the line.
- Call Transcripts & Voicemail Intelligence: When staff are unavailable, voicemails are transcribed and automatically logged to the client record.
- Integrated Scheduling: Agents can schedule, reschedule, or confirm appointments during the call, without jumping between systems.
- Real-Time Dashboards: Supervisors can view call volumes, wait times, and follow-up needs at a glance.
The Results
With their new technology, United Way of Greenville County didn’t just make their phone support more efficient—they made it smarter, more responsive, and easier to manage.
- Faster Response Times: Volunteers and staff can return calls quickly, equipped with full context.
- Better Client Experience: Clients don’t have to repeat themselves or wonder if their message was received.
- Smarter Use of Staff Time: The team focuses on impact, not chasing voicemails.
“Thanks to everyone on the team for all of your hard work and effort into this project! I’m so happy to finally this come to life after over a year of dreaming about it!”
Example VITA Dashboard
What This Means for Other Nonprofits
If your organization relies on phone support, whether for program intake, volunteer coordination, or donor services, Service Cloud Voice can offer a transformative shift.
You don’t have to choose between empathy and efficiency.
Service Cloud Voice helps your team stay grounded in human connection and benefit from automation, AI, and integration. It’s especially powerful when paired with Service Cloud or Nonprofit Cloud, where your full program and constituent data already lives. According to Salesforce, 80% of agents say better access to other department’s data would improve their work.
Ready to Rethink the Phone?
We’re proud to have partnered with United Way of Greenville County to bring this solution to life. Their story is a model for how nonprofits can leverage technology not just to keep up, but to lead.
Take the first step by reviewing the Service Cloud Voice Implementation Guide to see how it can bring your organization up to speed.
Let’s explore how Service Cloud Voice can help your organization serve more people, more personally.