The Craftsman team was a true pleasure to work with. They took the time upfront to understand our business operations, needs and aspirations. Along every step of the way, their communication was clear, and their exemplary project management kept us on track. They helped us understand options so we could make the best decisions to meet our needs. Their expertise in Salesforce and supporting systems was exemplary. I would highly recommend them to others who are looking to build a system that will allow you to focus on achieving your goals.
Race Forward
Advancing Racial Justice w/ Salesforce NPSP
Race Forward catalyzes movement building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, they build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture. Race Forward imagines a just, multiracial, democratic society, free from oppression and exploitation, in which people of color thrive with power and purpose.
Purpose
Race Forward envisioned Salesforce as a central information hub. With only one business unit actively using the platform, they needed a partner that could help engage the rest of the organization. Race Forward needed to better leverage the functionality that Salesforce provides, integrate external systems and data, and migrate processes that were managed independently. The team sought to increase visibility into their work in the community and to tie outcomes back to earned income.
Project Details
The partnership began with a six week planning engagement. The primary objective of the implementation was to bring all aspects of Race Forward’s revenue tracking online. This included centralizing intake processes for paid partnerships such as training, workshop, leadership, and membership engagements. Streamlining Development and Partnership Reporting as well as efficiently managing membership of the Government Alliance for Race and Equity network were also important components. Craftsman’s Nonprofit Practice was responsible for configuring the system to facilitate cross-functional workflows and increase adoption. Ensuring that the system could support earned revenue tracking, grants, donations, and sponsorships was critical to Race Forward’s operations.
Race Forward needed all lead information to enter Salesforce in a streamlined manner. FormAssembly was integrated to create online intake forms and program applications that feed data directly into the system. Craftsman’s team built native reports and dashboards that leverage Opportunity Record Types, General Allocation Units (GAUs), and custom fields. Race Forward can filter these reports and dashboards to review the breakdown of revenue against their budget goals by department, program, project, and revenue type. At the end of the project, all users could quickly find, understand, and communicate departmental reach, income, and impact.
Ongoing Partnership
Once live, Race Forward engaged Craftsman’s Managed Services team to help build internal capacity and self-sufficiency on the platform. A Client Success Manager provides the full range of services including resolving known issues, enhancing reporting and analytics, previewing Salesforce releases, and ensuring the integrity of operations within the environment. To support adoption Craftsman provides ongoing training and documentation.
Craftsman has also begun a second phase of Race Forward’s implementation, focusing on relationship management, program processes, and enhancing email marketing and event management tools.
Tools + Technology
Race Forward uses the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). Native Salesforce Reports and Dashboards are used for revenue and budget tracking. Pardot is the email marketing tool. FormAssembly is integrated with Salesforce to create online lead intake forms. Other integrations include DocuSign Gen and DocuSign eSignature which are used to generate and sign contracts.