Established in 1976, the Barnabas Foundation aims to help individuals and families. Over $1 billion has been donated to ministries and churches through the foundation. While the non-profit organization has been very successful, relationships with potential donors were dependent on an outdated onboarding process. This outdated process consisted of many delays and various manual operations. Because of this, they needed to find a software solution to best meet their needs.
Business Challenge – Finding a Software Solution to Improve Onboarding Process
The non-profit needed to collect a large amount of data from donors before they receive donations. Problems could also arise throughout the process. Barnabas employees had to complete an intake survey through the phone. The next step was mailing donors a lengthy questionnaire that focused on donor charity interests. It also included detailed information about their finances and family members.
However, donors didn’t always return these questionnaires on time or the information didn’t match the data from the intake survey. The Barnabas Foundation had to dedicate more resources to follow up with these donors. Following up with them meant reaching out, whether by prompting them to finish the questionnaire or fix any data mistakes.
Once a donor sent in their completed questionnaire, a Barnabas employee had to use this information to create the Blueprint, a legal agreement defining the terms of the donation. Each employee created a document by manually copying and pasting sections from a lengthy master document. Donors had to get their private attorneys to check the proposed agreement before implementing a giving plan. Any mistakes found in the Blueprint only further slowed down progress. This would mean the employees would have to make any modifications to correct these errors.
The Barnabas Foundation recognized the importance of modernizing their onboarding process. They also prioritized improving accuracy while using the Blueprint. Finding a software solution to automate these various challenges was essential. So, they decided to partner with Xpertdoc to help overcome these issues.
Software Solution – Xpertdoc
Xpertdoc became the top choice for the Barnabas Foundation due to its seamless integration for using SugarCRM. Automating manual transcription and data collection accelerated and streamlined the entire donor journey process. This made it more efficient from the beginning stages to the final process for developing a financial plan.
The Barnabas Foundation worked closely with Xpertdoc in defining and creating a pre-visit worksheet by using a digital Smart Form version. Now donors can use the Xpertdoc Smart Form that’s pre-populated with data, eliminating the need for collecting all of the same information twice. The discrepancies between new and existing data nearly disappeared. The pre-populated fields made it easy for donors to complete. Once the form was complete, Xpertdoc automatically uploaded the data to SugarCRM while creating the Blueprint and any other communications.
The streamlined onboarding process was much simpler by using Xpertdoc’s design capabilities for templates. This saved employees at the Barnabas Foundation a lot of time. The need for copying and pasting long paragraphs of the master document is no longer needed. Now donors can use highly personalized financial plans with accurate information that’s consistent across the entire organization.
The Results – More Efficient Onboarding Process
The Barnabas Foundation was looking at ways to reduce friction during the initial stages of the donor experience. Using Smart Flows and Smart Forms features made it possible to use a modern and more streamlined donor onboarding process. Duplicating data entry is now not required, and it’s unnecessary to transfer information to the system from paper forms manually. Streamlining this entire process made it possible for the non-profit to improve efficiency by eliminating pre-visit worksheets or waiting on paper returns from the mail.
All of these previous delays and obstacles often discouraged participants. However, the Barnabas Foundation saw a significant improvement in the amount of time it took for donors to go through each one of these steps. Addressing these different challenges made the process more efficient from start to finish. It was automated in gathering information and creating a donation plan to create a much better donor experience.
The Barnabas Foundation also did not experience any decreases in donations during the coronavirus pandemic, which was a big surprise for many within the organization. The non-profit organization is currently on track to meet all of its donation goals due to the more simple and much more streamlined onboarding process.
The accuracy of all the data also has played a crucial role in the success of the foundation. The streamlined process also makes it easier for donors to make important decisions while boosting their confidence in following the financial plan guidance recommended by the Barnabas Foundation.
Final Thoughts
Working with the team at Xpertdoc was a very positive experience for the Barnabas Foundation, as they were highly responsive to any questions or problems. Other benefits include quality of training, willingness to offer assistance, and fast product implementation for superior customer service.
Looking towards the future, the Barnabas Foundation believes that they can further increase operations to provide additional support to members from many religious institutions. The non-profit organization is also using Xpertdoc to gain new members and promote more awareness of their services. The number of potential donors will only continue to grow with the help of Xpertdoc, as using this software solution was an excellent choice for the Barnabas Foundation.
