Good Tech Fest: Watch the Sessions

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Exponent Partners was proud to sponsor the 2021 Good Tech Fest. This onlince conference with over 80 sessions is dedicated to a the cross-sector community working to utilize data and technology for social impact. Unlike other nonprofit or social sector technology conferences, Good Tech Fest sessions are very much focused on program and field technologies. The Good Tech Fest community works for change and believes if we responsibly use data and technology that we can be more effective in achieving that mission.

In previous years, Exponent Partners has presented engaging sessions on nonprofit Theory of Change Logic Models as well as amplifying underrepresented voices in your tech community. This year we deepened our commitment to Good Tech Fest and added new sessions focused on fundraising and philanthropy.  Watch the sessions below and contact us if you have any questions!

Watch Our Good Tech Fest 2021 Sessions

Philanthropy at a Crossroads: An Inside Look at the Latest Salesforce.Org Grants Management Solutions to Meet this Moment

Speakers: 
Ursula Stewart, Grantmaking Industry Advisor, Salesforce.org
Pamela Fitch, Philanthropy Practice Account Executive, Exponent Partners
Brent Shively, Lead Solution Engineer for Foundations, Salesforce.org

Whether responding to the COVID-19 pandemic or mass demonstrations in support of the Movement for Black Lives, many grantmakers want to better support society’s most marginalized communities. The philanthropy sector has a unique opportunity to loosen the fetters of institutional processes to ramp up impact, to fund innovatively, and encourage projects that address structural issues that limit equity during this public health crisis and beyond.

To achieve this goal, grantmakers need the right technology. Salesforce.org is the social impact center of Salesforce focused on partnering with the global community of changemakers. As a social enterprise business unit dedicated to creating solutions for nonprofit, educational, and philanthropic organizations, Salesforce.org innovates on top of the world’s #1 CRM, channeling the philanthropic power of employees, customers and partners to join our global movement for good.

Watch this session for an engaging discussion on philanthropy trends and a live demonstration of the Salesforce Grants Management solution. Built in collaboration with the grantmaking and nonprofit communities, this deep dive will focus on the user experience of applicants; grantees; and grantmakers. From engaging with stakeholders to managing grant portfolios and out-of-the box reports to help track your foundation’s impact, get a peek of Salesforce’s new Grants Management solution.

Leveraging Data to Understand the Relationship between Impact and Fundraising

Speakers:
Lara Hoke Kimberley Senior Consultant, Fundraising Lead, Exponent Partners
Julie Feener, Director of Client Services for Philanthropy, Fundraising & Education, Exponent Partners

For many years, organizations have struggled with how to communicate their impact. Even today, within the sector, organizations struggle with explaining how their work makes a difference and what that work generates in regards to social return of donor investments. This session takes a high-level look at how to tie a logic-model based outcomes measurement strategy to strategic fundraising initiatives to drive organizational communications around impact.

Workforce Development Changing Lives After COVID-19

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By: Josie Alleman

The hardships that individuals and families have faced since COVID-19 are staggering. Challenges included experiencing social isolation from loved ones, juggling remote work and schooling, losing childcare and income, and suffering the tragic, premature deaths of family and friends. During the pandemic, an unforeseen number of people were laid off while others left their jobs due to safety concerns or lack of dependent care. Unemployment rates at the start of the pandemic hit the highest levels in generations. The 2021 annual National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) conference highlighted how vital Workforce Development programs are during this period of recovery.

A Year of Unemployment Crisis 

The Congressional Research Service reported that the pandemic affected labor market metrics across geography, demographics, and every economic sector in the U.S. (Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic, May 20,2021). Below are some important facts to help describe the unemployment crisis that unraveled during the past year from the report:

• The unemployment rate reached 14.8% in April, 2020 which is the highest rate observed since data collection began in 1948. 
• The unemployment rate is still high at 6.1% in April of 2021 compared to 3.5% at pre-pandemic level in February, 2020
• The leisure and hospitality sector lost the most jobs since January 2020 and have consistently had some of the highest unemployment rates throughout the pandemic – 39.3% in April of 2020 and 10.8% in April 2021. 
• Although all demographic groups were affected, Black and Hispanic workers experienced higher rates of unemployment and steep declines in labor market participation during the pandemic. At the peak of unemployment rates in 2020, Black workers hit 16.7% compared to White workers at 14.1% and Hipsanic workers hit 18.5% compared to White workers at 13.6%. 

Legislation Designed to Help

The unemployment rate in the U.S. is improving as restrictions are easing up as well as federal legislation that has helped businesses, individuals, and nonprofits stay afloat and start to support training for an adapted workforce. During the 2021 annual NAWDP conference, Robert Knight, Director of Workforce Policy and Government Relations summarized legislation that supported our recovery in 2020 and upcoming legislation that will help as well. In 2020 the following legislation supported our workforce: 

• Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act in March 2020
• Families First Act in March 2020
• CARES Act in March 2020
• Consolidated Appropriations Act in December 2020

In 2021 the American Rescue Plan continued to support workers with direct payments to most Americans, UI extensions, support for safe school reopening, extended small business assistance and more. And, if enacted, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan (Infrastructure bill) will greatly affect the workforce development sector with a planned:

• $40 billion in a new Dislocated Worker program and sector-based training
• $12 billion for evidence based violence prevention programs and job training for underserved communities
• $48 billion for other workforce initiatives including apprenticeships.

One-Size-Fits-All Online Trainings Aren’t Enough

Although things are looking up, so many workers continue to struggle, managing a new, post-COVID labor market while doing everything they can to keep their families safe. Not only do jobseekers continue to deal with the day to day difficulties that come with COVID-19, but many are forced to transition to a new area of work requiring new skills and credentials. Companies may be hiring, but their open positions may not match the skills of jobseekers. Local governments and nonprofits have the federal dollars to help retrain workers for these jobs across the country. 

Employment programs have adjusted to COVID norms to help job seekers gain the skills they need to gain sustainable employment. Job seekers are meeting with their career coaches over the phone and through video conferencing and gaining job skills through online training and even virtual reality. Through all the wonderful training opportunities, there are still life challenges that cause barriers to work that need to be addressed through wrap-around services. Employment program staff not only need to address technical skills training, but also soft skills and case management to help alleviate the challenges that many job seekers face, especially after such a difficult year. 

Wrap-Around Services to Cope with Transition

One approach that is proven to be effective for individuals making career changes is applying the Transition Theory to the work that employment program staff do with their participants. During the 2021 NAWDP conference, Tressa Dorsey, President of TAD Grants provided a wonderful webinar on the 4 S’s of Nancy Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to help workforce development professionals support their participants during this unprecedented time of transition. The 4 S’s are:

1. Situation – The situation that has caused the transition and how impactful it is to the participant.
2. Self – How the participant views the situation and their ability to cope with the change.
3. Support – How much support surrounds the participant during this transition time.
4. Strategies – Formulating strategies to successfully gain a new career.

This theory can be a great tool for workforce development professionals as they help so many people to transition to a more satisfying career after a COVID-19 job loss. It focuses not only on the job loss itself, but also the strengths and strategies job seekers can use to remove barriers to work, enhancing case management services throughout the process. 

How We Can Help

Our Workforce Development Accelerator is a pre-configured version of Exponent Case Management that supports every stage of your employment program. It encourages best practices such as removing individual employment barriers to ensure job readiness, placement and retention services, and effective employer engagement. From intake and assessment to employment planning, service tracking, and reporting, the Workforce Development Accelerator has you covered. Watch the on demand webinar to learn more and contact us to schedule a live demo for your organization.

Customer Success: Which Plan is Right for Your Organization?

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As trusted advisors who are most familiar with your system’s design, we are your partners in long-term Salesforce success. Our comprehensive customer success plans include support for both your day-to-day questions, as well as the ongoing optimizations your organization needs. As partners in your Salesforce journey, we’re here for you when you need us.

Beyond a Service Desk: Essential and Enhanced Support

Our Essential Support offering is ideal for organizations already equipped with in-house system administrators with the capacity and knowledge to handle the day-to-day management of their Salesforce system. This offering is best for organizations who anticipate “business as usual” in the foreseeable future when it comes to your system.

Essential support includes access to the Success Center team, portal, and Exponent Knowledge Base. When issues or questions arise, you can submit service desk tickets or submit questions to the community portal, where you will receive public answers from one of our experts. We also provide regular informational updates on releases to help ensure you are taking advantage of those features that continue to improve your system.

For clients requiring a more hands-on approach, but not ready for managed services, we developed our Enhanced Support offering. This offering includes all of the Essential Support services plus a primary point of contact in the Success Center. This primary point of contact allows for clients to set goals and more proactively manage support for their system, especially when time and resources are limited. Enhanced Support may also include a set of recurring benefits such as system administration and maintenance.

Adding Capacity with a Trusted Expert: Virtual Admin

For nonprofit organizations that lack system administration resources, capacity and/or expertise, the Virtual Admin support offering may provide the perfect balance of support and value to maintain the health of and value of ongoing optimizations of your Salesforce system. As virtual extensions of your team, Virtual Admins support managing the current strategy while helping to plan for future data and system goals.

Virtual Admins serve as trusted partners to the organizations they support. They bring deep expertise in systems management and technical execution to our clients and can reduce the cost of recruiting and hiring full-time system administration support. Virtual Admins can also help by identifying and reporting on KPIs, building dashboards to demonstrate success, and prioritize enhancements to be completed over a period of time.

Strategic, Proactive Support: Managed Services

High-growth and large nonprofit organizations will benefit from the year-round strategic management consulting the Managed Services support offering provides. Not only will you be working with a dedicated Exponent managed services consultant, but you will have access to our entire network of specialists, all with a deep knowledge of Salesforce, ECM, and the nonprofit world including deep domain expertise.

With our managed services offerings, we take a proactive approach to optimizing your Salesforce systems. As an extension of your team, our consultants are able to utilize the understanding and knowledge gained over a long-term relationship to proactively identify opportunities, trends, optimizations and even anticipate and solve issues before they turn into problems.

Together with internal team members, Exponent consultants identify priorities, create work plans for ongoing enhancements, and monitor and report back on performance metrics. They also offer best practice support, advisory services, ongoing training opportunities and can assist with change management and ongoing strategic planning.

Whatever solution is right for you, all of Exponent’s Customer Success support offerings have been developed to help our clients better leverage the Salesforce platform across whole organizations and create a safety net of institutional knowledge in the event you experience staff turnover or other changes in priority. Our offerings also ensure you have ready access to a full range of expertise on the cutting edge of Salesforce platform knowledge and trends in how nonprofits are leveraging the power of the platform to support digital transformation and support successful adoption over time.

Interested in learning more? Talk to your Exponent Partners consultant or contact us to schedule an overview of our Salesforce Customer Success offerings.

Reimagine Grantmaking with a Salesforce Solution 

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By: Pamela Fitch

For many foundations, managing grantmaking can be a highly manual process. Information may exist in multiple places, systems, or live exclusively with specific individuals working on the grantmaking team. The intellectual capital may not feel like it belongs to the organization itself. In contrast, a purpose-built foundation management system can transform every aspect of vital organizational processes including grantee relationship management, grants management, measurement and evaluation, compliance, fundraising, event management, and finance.  Implementing the Salesforce platform, combined with other best-in-class products, can improve efficiency, streamline processes, and ultimately improve and expand the impact of any nonprofit organization. 

Our Approach: Solutions to Reimagine and Advance Foundation Management

The first step in any Salesforce implementation project is a deep and detailed discovery process. Clients need a trusted guide to take inventory of their system requirements and find opportunities for organizational transformation. We offer advisory services for best practices on Change Management as well as helping you develop organizational theory of change and program logic models. We are transparent and realistic with our clients about the scope of their journeys because the launch of a new system is just the beginning. Long-term success is defined through high-level, strategic conversations and requires buy-in from all stakeholders involved. 

As a Salesforce.org Premium partner founded in 2005, Exponent Partners has one of the longest running practices serving philanthropic institutions using the Salesforce platform. With decades of combined experience in the sector, our team has seen it all. Not only have our consultants worked on large, complex grantmaking technology projects, many of them have been on the other side of the equation in previous roles at grantmaking organizations.  

We understand the wide range of unique challenges that organizations face:

• Defining success. High-level strategy and planning that ensures your project aligns with your organizational mission and that there is staff buy-in throughout the organization.  
• Finding the best solution. Selecting the right product that will not only be an improvement from the current system but also continue to grow as your organization’s needs grow.
• Exceeding technical expectations. Building successful integrations across all the large scale systems used by all the teams at your organization, including the smaller tools grantmakers rely on to accomplish their day-to-day tasks.  

This understanding also allows our consultants to guide clients away from the common pitfalls of a technology implementation. We frequently bring client focus back to the project objective and the mission of the organization as a whole. Staying grounded in your organization’s mission and desired program outcomes can serve as a critical reminder throughout the course of a complex implementation project. 

Looking Ahead: Events & Industry Trends

We invite you to join us at two upcoming virtual conferences, the annual PEAK2021 Grantmaking conference from May 4 – 13, 2021, and the Good Tech Fest from May 18-19, 2021. Both events provide an invaluable opportunity for the leaders in our philanthropy practice to hear and learn from colleagues about emerging trends and innovation, which ultimately allows us to serve our clients better. 

PEAK2021 Grantmaking Conference

This year, we are particularly excited to dig into the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion in the grantmaking process. As more organizations work towards ensuring equity is interwoven into all aspects of organizational culture and practices, we also must consider how this translates into the technology that grantmakers use to design their grantmaking systems. Our May 10th PEAK2021 session —featuring our client changemakers at the United Way Bay Area — provides an example of how grantees can use Salesforce technology to ensure more equitable program outcomes. The session titled “Equity Dashboards: Moving Beyond Theory Towards More Equitable Program Outcomes for BIPOC” is ideal for grantmaking professionals who seek to develop and/or fund more equitable programs. Also, our virtual booth will offer a spotlight on a handful of small, below the radar, BIPOC-led nonprofits curated by our staff.

Good Tech Fest

Then, join us on May 19th for our Good Tech Fest session titled “Philanthropy at a Crossroads: An Inside Look at the Latest Salesforce.Org Grants Management Solutions to Meet this Moment.” The session will discuss the unique opportunity the pandemic has presented to engage grantees and grant making differently. The philanthropy sector can loosen the fetters of institutional processes to ramp up impact, to fund innovatively, and encourage projects that address structural issues limiting equity during this public health crisis and beyond. Listening, flexibility, speed, and leveraging data with an equity lens are all hallmarks of the new moment in philanthropy. Our colleagues from Salesforce.org will provide a live demo of their new Grants Management solution, answer questions, and discuss how it fits in the new paradigm.  

Get Started on the Path to Strategic Grantmaking and Foundation Management

As seismic shifts rattle through the sector, many grantmakers are undergoing major change to meet the moment. Projects—whether strategic, change management, fundraising, events,  or grants management—can be huge undertakings, and can seem overwhelming especially to an organization where time and investment is limited. Given our significant philanthropy portfolio and extensive expertise in the grantmaking process, this is where the consultants at Exponent Partners can help. If you are considering a Salesforce implementation for your organization, we want to talk to you! Schedule a free initial consultation with the Philanthropy Team at Exponent Partners to learn more about how a Salesforce implementation could transform grantmaking, and more, in your organization. 

Overcoming Challenges Nonprofits Face when Implementing Salesforce

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The implementation of a complex and powerful platform like Salesforce can be a daunting undertaking for many nonprofits. Technology projects require buy-in at multiple levels, a significant investment of time, money, and people, as well as extensive knowledge of the Salesforce ecosystem. Acknowledging these challenges is the first step in your journey. The transformational benefits of a successful implementation include improved efficiency, cost savings, automated processes, and more accurate data. Nonprofits also benefit from increased transparency, enhanced collaboration across staff, and the ability to scale programs for greater impact. The flexibility and innovation of the Salesforce platform sets your nonprofit on a course for ongoing improvement. Engaging an experienced Salesforce partner to serve as a trusted guide on your journey is critical for your organization’s long-term success. Nonprofits can overcome these common challenges with the support of a dedicated Customer Success team.

Nonprofit Organizations are Complex

One of the most common challenges we hear from nonprofits seeking a new technology to replace their legacy system is the assumption that no partner or tool could meet the unique demands of their organizational processes and system requirements. It’s true, your nonprofit may need a solution that serves multiple functions including case management, fundraising management, impact reports, financial projections and more. To meet this challenge, the Salesforce platform was designed to be flexible and easy to integrate with other technologies.

As a partner serving the sector for over 15 years, we know nonprofits. We understand how to meet nonprofit clients where you are and partner with you to build a system that grows with your organization over time. Every one of our consultants comes equipped with deep knowledge of the nonprofit world and the unique challenges that come with the territory. Plus, many of our consultants worked at nonprofits in the past and have direct experience with nonprofit operations.

Implementations Require Significant Investment

It is no secret that new technology implementations require a significant time and financial investment to any organization. To ensure the great return on investment, nonprofits need a trusted Salesforce implementation partner with an unwavering commitment to Customer Success as well as a demonstrated history of achieving that success at every stage of the project lifecycle.

During a project, nonprofits and their partners should continuously circle back to the goals set during the strategy and planning stage and ask: Are we still aligned on these goals? Are we successfully partnering with and checking in with all key stakeholders? Are we taking tangible steps towards achieving or exceeding the definition of success developed at the engagement onset?

Nurturing a continuous feedback loop fosters trust in the technology and in each other. This trust is key for the ongoing adoption and success of the technology investment. Often the technology or platform implementation is just the beginning—the catalyst—for large-scale organizational change that involves people, processes, and potentially whole organization transformation. Choosing an implementation partner is an investment in trust. At Exponent Partners, we strive to build trust through every milestone of your technology journey.

Redefining Reporting Metrics and Managing Expectations

Improving the ability to measure the impact of your organization is likely a major driver in any Salesforce implementation project. It is the quickest way to demonstrate the value of the implementation and show the power of data transparency from a well-designed Salesforce system.

A common challenge nonprofits face is trying to recreate the reporting metrics of the previous system. The Salesforce platform provides nonprofits the opportunity to reevaluate program and outcomes measurement. Nonprofits need a trusted advisor to think through the implications for end users across multiple tiers of an organization. For example,  Senior leadership do not necessarily need to see the same level of data granularity as a system administrator. The platform design and build must take into account specific business units, roles, and responsibilities to serve the right data at the right time.

Performance reporting is a key part of any implementation. Our consultants are able to draw on their nonprofit experience, as well as all what they have discovered through the discovery process, to partner with clients to develop custom measurement practices that work for multiple departments of an organization.

Adapting to Organizational Change and Technology Updates

One trait that all nonprofits share, regardless of the sector or industry, is that they are dynamic; the requirements, goals, size, etc. evolve over time. But some organizations face the added challenge of treating a technology investment as a static, fixed project. To overcome this challenge, your nonprofit’s ongoing evolution should be a consideration throughout the planning, design and build stages of your Salesforce implementation. The ultimate goal is to build a strong foundation that will meet the needs of today and be able to adapt to meet the needs of tomorrow.

And, like the nonprofits themselves, Salesforce is also on a path of continuous improvement. Technology changes at a rapid pace, and it can be challenging to stay current with the ever-expanding Salesforce ecosystem. Our Success Center service plans are designed to ensure you understand the evolving landscape and how it can best serve your needs.

How Exponent Partners Can Help

As your Salesforce implementation partner, we can ease the pain of addressing common implementation challenges before, during, and after the launch of Salesforce within your organization. Your ongoing support needs are not an afterthought. Customer success is at the core of everything we do; your success is our success.

We offer a proven range of services to help clients maintain, support ongoing adoption, and grow the impact of your Salesforce platform including:

• Essential Support. Annual entry-level service for your emailed requests. You’ll get access to our customer success self-serve portal, robust knowledge base, and Success Center Team for hands-on assistance.
• Enhanced Support. Includes all the benefits of annual Essential Support plus proactive system maintenance, quarterly goal setting, release assessments, user management, and third party app support.
• Virtual Admin. Benefit from a dedicated Managed Services consultant who serves as your nonprofit’s quarter-time Salesforce Administrator contracted on a 3-month basis.
• Managed Services. Contracted annually your Managed Services consultant goes beyond Virtual Admin to include Salesforce roadmapping, data governance, change management, and a team of specialists.

Are you ready to get started? Explore our support offerings or contact us to set up a consultation.

For more tips on common challenges and choosing a Salesforce consulting partner, check out the latest part in the blog series titled Nonprofit Guide to Choosing a Salesforce Partner by Watt Hamlett where consulting leaders offer candid advice for your organization as you embark on your journey.

Amplify-ing the Underrepresented Voices in Tech

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By: Marisa Lopez

On April 21, 2021, Salesforce will host its inaugural Nonprofit Summit, which is a virtual summit with content designed specifically for professionals in the nonprofit space. 

The summit will offer four content tracks, and I am honored to be speaking with two fearless Amplify members, Jessica Murphy and Rachel Park, during a breakout session in the “Managing and Scaling Your Platform” content track. 

We feel that our session, “Amplify-ing Underrepresented Voices in Tech,” has never been more relevant. The last year has been a major reality check into the current state of inequity in our communities. Our mission at Amplify is to tackle this problem by empowering and elevating underrepresented voices technology. 

We want to share one of the most powerful tools we have leveraged in our journeys to take tangible steps towards achieving that goal – building community. 

Why is building community so important?

We all desire to feel a sense of belonging; this builds community. When we feel connected and represented in the workplace, industry, or the larger community, it may feel less intimidating to speak up and accelerate our own success. Technology is making it easier than ever to build virtual communities on a large scale. This can help 

In our session, we dig deep into our personal stories and discuss how they converged at the intersection of tech, diversity and grit. In sharing our experiences, we hope that you can see yourselves in our stories and provide real-life examples of how these concepts work together to propel success. There is no substitution for hard work and a relentless desire to be the very best at what you are doing. 

Join us on Wednesday, April 21 from 10:15 a.m. to 10:33 a.m. Pacific Time in our breakout session at the Salesforce Nonprofit Summit. We hope to see you there! For more information about this and other events check out the Amplify website. 

Additional Resources Now and Coming Soon!

In collaboration with the Salesforce.org Partner Advisory Board Equity Subcommittee and the DEI Sprint, Amplify recently launched is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclustion Suvey. This was volunteer-led effort and a full report will be published soon. Some initial findings include:

Respondents when asked “Which category best describes your race/ethnicity? Select all that apply.”

• Indigenous 1.3%
• Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin 6.3%
• Black of of Afican or Caribbean descent 5.7%
• Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin and white 3.1%
• Asian 9.4%
• White 68.6%

Respondents when asked “I identify my gender as…”

• Gender Queer/Non-conforming 0.6%
• Female 56.6%
• Male 40.3%

Respondents when asked “Do you consider yourslef a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and/or Queer (LGBTIQA+) community?”

• Yes 21.4%
• No 76.7%
• Prefer not to say 1.9%

Respondents when asked “Do you own, or partially own the company?”

• Yes 17%
• No 83%

Another new resource recently launched is the Amplify Job Board, where Salesforce.org partners enter job opportunties to reach a more diverse pool of candates. This is a fantastic opportunity to expand beyond standard networks within the Salesforce ecosystem. Find open positions.

Transforming Nonprofit Fundraising with Salesforce Implementation

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By: Lara Hoke Kimberley

Fundraising is an essential function of almost any nonprofit, enabling these organizations to do the work set out in their missions and make a difference in their communities and the world at large. To sustain and grow the impact of nonprofits’ work, organizations need a system to manage the fundraising pipeline. This can include managing individual and annual giving, tracking information on donors and potential donors, driving marketing and communications campaigns, reporting on financials, and more.  

Many nonprofit organizations have legacy systems to manage fundraising that are homegrown. These systems may not connect to other parts of the business (e.g. finance, philanthropy, etc), and have decades worth of data with little governance and manual processes to access the information. 

Implementing Salesforce to Improve Fundraising Management 

The Salesforce platform, and more specifically, the Nonprofit Success Pack, can dramatically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a nonprofit organization’s fundraising management. A customized Salesforce solution can not only automate many of the manual processes nonprofits deal with everyday, but can use predictive analytics and prospect functionality to proactively plan for and project giving on an ongoing basis. 

Additional functionality can include custom marketing campaigns, fundraising pyramids, and complex contact tracking. Board, committee, and giving society membership tracking can be built as well as functionality to track inbound government and foundation grants. Whether your process resembles a traditional sales process or not, a custom Salesforce solution can transform the fundraising capability at your organization.  

Our Methodology: Setting the Path for Sustainable Fundraising 

At Exponent Partners, we take a whole-agency, 360 degree approach to any fundraising project. Though fundraising may be the driving force to implement a system like Salesforce, we believe that it is critical to consider and understand the business processes of the entire organization to ensure a seamless implementation not handicapped by silos. 

Discovery begins upon the first consultation with an Exponent Partners Consultant and is ongoing throughout the entire implementation. We base our discovery process on your business processes and take time to understand the day-to-day of our clients. We map out individual user stories, key data relationship information, and definitions of success to customize a solution that will empower users at any level to utilize and leverage the power of the platform.

Often our solutions may include a degree of change management or re-engineering of business practices to avoid the common pitfall of simply recreating a legacy system within a new platform. Our consultants have spent years in the Salesforce ecosystem and most come from a non-profit background. They strive to balance their deep platform knowledge with careful listening and understanding to become a true partner to our clients.   

What’s Coming in 2021 

Looking ahead, one of the decisions many nonprofits will face is whether to move away from Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge. Data security is critical in any organization, and for organizations managing funders’ personal data, it is paramount to ensure trust, transparency, and ultimately the continuity of a funding pipeline. With the Blackbaud security breach, Exponent Partners has and will continue to support organizations making the switch from Raiser’s Edge to Salesforce in 2021. 

At Exponent Partners, our drive to propel our clients towards success extends far beyond an implementation project. We believe in the mission of our clients, as we work with organizations that are tackling the biggest and most complex challenges facing our world. 

If you are anticipating a migration from Raiser’s Edge in the next fiscal year, or are interested in learning more about our fundraising practice, we want to talk to you! Contact us and we will schedule a time for an initial consultation to learn more about how we may be able to partner with you to accomplish your fundraising goals.

Tracking COVID-19 Vaccination Status with Salesforce

Posted in: Blog

By: Skye Tyler

Vaccination rates around the world are rising, and most of us are starting to feel a glimmer of hope about returning to life as we knew it before the Coronavirus pandemic. Or at least something closer to normal. The decision whether or not to get vaccinated is a personal one and can be influenced by religious, cultural, political, and personal health factors as well as logistics like availability of vaccines and access to distribution sites. As organizations begin to think about returning to working in the office, and seeing clients face-to-face, the question has arisen for many of our customers that are nonprofit service providers and human service agencies: do we need to collect and store vaccination status information? And if so, what’s the best and safest way to do it?

Why Collect Vaccination Information?

There are several reasons why an organization may need to collect data on employee or program participant COVID-19 vaccination status. The first being if your organization defines new operating policies requiring that anyone participating in an in-person interaction scenario must be vaccinated. This could include office visits as well as home or site visits. In this case, you’d need to know which of your participants are able to receive in-person services and which need to be accommodated with continued virtual or socially distanced services. Since your organization is defining this policy, it is important to have a clear process for how to collect, verify and track the vaccination data.

A second situation would be if service providers to which you regularly refer your clients have policies around vaccination status. Some examples may include shelters or training programs that require clients to have been vaccinated in order to participate. While you don’t need the vaccination data yourself, it would be more useful for your referral process to know whether or not a client is eligible to receive services at partner agencies.

We work with many workforce development organizations and they do an excellent job of cultivating relationships with employers for placing their clients. These employers may institute vaccination policies. Similar to the example above with service providers, you may need to know whether or not your client would be eligible to be placed with an employer that requires vaccination.

Data Collection Options

If you’re familiar with Salesforce, you’re probably aware that there are many, many different ways to track any type of data. How you plan on using vaccination status is going to be the biggest driver on how you enter that data in Salesforce. Here are three possible ways you might want to approach it.

• Essential: you just need to know if someone is vaccinated. You don’t need dates, manufacturer, or number of doses. In this case, a checkbox on the Contact record would be the bare minimum needed.
• Moderate: you are able to collect more information but still want to keep it simple. You can create a few fields on the Contact record (add to the page layout and record types relevant for your client contacts). You may include fields like Manufacturer, Dose 1 Date, Dose 2 Date, and a formula field that determines if they’re fully vaccinated based on the manufacturer value and the relevant final dose date being populated.
• Robust: you need to collect all the vaccination information, and be prepared for future changes. We don’t know what the future holds: will more manufacturers get approved vaccines to market, will boosters or additional doses become required, do you need additional security around the vaccination data beyond field level security? Building a custom object to track vaccination data will give you the most robust options for both today and the future. You can then keep the details of the vaccination better protected, and just surface the vaccination status on the Contact record.

Exemptions and Data Security

Some states have existing exemptions regarding vaccination requirements (such as for schools), so you should have a plan for how to handle clients that are claiming an exemption from getting vaccinated. Also be certain to evaluate what consent or authorization to share data forms should be collected. Whichever way you decide to capture vaccination data, keep security and data access concerns front of mind. At a minimum, field level security for any of the three options above will allow you granular control over which users can see, edit or report on vaccination status and consent data. Combined with sharing settings, sharing rules or permission sets, you can ensure that only the appropriate users can access this sensitive information.

What Approach is Right for Your Organization? Take Our Survey

We’d love to hear if you’re considering (or already) collecting COVID-19 vaccination data. We have a very short survey where you can provide your feedback on how your organization is evaluating options for this data. This anonymous survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete. All individual answers will be kept confidential as we will only share the aggregate results. Your responses are important to us. We appreciate your thought partnership and continued dedication to positive social change during this pandemic and beyond. Thank you!

Understanding the Homelessness Crisis and Making a Difference

Posted in: Blog

By: Josie Alleman

The growing housing shortage crisis has contributed to an increase in homelessness, particularly among low-income individuals and families. The shortage ranges from 2.5 million to 3.3 million homes according to Feddie Mac, 2020. In response, transitional housing providers and shelters across the country have been providing services to help individuals acquire safe and affordable housing with few resources. Discover the lessons we learned about the homelessness crisis during the Ending Homelessness Virtual Conference by visiting our new Exponent Case Management blog here!

Nonprofit Dreamin Videos Now Available: Watch the Sessions and Demo Jam

Posted in: Blog

Exponent Partners was a proud sponsor of the inaugural Nonprofit Dreamin, a virtual conference created for, and by, nonprofit professionals within the Salesforce ecosystem. Previously, regional Salesforce Dreamin events included a few sessions relevant to nonprofits but Nonprofit Dreamin was the first event of its kind fully dedicated to the nonprofit sector, creating an inclusive space for attendees to collaborate, build relationships and learn best practices.

Watch the Must-See Sessions

All sessions videos the Nonprofit Dreamin conference are now available. Check out these top picks:

Salesforce Labs All-Stars: 5 Free Tools Your Nonprofit Can Use Today

During this session, Exponent Partners Consultants Skye Tyler and Lara Kimberley highlighted five of the most useful and flexible Salesforce Labs tools for nonprofit organizations that require minimal setup for maximum return! System administrators, fundraisers, case managers, and program officers alike will find immediate value in these solutions designed to help you work smarter on the Salesforce platform. Read more.

How to Advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Ecosystem

An all-star team of session leaders Brittany Daley, Jessica Murphy, Emma B-F, Marisa Lopez, and Rachel Park, who will share findings from surveys about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts throughout the Salesforce partner and customer community.  Read more.

 

Demo Jam Winner

Demo Jams at Salesforce events are a fast game show-style event where Independent Software Vendors will be showcase their most compelling Salesforce apps in super short, no fluff, live 3 minute demos. At the end of a Demo Jam, audience members vote on the winner.

We are honored that the clever demo of Exponent Case Management by Solutions Engineer, Andrew Elluru won the Nonprofit Dreamin Demo Jam! Thanks to all your attended and enjoyed our podcast-themed demo. Watch the demo and see which app is your favorite!

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Exponent Partners

Posted in: Blog

By: Mandy Kutschied

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a critical part of our identity as an organization, woven into our DNA. But there is always an opportunity to improve, to rethink, to be better. The events of the past year have granted us the opportunity to dig deep, take inventory, and reimagine how we as an organization can live our value of prioritizing diversity, ensuring equity and promoting inclusion.

Why are we so excited about expanding our work in this area? Because we believe that taking care of our employees and clients enables them to go take care of the world. And we agree with John Rice, founder and CEO of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT)  one of Exponent Partners’ earliest clients, when he writes that employers and companies play a critical role in “forging the link between racial equity in the workplace and racial justice in our communities.” Read more in the article here.

Tools and Resources for Every Employee to Learn and Grow

Our greatest asset, especially as a strategic consulting firm, is our people. Starting at the executive level, we challenge leaders to confront and rethink assumptions and what it really means to be an anti-racist and inclusive workplace.

Though not mandatory, we offer diversity, equity, and inclusion engagement opportunities for every employee, and are in the process of reimagining how this should look going forward. It is important to emphasize that diversity, equity and inclusion training is not a one-time, check-it-off-your-list event. It is an opportunity for continuous learning, personal and professional growth, and open conversations for every employee. And, we know that it is most effective when woven throughout the entire tapestry of an organization rather than relegated into a compliance-centric one-time event.

All employees are welcome to attend a monthly “Inclusive Leadership Lunch & Learn.” Leading with curiosity, both formal and informal conversations and trainings aim to challenge the group to recognize unconscious bias, unpack privilege, and discuss racial inequities in the world, even if it means getting a bit uncomfortable. In June of 2020, 42% of Exponent Partners staff engaged in small group Anti-Racism Awareness and Action conversations that focused on actions staff could take personally, and those actions we could take collectively, to be more actively anti-racist.

Seeking Candidates Who are Culture Adds, Not Fits

Early on in 2020, we identified the recruiting and hiring process as an area in which we could take actionable steps toward becoming more inclusive. We did a complete audit of our job posting language, for example, we de-gendered pronouns and removed gender-normative terms like “aggressive” and “Rockstar.” We also further emphasized the importance of diversity experience – either lived or worked – in job qualifications. We created training for all hiring managers, and hiring teams, that includes recognizing unconscious bias and working toward intentional inclusion in our interview process, ensuring that there are structured interview questions and candidate scorecards for hiring teams – key criteria that can reduce bias during the interview process.

To learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion in the hiring and recruiting process, as well as extend our reach to additional candidates, we have also partnered with Salesforce.org organizations who are hyper-focused on promoting equity in the workforce for under-served candidates. These partners, such as Pep-Up-Tech, Climb Hire, and Merivis, are doing amazing work providing resources and Salesforce training for candidates to enter or re-enter the workforce.

Additionally, Exponent Partners is a proud Amplify sponsor for the fourth year in a row. Amplify is an amazing organization that works to create a world where underrepresented voices have equity and representation in all areas of technology. Additionally, Amplify just presented at the NonProfit Dreamin’ virtual event on “How to Advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Ecosystem” which had over 300 attendees.

Empowering Our Clients to Amplify Their Impact

We work with nonprofit clients doing incredibly impactful and meaningful work to make the world a better place. Naturally, one of the ways we can grow the impact of our diversity, equity and inclusion initiative beyond our organization is to find out how we can help empower clients to do even more. In sum, to start by listening to what tools, functionality and/or support will allow them to expand their reach and amplify their impact.

Does your nonprofit value equity but struggle with how to ensure equitable program outcomes? Watch our on demand webinar featuring the United Way Bay Area. The webinar explores how the United Way Bay Area SparkPoint program is working to improve outcomes for the underserved using equity dashboards.

More than anything, we look forward to learning and growing together. As an organization, we have been granted the opportunity to dig deep, take inventory and imagine a more inclusive, diverse and equitable community not only for us as an organization, but also for our clients and those they serve.

And we are always looking for new talent! If you value diversity, equity, and inclusion, consider joining our team.