Skilled volunteers facilitate a successful assessment of current business processes at Urban League of Central Carolinas allowing them to grow their reach in the Charlotte area
Sponsored by Duke Energy Foundation
Urban League of Central Carolinas (ULCC) is a multi-service nonprofit with a mission to empower the community to reach financial stability and social justice. They do this through advocacy, workforce training and education efforts. Currently, ULCC partners with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to provide tutoring, mentorships and internships to underserved students.
ULCC reached out to Apparo to help refine their business processes. They were doing a lot of manual labor, causing difficulty finding accurate data, time loss and duplication of efforts. Data storage was also an issue, with team members using different systems. ULCC’s goal was to ensure it is maximizing people, processes, and technology – the three primary areas that power an organization.
Apparo matched ULCC to a team of volunteers from Duke Energy, Method and Moran Technology Consulting. Duke Energy also generously sponsored this project. The skilled volunteer team assessed the organizations current business processes and application usage, focusing on data management. Once this step was complete, the team developed a 2-3 year roadmap of recommendations to improve operational efficiencies to allow the organization to spend more time working on their mission.
“I loved engaging with the team because we had everyone’s different perspectives and a way to bounce ideas of each other. We were able to see from an outside perspective and realize we did not have all the processes we needed in place.” – Robyn Hamilton, President and CEO of Urban League of Central Carolinas
After the project was complete we met with Robyn Hamilton, to learn about the significance and anticipated impact.
She explains, “We came to Apparo for help because we weren’t working efficiently or optimally. We want to be an effective, thoughtful mission driven organization and we needed help to get back on track after many changes in a short period of time. People jumped in to help, but now it’s time to put the fire hoses down and focus on improvements.”
Working with skilled volunteers, ULCC has been able to:
- Document processes and identify areas where they were duplicating efforts
- Align priorities across the organization
- Centralize information to support succession planning and reduce loss of staff knowledge/data
- Identify reporting and data tracking process improvements that they anticipate will:
- Cut grant-related administrative work time by half – saving 500+ hours annually
- Help increase revenue by making them more attractive to donors/funders who will appreciate an improved ability to storytell with data
- Improve security and save time spent managing multiple log-ins through use of a password tool
- Increase staff confidence through clarity in their roles and processes
Skilled volunteers also shared their project highlights and appreciation
Josh Glassberg – Duke Energy – “I enjoyed working with a wonderful team of volunteers to break down the details of grant management. I look forward to hearing how Urban League incorporates these new processes.”
Michael Ifkovits – Method – “What I like most about this project is how quickly it will pay off for Urban League – our deliverables are immediately leverageable. Having these processes documented and understood allows the organization to spread the effort of the critical grant application process.”
Eric Hoffman – Moran Technology Consulting – “It was a great experience helping the Urban League better understand how to streamline their grants management process so that they continue to grow their impact on the Charlotte community.”
Impact Update: Implementing new business processes leads to increased reach of mission
One year after the Community Impact Project, Urban League of Central Carolinas has implemented several of the recommendations provided to them by the skilled volunteer team. One recommendation implemented was a central place to store data. They are using Microsoft Teams to keep all program data, so employees are no longer spending time searching several different locations. This has greatly increased the efficiency and accuracy when applying for grants, allowing teammates to use their time to grow their mission.
ULCC also restructured their team to create more efficiency. With the addition of team leaders and clearer goals and responsibilities, everyone can complete their work in a time-efficient and accurate manner. “When the CFO was developing processes, we looked at the project material and we took those recommendations to spread the responsibility around.” states Hamilton. This restructure has allowed them more time and energy to focus on growing their mission. They have been able to increase the number of students in their education programs and expand their offerings.
Robyn Hamilton has seen a growth in the nonprofit’s reputation in the community. The ease of creating accurate reports has led to donor appreciation and recommitment as they can see how their funding has been creating impact. In the nonprofit world, they have had other organizations come to them for help to create better processes in their programming. Through this project, ULCC has been able to amplify their organization as a strong model of efficiency and mission reach.
ULCC is excited to explore their next step in process efficiency, a new grant management application system. “Now that we have the processes in place, our next step is to explore a grant management system that fits with our new processes,” states Hamilton. “We are grateful for the continued support from Apparo. You keep us in the forefront of technology.”
