Skilled volunteers from CGI assisted Durham Central Park by identifying Neon as a sustainable solution for tracking and managing nonprofit data allowing for more time to focus on their mission.
Durham Central Park is a five-acre city-owned park that is operated by Durham Central Park (DCP), Inc. a 501c3 non-profit organization. DCP Inc. holds a management agreement with the City of Durham to manage, develop and sustain the park. The city provides support services to the park including mowing the lawns, trash pickup and the downtown Ambassadors. All other maintenance, improvements and management of Durham Central Park are paid for by donations, grants, and program and rental income.
Durham Central Park came to Apparo utilizing eTapestry, MailChimp, QuickBooks and Eventbrite to manage their data, marketing and fundraising campaigns. These multiple systems created a lot of duplication in work, as well as increased costs. They found that eTapestry was not meeting their data analysis needs and had a difficult time targeting their donor and volunteer efforts. DCP wanted to improve their organizational processes to create a more efficient and effective way to manage their data.
Apparo paired Durham Central Park with a team of skilled volunteers from CGI. During their Community Impact Project, they assessed DCP’s current state and made recommendations on new CRMs. After demos, the team narrowed it down to 3 products. With the assistance of Apparo’s score card, DCP decided to being to implement Neon as their new CRM.
“I love the score card! I want to make all decisions based on score card from now on. It not only helped make decisions, it empowered you to make decisions. It created a new index of ways to talk about our organization’s needs.” – Bryce Brooks, Durham Central Park
Because Neon will integrate with their website and QuickBooks, the amount of manual data entry will decrease dramatically. Durham Central Park anticipates saving over 800 hours of manual entries per year. This time-savings will make a huge impact, allowing them more time to focus on projects that impact the community.
“This process helped us solve a problem we’ve been circling around for years. I’m so overwhelmed by how much you were able to help us get done.” – Erin Kauffman, Durham Central Park
Durham Central Park also anticipates significantly improving their data health and reducing risk by minimizing duplicated, outdated, and incorrect data sets. With their former CRM, reporting was often confusing and difficult, sometimes resulting in wrong information. This caused difficulty targeting marketing and fundraising campaigns. With Neon, DCP will now have clear and correct reporting which will create more impactful marketing and fundraising results.
Nonprofit saves money with consolidation of technology tools.
DCP anticipates a saving of $6,200 annually with the implementation of Neon. With Neon’s capabilities, Durham Central Park will be able to reduce the number of technological tools they are using, which reduces their annual and monthly technology fees. These savings reduce their technology budget by a third, allowing them to focus their dollars on their mission rather than tools.
The CGI volunteers shared their experience during the wrap-up.
Sam Reichle shared, “Volunteering with Durham Central Park was a rewarding experience. It not only allowed me to contribute to a meaningful cause but also gave me valuable insight into the operations of a nonprofit. It was inspiring to witness Erin and Bryce’s passion and dedication to creating a vibrant space for their community. I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute, even in a small way, to such a worthwhile mission.”
Durham Central Park feels Neon will increase efficiency and allow them to better serve their constituents. “Durham Central Park is so grateful for being chosen for the Community Impact Project! Sarah and the volunteers helped us to choose a new donor management system, something that we had needed to do for a long time but had no idea where to start. They broke the process down for us to identify our needs and then the volunteers did an amazing amount of research to help us find a new system that will meet our needs so much better and save our organization some money. We would still be spinning our wheels without their help! I can’t wait to migrate to the new system and think of our team fondly every time I work with it.” Erin Kauffman, Durham Central Park
One Year Later: How Durham Central Park Expanded Its Impact with the Right Technology
One year after this Community Impact Project, we checked in with Durham Central Park to follow up on anticipated impact of this work. With the implementation of Neon, they are seeing measurable growth in donations, more streamlined operations, and renewed momentum behind a major capital campaign.
Supporting a Major Capital Campaign
Durham Central Park recently launched its Greenprint capital campaign, a long-term initiative to guide park improvements over the next decade. With Neon in place, the team had the infrastructure needed to confidently launch and manage the campaign. They were able to set up pledge systems for a wide range of donors, refine campaign messaging with board members before the campaign launch and create a coordinated communications strategy.
Even during a period of a staff member leave, the system continued to deliver. Bryce stated, “I was able to schedule every communication ahead of time and watch donations roll in, even while I was away.” From $25 annual commitments to six-figure pledges, the platform supported a diverse donor base and enabled early campaign success.
Increasing Donations Through Better User Experience
One of the most immediate impacts came from improving the donation experience. After implementing Neon, the organization introduced a faster, mobile-friendly donation page. The results were clear, especially at live events. Bryce stated, “We went from maybe one $10 donation per concert to 10–12 donations, sometimes totaling $600 to $1,000.”
At one concert alone, two first-time donors each contributed $500 after quickly scanning a QR code and completing their gift in seconds. This shift highlights a critical insight: when giving is easy, people are more likely to follow through in the moment.
Instead of relying solely on cash or delayed follow-ups, attendees can now give instantly while they are engaged and inspired. This has led to more first-time donors and increased reoccurring donations, as well as higher overall event-based revenue.
From Fragmented Tools to One Connected System
Before the CIP, donor communications and data were spread across multiple systems. Now, everything from donations to email engagement lives within Neon. Bryce states,
“Everything being in one place is a game changer for us.” This shift has allowed staff to spend less time on data entry and more time focusing on community engagement and strategic growth.
This integration has allowed Durham Central Park to:
- Automatically capture donor information
- Eliminate manual data transfers between platforms
- Improve follow-up and stewardship
- Track engagement across donors, volunteers, and renters
The addition of integrations like QuickBooks has further streamlined financial tracking, while future plans include tools like DocuSign to simplify contracts and operations.
Looking Ahead
With a strong technology foundation in place, Durham Central Park is well-positioned for its next phase of growth. From advancing its Greenprint campaign to exploring new ways to track park usage and community engagement, the organization continues to innovate in how it serves Durham. Apparo’s support helped lay the groundwork, not just by recommending tools, but by asking the right questions and guiding the decision-making process.
