Success Story: Haywood Christian Ministry
Streamlining Service to Feed a Community
About the Client
Haywood Christian Ministry (HCM) is a faith-based nonprofit organization on a mission to create healthy, resilient, and hunger-free communities where everyone can thrive. Since their inception in 1970, the ministry has grown to be one of the largest nonprofits in Haywood County, North Carolina. HCM’s food insecurity program provides sustainable assistance for local families, operating the largest charitable food distribution network in Western North Carolina. Through the program, families are able to pick up 50-60 lbs worth of groceries each week at Haywood Christian Ministry without spending hours on eligibility paperwork.
About the Challenge
Over the last year, Haywood Christian Ministry saw their list of food box recipients per week double, going from an average of 300 boxes per week to 600-700 boxes per week by the end of 2023. For each family who received a food box, a staff member at the reception desk needed to click through multiple screens, spending several minutes locating and logging the distribution in several places within the Program Management Module for Salesforce. Multiply that by 600 families a week, and reception staff were losing significant time just to make sure food boxes were entered into Salesforce. Both staff and receiving families were particularly impacted by this time crunch around the holidays, when the demand for food boxes jumped to 800 boxes per week.
“Canvas Cloud had a solution we didn’t know we needed.”
With more efficient workflows in mind, HCM was also seeking a way to improve their donor acknowledgement process. For each donation, staff had to create individual donation letters, populating the amount, donor, and date for each letter before sending. As the organization continued to scale, they needed a way to shift that effort to focus more on development strategy and future programs.
Haywood Christian Ministry was already leveraging the Program Management Module in Salesforce to track their impact on communities. Now that they had the basics of donation and program tracking implemented, HCM was ready to utilize Salesforce’s clicks-not-code automation features to streamline their daily tasks to leave more time for what matters most - providing food assistance to as many families in Haywood County as possible.
Who and What Saved the Day
Enter Canvas Cloud - a Salesforce consulting partner specializing in both technology and business process who is known for going the extra mile to achieve success for their clients. Haywood Christian Ministry had already worked with Canvas Cloud in 2022 to migrate their program management data from Charity Tracker into Salesforce’s Program Management Module and configure the system to work for their programs. HCM’s Director of Operations needed a partner who knew their programs and goals and could translate that knowledge into informed recommendations to streamline their donor acknowledgement and food box entry processes. During discovery conversations, HCM appreciated Canvas Cloud’s ability to listen, ask insightful questions, and respond quickly to get another project started.
“I was able to ask questions and get answers in ways that felt like Canvas Cloud staff weren’t being guardians of information - they wanted me to be in the know.”
Canvas Cloud worked with HCM to understand what information was most critical for data entry and reporting on the Food Box program. Once the key pieces of information were identified, Canvas Cloud built a screen flow automation to guide staff through data entry in one place, creating the records they need in the background with just a couple of clicks. Before they submit, staff can even view previous service deliveries and the recipient’s contact information to keep everything up to date. Better yet, the flow sits directly on the homepage for reception staff who need it most. By keeping everything in one place, Canvas Cloud provided a way for staff to make the most of their interactions with food box recipients.
On the fundraising side, Haywood Christian Ministry needed a tool that could pre-populate their letter template and make it easy to print and mail to donors in order to streamline the creation of acknowledgement letters. To meet this need, Canvas Cloud leveraged Drive Connect, an AppExchange offering by Appiphony that connects Google Drive to Salesforce. Drive Connect provides Salesforce admins with additional tools to view and create Drive files and folders from within Salesforce, link folders to a record, and leverage merge fields in document templates. Once Canvas Cloud set up HCM’s template to pre-fill from donations in Salesforce, they were also able to automate letter creation using flow actions as part of the package.
Ultimate Outcome
From day one after the project was finished, Haywood Christian Ministry staff felt the impact of saving time on each food box pick up. By soliciting staff feedback along the way, Canvas Cloud was able to roll out automations that fit exactly what HCM needed without requiring significant staff training or learning a new system. Families who benefit from HCM’s food security program are also saving time, with the average time to pick up a box now reduced from 1-2 minutes to 30 seconds. The collaboration has not only saved time for both staff and families but also set the foundation for continued support and success, exemplifying Canvas Cloud's commitment beyond project completion.
Over the coming year, HCM is planning to expand their reach with refrigerated food lockers in 5 locations throughout the county to support more flexible food box pickup for families. In partnering with Canvas Cloud, Haywood Christian Ministry not only enhanced their operational efficiency but also empowered their staff to focus on what truly matters going into 2024 – providing timely and impactful food assistance to the community.
“Even after the project is done you’re still supported by Canvas Cloud.”
