Imagine a world where foundations or charitable trusts can effortlessly manage and monitor their scholarship initiatives across borders and continents. Netgen's latest venture into the realm of digital agency services brings this vision to life through the development of a bespoke CRM Management tool.
This transformative tool provides charitable trusts with a powerful platform to oversee all their scholarship programs, offering real-time insights and robust accountability mechanisms. In this case study, we explore how this innovative solution has redefined the way one particular charitable trust operates, elevating their impact and fostering positive change on a global scale.
The Challenge
Creating this CRM Management tool presented a complex challenge to the organization due to the trust's rapid growth over its first decade, with over 150 scholars supported worldwide. Data was scattered across emails, spreadsheets, and reports in diverse formats. Our primary task was to design a comprehensive information model for informed decision-making, differentiating essential data from optional.
Additionally, we faced the significant hurdle of financial forecasting as the trust expanded. Precise definition of financial implications and resource commitments was vital. We developed a robust prognosis to maximize resource utility. In essence, our journey centred on organizing intricate information and financial data into a structured framework, empowering the trust's mission with clarity and efficiency.
Our solution
Netgen has implemented a data management system with personal access for all project administrators, automated submitting and processing of scholarship applications, and organized transparency of financial transactions with detailed reports on all expenses.
Overview of the implemented CRM system modules and their connections:
Main modules and their functionality in the CRM System
Module “People”
This module allows you to store personal information about each student and person associated with the project. It provides centralized access to the data and enables email communication with students, administrators, and project managers.
An example of a record in the "People" module
Module “Organizations”
This module allows you to store information about educational institutions, partner companies, and other organizations cooperating with a non-profit corporation. This module stores contact information and bank details of organizations, which allows you to simplify and automate the creation of payments to educational organizations and partner companies, as well as to correspond with them through the CRM system
Module “Projects”
Module “Projects” is the main module in the system. It contains all the essential information about projects, budgets, allocated funds, payments made, and balances. Also, this module has a list of all scholarships, students, and applications related to each project. This module helps to control costs and resources for each project separately effectively.
Module "Scholarships"
This module allows you to track all aspects of scholarships - from their award to the expenditure of funds. It contains information about the scholarship status, start and end dates, educational institution, field of study, detailed payment status, and essential notes.
Module " Academics Track"
This module provides monitoring of student performance through records of their grades. This helps to determine the effectiveness of scholarships and make timely adjustments.
Module "Payments"
This module provides information about all payments. This simplifies the tracking of financial flows and ensures transparency of expenses. Also integrated into this module is the function of creating a payment instruction for the bank and sending it via system e-mail for signature to the responsible persons. Payments are linked to the internal expenses module, as also to the scholarships module.
Module "Applications"
This module allows you to track all applications from potential students for scholarships and accept or reject them. When an application is approved, new records are automatically created in the People, Scholarships, and Organizations modules, and all information is transferred to the associated project.
The module offers a simple overview of main decision-making data and simplifies also note-taking, task management and calls.
Module - Submissions
We also created an online application form, after which a new record automatically appears in the CRM system in the “Applications” module and starts in this way the application approval workflow process.
Creating an online application form simplifies the process of entering data into the system, and the automatic creation of records in other modules after the approval of applications ensures the accuracy of the data.
Module Financial Reporting
The Financial Reporting module serves as a powerful tool with multiple layers of financial information accessibility. It provides a comprehensive view of the trust's financial landscape, catering to various managerial needs. At a glance, the Financial Overview presents essential key metrics, allowing managers to grasp the main figures within a mere 30 seconds. This concise snapshot of key financial data offers quick insights into the trust's financial health.
For those seeking a deeper dive, the Detailed Overview is an invaluable resource. Within this section, each widget not only displays key data but also offers the option to delve further into the specifics. By simply unfolding these data points, users can gain a more profound understanding of the origins and intricacies of the financial data, empowering them to make more informed decisions and effectively manage the trust's financial resources. This multi-layered approach ensures that financial information is not only accessible but also comprehensible at various levels of detail, catering to the diverse needs of trust managers and stakeholders.
Module Project Reporting
The Project Reporting module is a dynamic and versatile tool that empowers users with comprehensive project insights. It provides both an overarching view of all projects simultaneously and the flexibility to zoom in on specific projects and individual years. This adaptability allows users to extract multiple reports tailored precisely to their unique requirements. Whether it's a high-level overview or a detailed analysis of specific projects, the architecture of this reporting system accommodates a wide range of needs seamlessly.
One of the standout features of this module is its real-time data update, ensuring that the information presented is always current. Data is refreshed daily, keeping users informed and enabling them to make timely decisions. With its user-friendly interface and adaptable structure, the Project Reporting module not only simplifies project management but also enhances the trust's ability to monitor progress, evaluate performance, and make strategic decisions over all their projects.
Key Benefits
Certainly, here are five key impacts generated by our solution for the charitable trust:
- Streamlined Information Management: Our CRM Management tool consolidated scattered data from various sources into a centralized system, simplifying the trust's data management. This streamlined approach led to increased efficiency and reduced the risk of data errors.
- Enhanced Decision-Making: The comprehensive information model provided the trust with valuable insights into scholarship programs, donor relationships, and financials. This empowered the trust to make informed decisions swiftly, resulting in more effective allocation of resources and support for scholars.
- Improved Accountability: The robust reporting tool offered transparent financial tracking, allowing the trust to monitor income, expenses, and project progress in real-time. This heightened accountability, fostering greater trust among stakeholders and donors.
- Increased Outreach: The scholarship lead generation module helped the trust identify and nurture potential scholarship recipients efficiently. This expanded outreach allowed the trust to reach more deserving scholars and make a broader impact worldwide.
- Future Resource Planning: Accurate financial forecasting and resource allocation became possible through our solution. The trust gained the ability to plan for the future effectively, ensuring the sustainability of its mission and maximizing the utility of its resources.
These key impacts collectively transformed the trust's scholarship management, enabling it to fulfill its mission more effectively and make a meaningful difference in the lives of scholars around the world.
Conclusion.
Implementing a CRM system in a non-profit organization that finances the education of students from different countries is crucial to ensure effective resource management, optimize the financial process and accounting, and improve the quality of education provided. Such a system helps not only to save time and money but also to ensure transparency and interaction between all stakeholders.