Children’s Harbor

Children’s Harbor Gets Peace of Mind from The Raiser’s Edge Integrated with Blackbaud NetCommunity Grow

Children’s Harbor provides free resources to families who have seriously ill children. Its primary effort is centered around the Children’s Harbor Family Center at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. The Family Center is a collaborative effort with Children’s Hospital of Alabama and provides family counseling and support services to children who have long-term serious illnesses as well as to their families. Children’s Harbor also provides camping and adventure services at its Lake Martin campus to seriously ill children and their families as well as other children and families with special needs.

The Challenge:

• Children’s Harbor had been using Microsoft Access® as its database and only one person had the expertise to fully manipulate the organization’s data. The board felt that Children’s Harbor’s information management capabilities would be at risk if that person were to leave or something were to happen to the database.
• Because the organization was using an outside consultant to update its website, Children’s Harbor could not be as responsive and up-to-date on the Web as is required in today’s environment.
• The organization wanted to make data more secure for compliance and to assure donor confidence.

The Solution:

• Children’s Harbor selected The Raiser’s Edge to meet its database needs because it provided the functionality and growth potential.
• To address its website needs, the organization selected Blackbaud NetCommunity Grow. Grow gives Children’s Harbor the ability to update as-needed instead of waiting for an outside consultant.    
• For peace of mind and the ability to update remotely, the organization opted for the hosted version of Raiser’s Edge and Grow. This leaves updates and security to the responsibility of Blackbaud and Children’s Harbor’s staff can access remotely, saving time and enabling greater employee productivity.

The Results:

• Meet shifting trends online: Over time, the organization expects to see a trend in increased online donations and online registrations.
• Time saved: Children’s Harbor can now make instantaneous changes to its website that would before require days to make.
• Better strategies: Children’s Harbor is using the strategy services that come with Grow to improve marketing efforts and better communicate with constituents.