YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County

YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County streamlines its operations and finds a better, faster way to thank donors with The Raiser’s Edge

The YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County has more than 50,000 members spread over its seven facilities. In 2004, the association was gearing up for a capital campaign and needed to streamline their operations to support the increased volume of gifts.

The Challenge:

• An inefficient system was monopolizing staff time and slowing acknowledgements.
• It took the association up to five days to acknowledge gifts and much of their employees’ time was being used on data entry.
• The association wanted to improve its level of stewardship and find a more efficient way to thank donors.

The Solution:

• Sarah Homan, director of annual giving, used tools in The Raiser’s Edge to make the YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County’s goals a reality.
• By taking advantage of the gift barcode scanning functionality in The Raiser’s Edge, they were able to eliminate the frustrating processes of manually entering data and could send out all acknowledgement letters within 24 hours of receiving a gift.
• A unique barcode ID for each constituent was printed on all pledge forms and pledge reminders. When a gift came in, they scanned the barcode and the constituent’s record in The Raiser’s Edge was automatically updated.

The Results:

• Faster acknowledgement turnaround: Even with the increased volume of gifts from the capital campaign, they were still able to process 39,000 gifts in 2006 with a 24-hour acknowledgement turnaround.
• Better data, better communications: The use of barcode technology eliminated any embarrassing communications that could occur from manual gift entry.
• More time to focus on constituents: The increased efficiency and time saved with The Raiser’s Edge has allowed Sarah Homan and her team to focus their energy on more critical projects and building stronger relationships with supporters.