PAX

Peace organization PAX works to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build inclusive peace. It operates in conflict areas worldwide, joining forces with local partners and people who believe everyone has a right to a dignified life in a peaceful society.

Needs

PAX’s ERP system for fundraising wasn’t suitable for marketing automation, automated workflows, and other process-related improvements the organization wanted to implement. On top of that, the Communications Department had its own system for relationship management and sending out emails.

Although the systems were set up in such a way that they worked for PAX, the organization’s growth ambitions required one CRM solution. And to speed up administrative processes and empower individual employees, PAX needed to bring two systems back to one.

Solution

Since the Fundraising Team urgently needed a new CRM system, PAX looked for a future-proof solution that could later be connected to other products. The organization asked an external consultant to help make the right decision. After carefully weighing the options, PAX opted for Salesforce. The consultant recommended PAX to combine Salesforce with FinDock.

PAX liked the seamless integration, which stems from the fact that FinDock is native to Salesforce. And as Salesforce is an extensive system, PAX trusted it would get far with standard features — which was a huge benefit, because the organization did not want to depend on customizations. PAX followed the recommendation and got to work: it hired Cobra to implement Salesforce and FinDock.

Benefits of FinDock

• Time-saving, efficient solution
• Automatically matching gifts
• Seamless integration of Salesforce and FinDock

Saving time with a comprehensive solution: a seamless integration of Salesforce and payment processing solution FinDock

“We’re very happy with a comprehensive CRM system like Salesforce, because it has allowed us to go from two systems to one system,” says Florien Handgraaf, Fundraiser at PAX. “Now that we use it with FinDock, we can match bank records and incoming donations so much faster. Identifying counter-entries — which used to be very time-consuming — is also a lot easier. And if we want to do a second attempt to collect the money, all we need to do is change the counter-entry’s status and push a button.”

“A solid foundation has been built”

PAX has implemented several features to optimize its processes. Florien explains, “We use direct debit, process incoming gifts, identify and follow up on counter-entries, and match bank records. We went live a few months ago, so we’re still new at this. But a solid foundation has been built.”

PAX didn’t go down the implementation road alone. “We called in the help of Cobra — a great, down-to-earth partner,” says Florien. “Our consultant really understood our requirements and showed us how to use the solution without anyone’s help. I really appreciated Cobra’s pragmatic approach, as it has empowered us: we now know how to go about things.”

Although PAX is already reaping the benefits, it’s planning on refining many aspects to get the most out of Salesforce and FinDock. “We’re currently building journeys and automated workflows. One goal is to automatically match gifts. And ultimately, we want to automate the entire process of identifying counter-entries and sending follow-up emails to donors. In these emails, we’ll ask them for the reason and provide options to make a donation after all. FinDock will enable us to do that.”

“Our petition would have been impossible to manage without Salesforce”

As it turns out, PAX implemented Salesforce and FinDock right on time. “Recently, we launched a petition to ask the Dutch government to be more critical of the situation in Palestine and Israel and to urge Israel to respect international human rights,” Florien says. “We’ve set the petition up in Salesforce — and luckily so, because it would have been impossible to manage had we not had this CRM system! After four days, 28,000 people had signed the petition, and the number continued to go up. We didn’t expect that. Fortunately, we could easily purchase extra users in Salesforce.”

Of course, most people who signed the petition will want to receive an update. “We can send these to them straight from Salesforce via Account Engagement,” Florien says. “And sometime in the future, we might ask them for another action or to support our peace work, which will be easy for two reasons: we’ve got all their information in one place and we can use FinDock to offer them several options and manage all payments in Salesforce.”

Incidentally, those who signed could also make a donation to PAX right away. “In this case, collecting donations wasn’t our main goal. But the combination of Salesforce and FinDock allowed us to provide them with that option. And a lot of people have used it!”

 “The integration of Salesforce and FinDock is seamless”

With its new CRM and payment management solution, PAX feels ready to accelerate and realize its growth ambitions. “We want to have more returning donors and facilitate direct debit payments,” Florien explains. “Another goal is to send personalized donor requests based on an individual’s interests. With Salesforce and FinDock in place, we can finally make that happen.”

Florien is happy with the solution and would definitely recommend it to other nonprofits. She also provides some tips: “Make sure you have a project manager and don’t customize the solution too much! If you adapt your processes to standard features, you’ll save time and reduce risk.” As for FinDock, she says, “It’s really native to Salesforce: I don’t know where FinDock ends and where Salesforce begins. And that’s a very good sign, because it points to a seamless integration.”