Transforming crisis relief and donor relationships with Salesforce and FinDock
Introduction
Southern Smoke Foundation provides essential crisis relief grants and no-cost mental health counseling to food and beverage workers across the United States. Since its founding, the foundation has delivered $14.5 million directly to individuals facing unforeseen hardships, demonstrating a profound commitment to community well-being and resilience.
Challenges: Excel Sheets and Missed Opportunities
Before adopting Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and FinDock, Southern Smoke managed critical programs and fundraising efforts primarily using Excel sheets, Google forms, and multiple disconnected platforms. According to Lindsey Brown, Co-Founder and Executive Director, this fragmented system posed significant risks of human error, offered limited visibility into donor relationships, and lacked efficient reconciliation between donor data and financial records.
Key issues included:
- High risk of inaccuracies and data duplication
- Inefficient donor management and missed donor engagement opportunities
- Difficulty accurately reconciling financial data between fundraising and accounting systems
Reflecting on the decision to transform their systems, Lindsey shared:
“One thing that really helped us was looking at some other nonprofits who were successfully using Salesforce. Understanding how they were making the most of the platform enabled us to embrace the initial complexity, while moving towards clarity, efficiency, and long-term benefits.”
Why Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and FinDock?
Southern Smoke needed a centralized system robust enough to handle both their program management and fundraising operations seamlessly. Initially hesitant due to perceptions about Salesforce’s cost, Lindsey discovered Salesforce’s Nonprofit Cloud was financially accessible, due to the Salesforce Power of Us Program.
CentralApp, a trusted Salesforce implementation partner recommended by Salesforce and other nonprofit organizations, guided Southern Smoke to FinDock, a solution that is built directly within Salesforce to optimize payment processing and donor relationship management.
As Jade Keenan, Implementation Consultant at CentralApp, explains:
“FinDock allows us to spin up very curated and intentional donor pages quickly and mindfully within the Salesforce architecture to allow us to take advantage of the full Salesforce suite and technology while still making an easy user experience to accessing these technologies.”
Vision & Solution: Tailored for Impact
Southern Smoke implemented Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud during the summer of 2024, strategically aligning their programs and fundraising efforts within one unified platform. With FinDock, they gained advanced capabilities for managing giving pages, recurring donations, and streamlined financial reconciliations with QuickBooks.
Notable improvements include:
- Customized giving pages that fundraising staff can quickly create and self-manage, particularly useful during urgent campaigns such as hurricane relief efforts, enabling precise donor tracking, efficient allocation of restricted funds, and a seamless donation experience.
- Enhanced visibility into donor histories and engagement patterns, enabling proactive relationship building, more personalized donor outreach, and a smoother donation experience that fosters greater donor trust and satisfaction.
- Streamlined financial reconciliation processes, significantly reducing manual input and minimizing discrepancies, which has streamlined donation operations and contributed to a more consistent, hassle-free donor experience.
Lindsey particularly highlighted the launch of the Southern Smoke Bottle Club, an innovative donor program managed through FinDock Giving Pages, which rapidly attracted 86 members – nearly reaching their annual target within the first year.
Describing the effectiveness of FinDock Giving Pages during critical fundraising periods, Lindsey noted:
“I’m loving these pages. So many people are raising money on our behalf for the hurricanes, and this makes it so easy.”
Impact: Record Growth and Operational Efficiency
Adopting Salesforce and FinDock has led to measurable success:
- A record-setting first quarter of fundraising in 2025, closely aligned with enhanced donor engagement and operational efficiencies
- Significant reduction in manual administrative tasks, freeing up staff to focus on strategic, relationship-building activities
Southern Smoke’s integration has effectively enhanced both their crisis relief delivery and donor experience, setting a robust foundation for future growth.
Future Outlook: Continuous Improvement and Expanded Reach
Southern Smoke continues refining their use of Salesforce and FinDock, exploring enhancements such as personalized donor acknowledgment letters tied directly to campaign-specific giving pages. The team remains committed to leveraging technology to deepen donor relationships, expand program reach, and sustain the critical support provided to their community.
Southern Smoke Foundation exemplifies how Salesforce and FinDock can profoundly enhance nonprofit operations, creating donor payment happiness and driving both mission impact and donor engagement to new heights.