Zorghulp builds the foundation to grow towards one million members with Salesforce and FinDock
Zorghulp, together with its historic label Espria Ledenvereniging, is an independent members’ association in the Netherlands with a long history rooted in the former ‘kruisverenigingen’ (community nursing organizations). From the age of 18, members can rely on Zorghulp for support with health, caregiving and prevention during moments in life when extra help is needed. Today, Zorghulp is the largest members’ association in the Netherlands in the field of care and support, representing just under 700,000 members.
Zorghulp’s ambition is to grow to one million members. With this ambition, the organization aims to strengthen its societal relevance, represent members’ interests more effectively and continue supporting people in a society where pressure on caregiving continues to rise. Achieving that ambition requires a solid foundation that can support scale without losing the human connection that defines the organization.
“If you know you want to grow significantly, you must ensure your foundation is strong enough,” says Willemijn van Damme, responsible for innovation and strategy. “People come to us at moments when life changes. That can happen at different stages of life. The needs and impact of change at 20, 30 or 80 are very different. For that, you need systems that enable you to support people properly.”
The challenge: friction at the most important moment
Zorghulp serves a highly diverse audience, ranging from younger members who expect digital-first experiences to older members who prefer communication by phone or even home visits. That diversity affects communication, services and payment preferences alike.
At the same time, Zorghulp realized its systems were no longer keeping pace with these expectations. The existing Salesforce environment had grown organically over time and had become difficult to further develop.
“Our Salesforce environment had become complicated,” explains Bianca Turkstra, responsible for operations. “It worked, but it wasn’t a foundation we could confidently build on for the future.”
The biggest challenge became visible at a crucial moment in the member journey: onboarding individual members.
Before implementing Salesforce and FinDock in a renewed setup, Zorghulp faced several limitations:
- New members could sign up, but could not pay immediately online via iDEAL
- 100% of payment authorizations were paper-based, creating friction during onboarding
- Payment operations were largely managed by an external organization, limiting insight and control
- Payments were not directly connected to the member profile, making context-driven follow-up difficult
“That created friction at exactly the moment you want the experience to be smooth,” Bianca says. “If you want to grow, onboarding has to be simple and intuitive, especially with such a broad audience.”
Why Salesforce and FinDock
When Zorghulp decided to invest in a new CRM foundation, Salesforce was a deliberate choice. The platform needed to support personalization, comply with European data security requirements, and be ready for long-term scalability. Payments quickly became a critical part of that decision, because without them embedded in the CRM, the member profile would always be incomplete.
“For us, the member profile is central,” Willemijn explains. “We want to understand a member’s situation so we can support them properly, and payment behavior is part of that context.”
FinDock was selected because it operates fully within Salesforce, giving Zorghulp direct control over payment processes without adding extra systems or dependencies. That flexibility is essential, especially because membership fees are indexed annually.
“We implement those changes ourselves,” Willemijn says. “We are very conscious of how our members’ money is spent, because we want it to flow back to our members as much as possible.”
That same mindset aslo shapes how Zorghulp evaluates partners. Beyond functionality or cost, Zorghulp looks for partners who understand their societal responsibility. In that context, FinDock stood out as a partner that aligned not only technically, but also culturally, with Zorghulp’s values around ownership, transparency and social responsibility.
The solution: digital-first onboarding with choice built in
Today, most new members join Zorghulp online via the website. During registration, they receive the membership mandate directly via iDEAL. This completes the onboarding process and sets up the mandate for future direct debit collections. Members receive their membership number immediately, and both the membership and payment are recorded directly in Salesforce.
“For people who are comfortable online, the process is very smooth,” Bianca explains. “They arrange the mandate immediately, and everything is registered in one place: Salesforce.”
For members who prefer calling the service center, Zorghulp uses FinDock PayLinks. During the call, a digital authorization link is sent so members can complete the payment themselves. Only when digital options are genuinely not possible, Zorghulp reverts to paper authorization.
“Paper authorization used to account for 100% of the cases,” Bianca says. “Now it’s around 5%.”
The results: more control, less dependency, better conversations
With Salesforce and FinDock in place, Zorghulp has gained real-time insight into its payment operations. During the annual direct debit run, approximately 280,000 payments are processed, with clear visibility into which payments succeed and why others may fail.
This has led to clear results for Zorghulp:
- Most new members now join and arrange their mandate online immediately
- Paper-based onboarding for new members has decreased from 100% to 5%
- Payments and memberships are managed in one unified Salesforce profile
- Payment operations are no longer outsourced, reducing dependency and costs
- Missed payments are handled with context and care, not just collection
“We immediately see whether a payment was successful and, if not, what the reason is,” Bianca explains. “That gives us much more control over our financial position and allows us to take action right away when needed.”
This insight has also changed the conversation around missed payments. Instead of an external agency focusing purely on collection, Zorghulp keeps control in-house.
“When a payment is missed, there is often a reason,” Bianca says. “It’s rarely just about the payment itself. Often there’s a social story behind it, and that matters for how you support someone.”
Looking ahead
With this foundation in place, Zorghulp is ready for its next phase of growth towards one million members. Salesforce provides a single, reliable view of the member, while FinDock ensures payments are fully embedded in the member relationship. Together, they give Zorghulp the control, insight and flexibility needed to scale sustainably, while continuing to invest its resources where they matter most: supporting people.