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Customer Story

Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation  Unifies Processes with Salesforce

Every Ronald McDonald 'House' used its own software, from post-its to spreadsheets. The foundation realized it was time to streamline these processes
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Related services
Salesforce

Industry
Non-Profit

Company
Xebia

The Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds ("Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation"), in collaboration with the local Ronald McDonald Houses, aims to help every sick child, or child with a disability, feel safe and sheltered by having their parents present. This is why they offer families with a sick or disabled child the possibility to stay at a warm and hospitable place, in guesthouses near hospitals, or living rooms in hospitals and holiday accommodations.
Why
To replace software hodgepodge with a single system across the organization 
What
By implementing Salesforce for Nonprofits to unify processes
How
By doing a phased implementation and focussing on adoption

Post-Its and Spreadsheets

The Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds and the 15 Ronald McDonald Houses in the Netherlands are 16 different foundations, with each having its own set of management, volunteers and processes. Fundraising from both private and business relations have always been a key focus point for them. Every House used its own software for relation management, ranging from post-its and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to software packages like iFunds’ Charibase, and Davilex.

Via conversations with various House-managers, as well as the Kinderfonds, it became clear that there were multiple challenges that presented themselves: the need to spend less time on searching through and editing relation files, but also the need to share knowledge and information with the Kinderfonds and other Houses, as well as to take action at the right time when funding and donation opportunities present themselves.
“Salesforce allows the Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds and the Ronald McDonald Houses to approach our guests, sponsors, donors and volunteers in a welcoming manner, from all our locations in the Netherlands.”
Ronald_McDonald_House_Charities
Miranda Noorlander Deputy director at Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds

Streamlining Processes with Salesforce

After a thorough preparatory process, the Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds has opted to implement Salesforce, with the help of Xebia. All Houses, as well as the Kinderfonds, have migrated completely to the Salesforce platform. They use the same Salesforce platform whereby data is consolidated, but also kept separate because the Houses are separate entities. A phased implementation was opted for, because each House has a different way of working, and made use of different systems. Important steps within the implementation included migrating all existing date from various sources, integrating Outlook and applying a good data model to optimally manage the different relations with contact persons and organizations. Groundworks were laid down for automated customer journeys via email, and processing of donations has been automated too.


There has been chosen for a phased implementation, taken into consideration that any 'House' has its own proces and used systems across Houses may differ. Important parts of the implementation were migrating all existing data from multiple sources, the Outlook integration and the application of a decent data model to manage multiple relations with contacts and organizations in the best way possible. Moreover, we have built a strong fundament for automated customer journeys using email marketing and automated the way donations were processed.

“Together with Xebia, we have spent 1.5 year building a path to go from 17 individual filing systems to one integrated database. This is a huge step forwards in our relation management.”
Ronald_McDonald_House_Charities
Miranda Noorlander Deputy director at Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds

More Positive Impact

The Ronald McDonald Kinderfonds now works in team with the different Houses, which is an enormous step forward! User adoption is an important area for attention for many organizations that go through a similar transformation, which was also the case for the Ronald McDonald Houses. Xebia provides them with extra support, together with the Kinderfonds, by literally driving across the country to help guide managers and volunteers in the Houses, so even they can be comfortable with and enthusiastic about Salesforce. In doing so, the positive impact can be even greater by making the most of the new technology.

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