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Customer Story

Stichting Vluchteling Replaces iFunds with Salesforce for Fundraising

The fundraising tool iFunds was deemed outdated for Stichting Vluchteling. Hence, they started looking for a new solution to manage fundraising

Related services
Salesforce

Industry
Non-Profit

Company
Xebia

Stichting Vluchteling ("Refugee Foundation") is a Dutch fundraising organization that helps refugees globally. In 2018, 28 countries, 55 projects and 884,808 people were helped.

Why
To replace the outdated iFunds software
What
By opting for Salesforce CRM and AMP Impact by Vera Solutions
How
With close cooperation and an Agile implementation trajectory

Looking for a New Fundraising Solution

Ever since Balt Leenman started helping nonprofits with the mission to make a positive impact, he was very impressed by the work of Stichting Vluchteling and the leadership of Mrs Tineke Celen. Tineke is a public figure in the Netherlands, making bold statements towards politicians and the Dutch public regarding the degrading circumstances many refugees are suffering.

In 2014, the organization made the choice for iFunds. It was still early days with Salesforce for nonprofits, we were less experienced than we are now. In 2017, the NGO decided to replace their fundraising solution Engage (iFunds) and invited different vendors. Xebia highlighted Salesforce, which was selected. 

Arjan Oldenkamp and Balt had a meeting with Tineke and Renske Boetje, head of internal affairs, the final step in the process to see if our values complement each other. They did! Our missions match very well.  

A Threefold Choice

A threefold confirmed choice: Salesforce CRM for Fundraising and PME with AMP Impact by Vera Solutions:

  • The first choice: the selection of Salesforce CRM, a solution to replace the outdated CRM by iFunds. Xebia helped to select Salesforce CRM.
  • The second choice: Xebia as implementation partner. A consultancy firm was hired to manage a Request for Proposal (RFP). Xebia was selected as an implementation partner for Fundraising. The project was delivered within budget.
  • The third choice: Vera Solutions and Xebia with the PME solution. Two options were proposed: one based on the default Salesforce platform, the second based on AMP Impact by Vera Solutions. And Stichting Vluchteling has chosen for the second option. Xebia and Vera Solutions collaborated intensively during this implementation.

“Xebia proves to be a great partner, delivering what is promised and within budget. We trust Xebia's advice in a long term relationship. They are very knowledgeable in Salesforce for nonprofits!”
Stichting Vluchteling Logo
Renske Boetje Head of Internal Affairs

Guiding the Salesforce Implementation

In 2018, an official RFP (Request For Proposal) was submitted. What happened? Stichting Vluchteling postponed the implementation, due to some vacancies, they hired a consulting firm to guide them and align their internal organization. For the Salesforce implementation, a new process was initiated. Fortunately, we were well able to position ourselves as the preferred partner.

The Salesforce Implementation Project

Generally speaking, Salesforce implementation are executed in an Agile way. Usually, the customer is neither aware of all best practices that come with the Salesforce platform, nor the insights and best practices of the firm that will lead the implementation. In this case, the consulting firm made a lot of choices already, and part of their selection process was to publish a list of 280 requirements. Xebia was selected and collaborated in this project to deliver on time and within budget.

Although Stichting Vluchteling is a fundraising organization and does not execute projects themselves, they collaborate closely with partners and have to report on impact (55 projects in 28 countries, 884,808 refugees helped in 2018). Record keeping was done in spreadsheets. Xebia evaluated two possible solutions. One based on vanilla Salesforce (PMNC: Project Management for Nonprofit Cloud), a Xebia framework based on the best practices of 8 earlier implementations like MamaCash, Light for the World and vfonds. The alternative was AMP Impact by Vera Solutions. They have chosen AMP Impact and Xebia is collaborating with Vera Solutions to implement AMP Impact in 2020.

The living conditions of refugees are very close to our heart here at Xebia. That's why we are very grateful to be a long-term partner of Stichting Vluchteling!

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