Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families Connects & Supports Military Families Worldwide with Experience Cloud for Nonprofits
To serve your constituents, you have to be everywhere they are, and that presents a huge challenge for many nonprofits. No one knows this better than Blue Star Families, the largest and fastest growing military family engagement organization in the country. Dedicated to strengthening military families and connecting America to the military worldwide, Blue Star Families’ members are a diverse, global community of over a million service men and women and military families, who rarely stay in any one place for too long. “As a military spouse, you’re reinventing yourself every 18 to 24 months as you move to a new location. It’s difficult to find companies that will hire you, it’s tough for your kids to change schools every few years, and there are constant feelings of loneliness and isolation,” says Jennifer Wilder, Director of Development at BSF. “Our membership programs address these pertinent issues.” BSF’s robust programs include its annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey, a military spouse employment initiative known as Blue Star Careers, and community outreach efforts such as Blue Star Museums, Blue Star Neighbors, and Caregivers Empowering Caregivers. Salesforce enables BSF to deliver these programs to military families worldwide. “Our staff is 100% remote, so it’s been really important to have a place where we can meet virtually,” says Kylee Durant, Senior Technology Manager. “We call [Experience Cloud for Nonprofits] our virtual office. It’s real-time information; a real-time way to collaborate.” Since its founding in 2009, Blue Star Families has done amazing and impactful work. At their Fifth Anniversary Celebration in Washington, D.C., the organization wanted to bring staff and supporters from their 50 international chapters to celebrate the anniversary virtually.
“All of our volunteers collaborate every single day using Experience Cloud for Nonprofits, so we decided to use the platform to bring their voices into the room,” says Durant. Throughout the event, a large screen displayed an ongoing feed of messages and photos from supporters around the world. In-person attendees responded to these messages right from their phones using the Mobile App.
Serving a Global Community Today & Tomorrow
Salesforce helped BSF make their Fifth Anniversary Celebration a success, and it also keeps the organization streamlined and connected everyday. “Salesforce allows us to keep track of our relationships, our interactions, what people want, and what people are getting. It helps us serve people in the way they want to be served,” says Kathy Roth-Douquet, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Star Families. Salesforce also enables this decentralized organization to achieve one central view of their fundraising data. “We’re able to see dynamic information about how we charter fundraising from quarter to quarter and year to year. Now we can identify the most effective strategies for bringing on new donors,” says Wilder. With the power of Experience Cloud for Nonprofits, Blue Star Families is revolutionizing the way they engage.
Roth-Douquet says, “Military families have traditionally been isolated. The internet, Facebook, and Skype started to change that, but those tools only allow you to go so far. With Experience Cloud for Nonprofits, we’re taking control of our community.
Our small staff is forming relationships with hundreds of thousands of people. It doesn’t just make our work easier. It makes it possible.”