Muscular Dystrophy Association

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) transforms the lives of people with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular disease through innovations in science and innovations in care.

“MDA began a digital transformation with Salesforce back in 2018 and continues each year to keep it state-of-the-art in the nonprofit community. With this change, Salesforce partnered with MDA to build a technology architecture, which allowed MDA to become a data-driven charity with the vision to support life changing research and provide care to patients and families impacted by neuromuscular diseases,” says Michael Kennedy, EVP and Chief Financial Officer of MDA.

As part of its digital transformation, MDA was able to expand the Salesforce platform to include FinancialForce. This allowed MDA to streamline and centralize back office processes, creating a cloud-based, Centralized Service Center that supports all of its district offices across the U.S. Salesforce Service Cloud has enabled better, more efficient delivery of critical Mission services through the use of case management and the secure tracking of patient information.

Another tremendous win that Salesforce has been able to deliver has been through the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). By leveraging the core functionality and data architecture of NPSP, MDA was able to implement multiple best-in-class fundraising platforms that integrated with Salesforce, creating a holistic view of donor giving and fundraiser’s influence across its many programs. The implementation of Marketing Cloud Engagement for Nonprofits and its seamless integration with Salesforce allows MDA to analyze and cultivate future donor engagement in an efficient and meaningful way. All of this has been made possible through the countless tools and services available within the expansive Salesforce partner network.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person events for MDA, as it did for nonprofits everywhere, MDA was quick to respond by announcing the relaunch of their legendary Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon with Kevin Hart joining as host. The MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon, a two-hour special aired globally on Saturday, October 24, 2020, and provided a new source of revenue and gave audiences the opportunity to support the essential work of MDA as never before. With the support of Salesforce, MDA was able to build a state-of-the-art digital framework made up of integrated donation platforms and analytics. The Telethon gave MDA the opportunity to work with new Salesforce technologies such as Tableau and Command Center, which were used to create executive dashboards that provided a consolidated, real-time view of incoming donations across numerous channels as well as social network activities during the Telethon.