Safe Passage International uses Nonprofit Cloud to Raise More Funds to Help Asylum Seekers.

Safe Passage International uses the law to help people seeking asylum in Europe to reach a safe place, so they can lead a full and dignified life. Too many people, especially children, are trapped in awful situations in Europe including dangerous and overcrowded camps and living on the streets where they are vulnerable to gangs and criminals. The nonprofit organization provides specialist legal services so that they can reach a place of safety.

The organization also advocates for a fairer legal system for asylum seekers. Since 2015, more than 2,000 people have been able to travel to safety through routes Safe Passage International has helped to open through its legal and advocacy work.

Nonprofit Cloud: A Powerful Tool for Legal Advocacy

The organization’s legal teams use Nonprofit Cloud to manage and monitor the cases of its clients. Lawyers in the UK, France and Greece are able to work simultaneously on cases because of the functionality of Salesforce. Staff are able to record and produce when needed case evidence that helps people be relocated to a safe place.

Salesforce is used to help asylum seekers in Europe find a safe place.

Digitizing Program Operations was the Initial Focus

Safe Passage International also uses Salesforce for fundraising. Staff raise every penny of the organization’s budget through a variety of public appeals, grant funding, events, and supporter-led fundraisers. All of this is done through Salesforce, enabling staff to track and monitor income, manage supporter preferences, and contact the right supporters about the things they want to hear about.

However, the organization invested most of its technology budget configuring Salesforce to support the legal team’s work. There simply wasn’t enough funding to adequately address the needs of other departments. As a result, the fundraising team struggled with missing data, manual processes, and difficult reporting.

For example, it was nearly impossible to see how much each supporter was giving Safe Passage, as most of the donation platforms supporters used were not linked to Salesforce. A supporter might make a monthly donation, contribute to a friend’s online fundraiser, and run a 10k for Safe Passage, and the team wouldn’t know because the system didn’t pick it up intuitively enough. People weren’t getting the best supporter experience possible.

Johnny Rebours, Head of Fundraising, wasn’t confident that the system was working for them in the best way possible. “We were simply lacking in the skills, knowledge, and resources to get our system working in the way that we’d like,” recalled Johnny.

Pro Bono Support: How Safe Passage UK Rejuvenated Its Fundraising System

Through the Pro Bono Program, Johnny connected with Salesforce employee, Redha Elminyawi, to optimize the organization’s system for fundraising. Redha volunteered his expertise to help the organization design their system to work smarter and more intuitively.

“Up until sitting down with Redha, we had a sense that Salesforce should be working better but with little idea of how to get there,” said Johnny. “It has been like working with a trusted friend and for that I’m really grateful as it’s made the process much easier.”

Safe Passage International now has an accurate, visual view of their fundraising efforts.

With a better solution in place, the organization can now predict future income more accurately and make smarter, data-driven decisions on how to prioritize funding opportunities. New automation alerts staff when a large donation is received or upcoming grant application deadlines. Plus, they now have the ability to integrate with popular online donation platforms, which will save time and maintain data quality.

“The Pro Bono Program has helped to build confidence and buy-in throughout the organization that Salesforce is a key asset and one that can help us beyond what we previously thought,” reflected Johnny. “We still have a journey ahead to get to our perfect system, but it has helped immensely to guide the conversation internally at Safe Passage.”