Southwest Initiative Foundation is positioned
for sustained growth and impact through our
Managed Services strategic partnership

Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) is a nonprofit community foundation connecting people, investing in ideas and building communities to create a southwest Minnesota where all people thrive. Since its founding in 1986, SWIF has distributed more than $115 million through its grantmaking and business finance programs. From the beginning, SWIF has focused on social and economic growth in southwest Minnesota through business finance and economic development, grantmaking and community programming and community giving and philanthropy. The lasting outcome of SWIF’s work is economic mobility, for all people in southwest Minnesota to attain a reasonable standard of living, experience the dignity that comes from having power and autonomy over their lives and be engaged in and valued by their community. Learn more at https://swifoundation.org/

Since the initial implementation of Salesforce in 2016, SWIF has navigated through a series of challenges stemming from extensive customizations, particularly around manual processes and data inconsistencies. These hurdles encompassed various facets of SWIF’s operations:

The customization of SWIF’s Salesforce instance, including the integration of custom fields with hardcoded dates, resulted in manual and repetitive tasks, particularly concerning invoices and expenses. Such manual processes not only consumed valuable time but also increased the risk of errors and inefficiencies.

The migration of historical funds data from an older database to Salesforce introduced challenges related to data integrity and consistency. The transferred data proved to be untrustworthy and lacked consistency in terms of input and storage methods. As a result, reporting on SWIF’s impact became challenging, with discrepancies in the data hindering accurate analysis and sharing of outcomes. The disparity between expected outputs and actual data further compounded this issue.

SWIF faced an overwhelming array of disorganized reports, varying in quality and relevance. Additionally, the presence of unused or unnecessary fields and page layouts added to the complexity. This disorganization not only impeded staff members’ ability to generate reports independently but also fostered reliance on prebuilt reports provided by administrators and managers. The lack of uniformity and clarity in reporting structures hindered effective decision-making and data-driven insights.

While SWIF serves diverse funds and partners, only community foundations had access to their online portal. This limited accessibility posed a challenge in terms of equitable access to information and services for all stakeholders. Addressing this disparity became crucial to enhancing collaboration and engagement across SWIF’s network of partners.

The process for managing Salesforce system requests and opportunities for enhancement lacked organization and clarity. The absence of a structured business process for establishing approval, prioritization, planning, and execution of these enhancements contributed to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for system optimization.

Addressing these challenges required a comprehensive approach focused on streamlining processes, enhancing data integrity, and improving accessibility and usability across the Salesforce ecosystem. Through strategic interventions and collaborative efforts, SWIF aimed to overcome these hurdles and optimize its Salesforce platform to better serve its mission and stakeholders.

In response to the multifaceted challenges encountered by SWIF, Redpath orchestrated a holistic approach aimed at aligning Salesforce operations with the organization’s overarching objectives. Through collaboration and thorough analysis of SWIF’s operational landscape, Redpath crafted a tailored roadmap designed to address the underlying issues while propelling SWIF towards CRM success.

Central to the solution was the optimization of Salesforce automations, strategically deployed to streamline key processes and alleviate the burden of manual tasks. Redpath also recommended migrating existing workflows to more advanced solutions within Salesforce, ensuring scalability and adaptability to evolving business needs.

In addition to enhancing the technological infrastructure, Redpath introduced streamlined tools to optimize specific processes within SWIF, enhancing efficiency and accuracy in critical areas. The user experience within Salesforce was also a focal point, with Redpath proposing interface optimizations to improve navigation and usability, ultimately boosting productivity.

Recognizing the importance of organizational readiness, Redpath provided comprehensive training to SWIF staff members, empowering them to leverage Salesforce effectively for reporting and other essential tasks. Furthermore, Redpath facilitated the expansion of accessibility within SWIF’s online portal, fostering greater collaboration and transparency among stakeholders.

Crucially, Redpath collaborated with SWIF to establish structured processes for handling system requests and enhancements, ensuring prioritization and efficient execution. Integration with SWIF’s existing systems was also recommended, streamlining communication and data exchange processes for enhanced operational efficiency.

By implementing these comprehensive solutions, SWIF embarked on a transformative journey towards optimizing their Salesforce platform, driving organizational growth, and maximizing impact. While the specific details of the solutions remain confidential, the overarching strategy reflects Redpath’s commitment to delivering tailored, impactful solutions to address SWIF’s unique challenges.

The strategic solutions outlined during the Path to Success initiative have paved the way for SWIF to realize their future state vision for their Salesforce Org, yielding a multitude of tangible benefits.

At the forefront of these benefits is the significant reduction in staff time spent on repetitive manual tasks, such as creating invoices and expenses, or approving loans for payment. By leveraging Salesforce automations and streamlining workflow processes, SWIF has experienced a notable increase in operational efficiency, allowing staff members to redirect their time and energy towards more value-added activities.

Moreover, the implementation of enhanced data management practices has instilled a newfound confidence in the integrity and reliability of the data stored within Salesforce. SWIF now trusts that their data is accurate, complete, clean, and well-organized, laying a solid foundation for informed decision-making and strategic planning.

The improvements in data accessibility have also been profound, with SWIF benefiting from more efficient page layouts, enhanced reports, and dashboards, and increased staff proficiency in report generation. This newfound access to actionable insights has empowered staff members across departments to make data-driven decisions, driving organizational performance and facilitating continuous improvement.

In addition to these operational enhancements, the streamlined business processes implemented across departments have fostered greater collaboration and synergy within the organization. Staff members are now empowered to communicate, collaborate, share ideas, and exchange knowledge and skills seamlessly, facilitating innovation and driving organizational agility.

As a result of these collective efforts, SWIF has witnessed a tangible strengthening of organizational performance, positioning the organization for sustained growth and impact in the pursuit of its mission. Through strategic partnership and collaborative innovation, SWIF has unlocked new possibilities within its Salesforce ecosystem, laying the groundwork for a future defined by efficiency and effectiveness.