Introduction
Project Held (Project Hero), a reputable charity based in Harderwijk, the Netherlands, collaborates with 18 projects worldwide to support the most vulnerable children. They give hope to children living in poverty, who often do not see a better future. By sponsoring, these children can go to school, live in a safe environment, and build their future.
Multiple Challenges
Project Held had to face several challenges regarding the management of child sponsorship on a global scale. These challenges include:
Labor-intensive:
The registration process was labor-intensive and time-consuming. Many actions had to be done manually, for example adding child profiles received via email and processing new sponsor registrations.Information exchange:
They needed efficient systems to ensure that sponsors stayed up-to-date about their sponsored children.High costs:
The costs of mailing materials, paper, and postage began to rise significantly.Loss of mail:
There was a constant risk of losing important mail pieces, causing crucial updates and letters potentially not reaching their destination. This hindered the creation of a strong bond between sponsors and their sponsored children.Letter translation:
The responsibility for translating the correspondence lay with the projects themselves, which could extend the processing time.
These challenges posed significant obstacles for Project Held in effectively executing their mission.
The future of child sponsorship
In addition to the challenges mentioned earlier, Project Held also looked ahead to the future of child sponsorship, in which digital solutions play an increasingly significant role. They were aware that it was crucial to keep up with this technological progress, not just in terms of knowledge but also concerning the necessary investments.
One of the most important trends is the use of digital platforms. These can not only improve the efficiency of operations but also increase sponsor engagement. By using data and technology, they offer the opportunity to create more personalized and relevant experiences for sponsors. This ensures that sponsors feel more involved and connected with their sponsored children.
For Project Held, it was essential to find a solution that would not only help them with their current challenges but also prepare them for this digital future of child sponsorship.
Central information point
Project Held uses the OVAS CRM, in which all data about projects, children, and sponsors are kept. It was important to retain OVAS in the process as the director of the direct debits.
The Solution
In 2022, we started a conversation with Project Held about our shared dream of helping disadvantaged children worldwide towards a hopeful future. We quickly discovered that there was great value in a collaboration. Together with Project Held, OVAS, Brovisuals (website builder), and Nofam, we started a project to streamline the process for Project Held, with OVAS remaining the central information point.
In the project, we worked with all parties to see how we could connect the various systems - OVAS, the Project Held website, and Nofam - in a way that allowed each system to maintain the applicable responsibilities and have the necessary data.
As part of this project, we closely collaborated with all parties involved to achieve a seamless integration between the various systems - OVAS Connect, the Project Held website, and the Nofam platform. It was crucial to ensure that each system could maintain its responsibilities and have the necessary data. In this way, we created a robust and effective network of combined functionalities, retaining the unique benefits and characteristics of each individual system.
Here we made the following improvements throughout the chain:
Simplifying child profile management:
Projects can now manage the profiles of their children themselves, instead of having to manually submit them via email and have them added by Project Held. Project staff can add and change profiles from the Nofam app or management environment. After verification by Project Held, these profiles are passed on to OVAS and eventually to the Project Held website.Automatic processing of sponsor registrations:
Where Project Held previously had to manually process all sponsor registrations, this is now automatic. As soon as a sponsor registers on the Project Held website, the registration is automatically forwarded and processed within the Nofam platform. The emails are then automatically sent, and the preparations for direct debits are immediately carried out from OVAS.Improved communication with automatic translation:
Projects can now share updates with the sponsors of the children themselves. This can be in the form of photos, videos, or text updates. An employee can enter these updates in their language. Where necessary, these are automatically translated into the language of the sponsor, ensuring faster and smoother communication.Increased frequency of updates:
Sponsors now receive updates more frequently. These not only contain news from the children themselves but also updates about activities within the entire project. With one update, a project employee can now reach all sponsors. This strengthens the bond between the sponsor and the project, and gives a broader picture of the impact of their contribution.
The Result
Through hard work and collaboration, we were able to successfully implement this process. The rollout to the projects began in May 2023, and the rollout to existing sponsors will take place after the summer vacation. This means that Project Held, and its projects and sponsors, no longer have to spend time and money on mailing items. This results in more available time to focus on supporting the projects and children even better and on the journey with the sponsors.
“Before we started using the Nofam platform, we were not fully aware of the impact of our central role in communication. Now that the roles are better distributed, you share responsibility with project staff and sponsors, which gives more involvement and allows us to focus more on growth and development.”
This integration project with Project Held shows the power of collaboration and technology in service of the most vulnerable. We look forward to further successes and improvements in the future.
And… have we learned anything?
Definitely! During the project, we gained several important insights, which we would like to share with you:
Timing and communication is everything:
In a process chain with multiple systems, early and thorough coordination is crucial. The sooner you sit down with all parties involved, the better! 😉Adaptability is key:
Project Held plays a directing role relative to the other projects. Therefore, it was essential to expand the Nofam management environment so that they have control over the management of the projects and child sponsorship themselves.Collaboration makes a difference:
It was inspiring to see how we could collaborate from different organizations and disciplines to simplify processes with the aim of helping more children. This project confirmed that collaboration is truly the key to impact!
Are you curious about what the child sponsorship page of Project Held looks like after our collaboration? You can view the page here.
Do you want to know more about our collaboration with Project Held or are you interested in how Nofam can help your organization? We warmly invite you to contact us. Together we can achieve more!
