PwC’s improves donation management at Louvain Coopération

Taking an innovative cloud approach

A unique gem in Salesforce’s cloud-based solutions is the ability for non-governmental organisations (NGO) to better control donation management. With PwC’s support, that’s exactly what it’s doing for Louvain Coopération, and helping prepare it for the future. The NGO has existed for more than 30 years and while it’s evolved over that time, innovation and continual learning have always been at the heart of its activities.

Time for change

“The customer relationship management (CRM) tool we were using had become obsolete and couldn't be updated. It no longer met our expectations for everything related to contact management (donors). Too often, our people were storing data in their own files, limiting access for others and making data difficult to share” explains Marie Devreux, communication and fundraising manager with Louvain Coopération. Colleague Alexandra Jacoby, communication and fundraising expert with Louvain Coopération, adds, “we wanted a tool that was more user friendly and above all a real CRM. The donation management aspect was essential, but we also wanted to be able to bring together all our contacts (donors, foundation, partners, etc.) in one place, to have a history of contacts, their evolution and to avoid loss of information. We also needed a tool that could help us generate mailing lists more easily and improve our digital marketing strategy.”

Raising awareness of topics

Louvain Coopération is the University NGO of UCLouvain. Its mission is to reduce inequalities and poverty. It does this via innovation and the delivery of replicable and impactful solutions that mobilise the thinking power of its partners and the university community. Active in nine countries (Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Madagascar, DRC, Peru and Togo), its work focuses mainly on these axes: natural resources, agro-ecology, entrepreneurship, socio-professional integration, social protection, non communicable diseases, global citizenship and service learning. As well as being active in the field, the NGO also works with the university in Belgium to raise awareness of its focus areas by including content in courses and programmes. Currently LC has several students, including PHd students who'll work from a couple months to several years on specific topics related to the NGO work.

Finding the right match

Louvain Coopération worked with an external consultant to help it identify the best tool, in this case Salesforce, and the best service provider to help it implement that tool. That service provider is PwC. Together, they identified the NGO’s needs and established the clearest possible specifications. Out of all the service providers the team met with, “PwC's offer was the most structured and met our expectations. We also gained very clear and concise answers to all our questions, and in a short timeframe, which was very reassuring for the way PwC works. The fact that PwC has references with other NGOs and the Agile working method helped reassure us too. We felt that we’d make a very good match. And we did,” Marie Devreux notes.

Taking an Agile approach

The Agile methodology is a means of managing projects by breaking them down into several phases. Once the work begins, teams cycle through a process of planning, executing and evaluating. “We found that way of working really useful, especially as PwC tailored it specifically to the project at hand. It provides clear guidelines and helped make sure people felt accountable for moving the project forward,” says Alexandra Jacoby. And she adds, “the relationship with the team was very good and all tasks and sprints were well planned. This allowed us to follow the progress of the project in real time. The rhythm of the meetings was also ideal and we knew that it was important to keep the rhythm if we didn’t want the project to run over time.” Marie Devreux concurs, “even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everything had to be done at a distance, communication remained smooth and everything remained on track. The flexibility of the PwC team was a real benefit, as was being able to work in French. We felt comfortable with the project along the way and kept a good rhythm and relationship throughout.”

Moving forward

With Salesforce now in place, Louvain Coopération is looking to make sure the NGO gets the most value out of it. “We’re continually learning and making sure we can use the tool optimally. Already, it’s made a real contribution to the organisation. Now, we’re much better able to keep track of activities and reminders, can send out newsletters more easily, have better access to contacts, reporting has been simplified and much more,” enthuses Alexandra Jacoby. Indeed, with Salesforce, the NGO has also been able to improve internal cooperation and make its way of working much more efficient and transparent.

It hopes to expand what it’s learned and the technology to its operations in other countries, although it understands the inherent challenges in that ambition. “The implementation of Salesforce has helped make us a lot more professional as an organisation and has really been a very worthwhile investment, especially as, with PwC, we were able to bring the project in on time and on budget. Something which is not evident in such project” Marie Devreux concludes.