Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity
Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity is the charity supporting cancer research, treatment and care at Weston Park Hospital; 1 of only 3 dedicated cancer hospitals in the UK and a world leader in cancer research.
Situation
The charity had been using Raiser’s Edge 7 since upgrading to it in 2004, but were becoming increasingly frustrated with it:“We were at our wits end with our system,” said Rachel Thorpe, who took over as Charity Director at Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity in July this year. “We were struggling to get the information out of the system that we needed and certainly weren’t getting the best out of it –we desperately needed somebody to work with us to demystify the system and tailor it to our needs.”
In summer 2008, Rachel Thorpe contacted Purple Vision – who over the last few years have worked with over 30 organisations using Raiser’s Edge – and discussed a project to get the staff at the charity using the system in a much more joined-up way.
Challenge
“When we conducted our initial healthcheck,” said Keith Collins, Systems Director at Purple Vision, “we discovered that the Cancer Charity staff had quite advanced skills in using the system.”
“The real problems,” he continued “were that these skills weren’t shared amongst the wider fundraising team, and there wasn’t really a strategy behind how the system had been set up. These were the issues we recommended should be addressed.”
Solution
Initially, Purple Vision were engaged to conduct a one-day ‘healthcheck’ of the charity’s Raiser’s Edge system.
“Having had some training and consultancy from other organisations that hadn’t really solved our problems” said Rachel Thorpe “we weren’t prepared to commit ourselves to a larger project initially. Purple Vision’s references, proposal and credentials seemed very good – but we needed to be confident they would deliver before working with them further”
“With some clients, this is definitely the best approach” said Keith Collins “we get the chance to work with them for a day, and then produce a short report at the end pointing them in the right direction. If they feel they need more advice to implement any changes, or provide training, then they’ve had a chance to experience working with us before making that commitment. If they haven’t got the budget, at least our report should give them a plan of action they can start to work on themselves.”
Having conducted an initial healthcheck, Purple Vision were engaged to work on a project to implement the recommendations. This work focussed on the following areas:
- Making sure the charity’s fundraising strategy was reflected in the campaigns, appeals, events and packages in Raiser’s Edge
- Ensuring the various stakeholders involved in the charity were reflected in the constituent codes used to categorise supporters
- Improving business processes relating to donation thanking and events management
Benefits
“At last Raiser’s Edge is supporting our fundraising strategy” said Rachel Thorpe, “and we’re now seeing a real return on our investment both in the software and in Purple Vision’s services.”
“Purple Vision have been very thorough and patient and have tailored their delivery to our needs. The information has been presented in a logical and understandable way and I would thoroughly recommend them to any organisation using Raiser’s Edge.”
Your options
Bookmark with:
