Pro Bono Profile: Transforming an After-School Program’s Approach to Tech

SCORES students at soccer practice.

Our Pro Bono Profiles blog series highlights Salesforce employees who volunteer their time and talent to help nonprofits harness the full power of Salesforce technology.

From Scoring Goals to Transforming a Nonprofit’s Implementation

“Playing soccer is fun, but playing for a cause is even better,” said Michael Broome, Release Manager in T&P. “Scoring goals on other tech companies like Yahoo and StubHub only adds to the fun!”

For the last three years, Michael (along with teammates Mark Ustinov, Dixie Kee, James Diefenderfer, and Srijita Mori) has represented Salesforce in an annual charity soccer tournament for the Bay Area chapter of America SCORES, a nationwide nonprofit.

What do Soccer, Poetry, and Pro Bono have in Common?

America SCORES runs after-school programs at 70 of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most challenged public elementary schools. The nonprofit engages students in a combination of soccer, poetry, and community service to help them lead healthy lives, build their confidence and character, and measurably improve their academic skills.

At the 2017 tournament, Michael, Mark, Dixie, James, and Srijita met Colin Schmidt, Executive Director of America SCORES Bay Area. Colin mentioned that he was looking into requesting a pro bono project through the Salesforce.org Pro Bono Program. When the nonprofit submitted the request, Mark rallied the team to help out.

From the Soccer Field to the Whiteboard

The nonprofit customer initially implemented Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud to track fundraising and donor data. Their grander vision is to house and manage all program and participant data in Salesforce. Program data is currently collected by paper registration forms and surveys and entered into different systems — no one system houses all of their program data.

“In the past, our data has been scattered across systems, mostly in response to funder requirements or government contracts,” explained Colin Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer. “By housing all our information and data in one place and by tracking outcomes – year after year after year – we will be able to better assess our long-term impact on the students we serve.”

Through a series of working sessions and on-sites, the pro bono team discussed the customer’s vision, assessed feasibility, and laid out next steps for the customer, including defining functional specifications and engaging a consulting partner to help with their implementation. At the end of the volunteer engagement, the pro bono team and customer had worked together to draft a robust functional requirements document.

SCORES students taking a stand against bullying.

With the requirements doc in hand, America SCORES was able to confidently engage Vera Solutions, a Salesforce.org consulting partner, to implement the first phase of their vision. Vera worked with the customer to create custom objects for capturing participant information, attendance, and evaluation data linked to the participant records.

“The Salesforce Pro Bono team shared a passion for our cause and provided keen insight as we set out to design a program management platform that will transform the way our organization uses data for growth, quality control, and efficient service delivery,” explained Colin.

“Moreover, the new platform will be critical to how we measure and articulate the impact we make for the youth at hundreds of program locations that participate in the America SCORES programs.”

Apply for Pro Bono

Need help using Salesforce to increase your impact? Our Pro Bono Program combines two of our greatest assets, technology and the talent of our Salesforce employees, to help organizations maximize their use of Salesforce.

Learn more about other pro bono success stories, and apply today!