Voluntary Services Lewisham (formerly the Voluntary Care Centre) is a vibrant charity, based in Catford and serving the Lewisham area.
Among its range of services are: befriending, a driving scheme, mental health drop-in, happiness and wellbeing courses, a Christmas hamper scheme and many others.

[ss_screenshot width=’300′ site=’https://www.vslonline.org.uk’]

VSL is run by a handful of enthusiastic and talented volunteers. As it has grown over the years, each aspect has grown up with its own spreadsheet to keep track of activities.

As you can imagine, if a client or a volunteer changed address there was no ‘master spreadsheet’ – the data had become unmanageable.

This is where Cloud Genius was able to help:

• We obtained licences from Salesforce.com at special charity rates (free).
• Installed the ‘non-profit starter pack’
• Imported all the existing information, from disparate sources.
• Configured Salesforce so that it matched the requirements of the VSL
• Trained all the staff in the use of Salesforce.

The benefits are numerous, but include:

• A full profile of each client is now maintained – at a glance it is possible to see all the services used by an individual.
• When a client or volunteer’s details change there is now just one place to change it.
• When CRB checks, insurance or driving licences are expiring, an automated report automatically informs the administrator. This aids with compliance.
• Emails and other communication are much better targeted. (Clients/Volunteers are now unlikely to get multiple identical emails if they fall within more than one area of the VSL work.)
• There is a sense of an organisation working as a whole, rather than ‘silo thinking’.

With the efficiency savings there will be more time for grant applications. Those applications will be backed up with more accurate evidence of the brilliant works done via the VSL.

NB Cloud Genius is not responsible for the VSL/VCC website.

Stop Press – we have now taken over the VSL website – we converted it to WordPress while retaining the formatting of the original. This means it is MUCH easier to update, now has a live Twitter feed and, most important in view of Google’s new search algorithms, is mobile friendly.