Case Study: Automated E-Card Delivery Software Dev for a Nonprofit Settlement Organization

Zerrow has built an automated eCard platform to help Working Women, a nonprofit settlement organization in Toronto, send e-cards to their donors. Zerrow customized the workflows and created the campaign's designs and graphics. Prior to this, Working Women had to manual create and send out the eCards with their annual donor campaign. Their new automated platform has saved them immense time, money and effort while increasing their donor outcomes.

Following is a project debrief interview with Working Women's Director of Development.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Development at Working Women Community Centre. We are the largest settlement organization in Ontario specializing in services for women and their families and help 10,000+ people annually.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zerrow, and what were your goals?

We wanted our supporters to be able to send e-cards for Mother's Day as a thank you for donating. During covid we cobbled together a manual process using mailerlite to send ecards but it took a great deal of time and we have no expertise in this area. I asked ken if he could create a system to automate delivery of the ecards and also clean up the landing pages.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Ken had reached out to us to see if we were interested in pro-bono support as part of his company's social giving activities. We were delighted when they agreed to take our project on as we thought it would be too much for pro-bono work. Ken is amazing to work with from the start and I am impressed with how quickly he understands our issues and comes back with innovative solutions.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Ken and his team proposed automating our ecard system using Pabbly and creating customized workflows as well as graphics and design for campaign. They were also able to create the infrastructure for a second campaign. The draft system was created in a few days and we were quickly able to test and then refine our design and layouts.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked directly with Ken who is a Principal at zerrow.com. Ken engaged his team with our problem although I am not sure how many people worked directly on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

I can't speak more highly of Ken and the Zerrow team. Our new campaign is now set to launch 5 months ahead of schedule and we have the ability to launch a second campaign. As a small office, most of the responsibilities to run the old campaign fell on me and I estimate the now fully automated system will save at least 40 hours of labour that previously went into manually uploading and downloading forms, sending multiple mailerlite campaigns, reviewing databases etc.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Ken is a great listener and very quickly understood our issues and (lack of) resources. He outlined a clear project plan and timelines which were all met. He outlined my responsibilities so that I understood all that I needed to do - and since I am not a tech person, Ken also identified what I could do vs what his team needed to do. Our meetings were always on time and constructive and Ken always followed up with an email to outline key points and next steps.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It is gratifying to find a company like zerrow that goes out of its way to give back to the community. Ken saw our profile on Linkedin and reached out to see if we were interested in any pro-bono help. I am used to sales pitches and was a bit hesitant but any misgivings gave away after a few minutes of meeting with Ken. I really felt a personal connection to Ken in only a few short meetings - we are meeting up next time he comes to Toronto! Ken made it feel like our small pro-bono project was important to him and I had faith in this technical understanding and expertise.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing that I can think of - it has been a pleasure from day 1!