Case Study | Nonprofit Virtual Assistant

The Mission

Our client, Kids' Chance of North Carolina, provides scholarships for children with a parent who has been severely or fatally injured on the job.

The Challenge

The Kids’ Chance board of directors is deeply committed to their mission, but due to increasing professional job responsibilities and a lack of infrastructure, they were finding it impossible to make the impact they wanted to make. “We’re an all-volunteer board,” shares board member Dana Genheimer. “Time and dedicated resources are needed to fulfill our mission and grow. This can be a challenge when you rely solely on volunteer support.”

The Needs

Coordination and Organization: Running a scholarship program requires the board to review each application and make an award determination. To do so, applications need to be collected, tagged as “new” or “returning,” and classified as complete and eligible. In order to be considered complete, an application must include numerous different documents. Having someone handle these logistics was an opportunity to better support volunteer board members.

Fundraising Support: Kids’ Chance sought support for their annual fundraising events. They needed to ensure knowledge was being shared across the volunteer team and that logistics were handled so that the board could effectively address other critical aspects of the event such as relationship building, visibility and sponsorship.

Day-to-Day Operational Consistency: The organizational email box was being managed by several board members, which meant critical communications with stakeholders were not being handled as seamlessly as they could be.

The Right Hands

The More Than Giving Co. provided a skilled team member who works remotely to support the board's efforts at a reasonable cost. After requesting a consultation, Kids’ Chance of North Carolina was up and running with their Nonprofit Virtual Assistant (NPVA) within the week. 

“There was a real commitment within The More Than Giving Co. to match me with the right assistant based on my needs and a genuine enthusiasm to help support our efforts,” shared Dana.

The Support

The board gradually started sending tasks to their dedicated NPVA. Dana shares the impacts of some of their NPVA’s regular tasks:

• Reporting to the national organization: “There are many required touch points for us to remain an “in good standing” organization, and our NPVA makes sure we don’t lose track of these things. She also makes us aware of new resources and opportunities available to us through the national office.”

• Managing the organization's email account: “Now we know that people who reach out to us get the response they need in a timely manner. Anything critical is brought to the board’s attention immediately.”

• Managing the scholarship portal: “We have a portal to digitize our application process, and now we have the hands to really use that portal to our advantage.”

• Providing special project support: “Our NPVA’s ability to support our silent auction really proved her value beyond basic administrative tasks. She was able to help make decisions about process as well as to draft communications that everyone approved.”

The organization has also asked their NPVA to begin attending board meetings. She reports on the status of new scholarship applications, as well as partially completed ones, enabling the organization to more readily reach out to help students complete their applications.

The Outcome

By having a dedicated NPVA supporting administrative tasks for the organization, the Kids’ Chance board has increased their consistency in awareness efforts and outreach to both their supporters and potential scholarship recipients.

They have also found that, with the operational pieces secured, their volunteers have become more engaged and contribute more. The organization had made good inroads over the years, but now board members feel energized by the prospect that even bigger goals are realistically attainable. 

“We are really fortunate to have our NPVA supporting our board because she allows us to focus on the growth and development of the organization without worrying about how our day-to-day needs will be handled. She also ensures that our processes and other operational elements will not be lost,” said Dana. “It’s the biggest benefit of an NPVA; they make us secure in our ability to do the best job we can because we know we have the right infrastructure in place to support us.”

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