Purplewire and On Point for College are pleased to announce the launch of On Point’s new Transportation Database system.
On Point for College (OPFC) is a Syracuse-based nonprofit organization that provides first-generation college students with a support structure to help them succeed in school, from the application process through post-graduation job search. One of the services provided by On Point is transportation to and from campus for students. The rides are often provided by volunteers. The process of managing the information about requested rides that need a driver, and getting the up-to-date information to the volunteer pool, is a labor intensive process. Previously this was done using a combination of spreadsheets and manually prepared emails. Purplewire saw an opportunity to streamline the process, and volunteered to help. The development and ongoing maintenance of this system have been donated to On Point by Purplewire free of charge.
“We’re very happy that Purplewire stepped forward to help us organize our transportation process”, says OPFC Deputy Executive Director Sam Rowser. “The new database system saves our staff a lot of time, makes collaboration with the volunteers easier, and gives us new ways to view current and historical information.”
The new system is based on Purplewire’s OppTuna™ web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. Purplewire realized that the process of managing the information about volunteers and clients (students), and the activities (rides) assigned to volunteers on behalf of the students, are very similar to existing functions of the OppTuna CRM system. From that starting point, several features were added and modified to meet the unique needs of the nonprofit organization. The resulting system includes a facility for automatically generating email updates for the volunteers, and includes a “volunteer portal” interface that allows the volunteers to access data about the current list of rides requested, sign up to provide a ride, update their contact data, and review their history of previous rides provided.
Purplewire CEO Chung-Chi Cha says “We’ve been familiar with the good work On Point does for some time now, so we’re glad to have the opportunity to apply our technical expertise to helping them fulfill their extremely worthwhile mission.”
Jay Mortensen, the Purplewire CTO, adds “It was a pleasure to work with the crew at On Point, and we’re happy with way the system turned out. This project has really opened our eyes to some of the similarities and differences between commercial and nonprofit operations. We’re now exploring the market potential for a new version of OppTuna targeted towards volunteer-centered nonprofits. There are a number of companies that produce CRM systems for nonprofits (often called Consitituent rather than Customer Relationship Management in this space), but most are geared primarily towards the fund-raising aspect of nonprofit operations. That’s an important component to be sure, but we feel we can bring something new to the table in terms of helping streamline the nonprofit organization’s processes and collaboration with volunteers, thus freeing the operational staff to direct more of its energy towards the core mission.”
Nonprofits with any ideas, suggestions, or feature requests for such a system are encouraged to contact Purplewire through the website at http://www.purplewire.com. Purplewire will soon be accepting applications for beta testers who may be eligible to receive free implementations of the new system.
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