Connecting families: Strengthening member networks to support children with upper limb differences

Background

This project saw us work with a charity that connects thousands of people who might otherwise feel alone and overwhelmed by their daily challenges. Reach is the UK’s leading charity supporting children with upper limb differences, bringing together children and parents to inspire, empower, and cheerlead for one another. Supported by health professionals, the network is a ray of hope. Our job was to find ways to amplify the voices within the network and find more time for staff to dedicate to boosting the confidence of children in their membership.

Solution

Reach already had a purpose-built nonprofit CRM, but it wasn’t working. We heralded in Salesforce, complete with our Nonprofit Success Pack. For the first time, team members had access to a platform that held all member information in one place – from contact details to notes on their personal circumstances – making dozens of daily tasks easier and faster to complete with greater accuracy. Within the same, mobile-accessible system are the details and necessary documentation for all stakeholders, including health partners and event speakers, meaning everything truly is stored in one place. And since the CRM can track fundraising streams and Gift Aid too, hitting targets is easier and admin jobs significantly shortened.

Furthermore, we integrated the CRM with FormAssembly  (to manage booking forms and annual membership renewals, with easy analysis of member responses), Office 365 (so that meetings and events planned through Salesforce sync automatically with team diaries), and MailChimp (to deliver email campaigns to finely-tuned mailing lists built with CRM data).

Many charities will be familiar with the benefits of connecting families or individuals who share similar circumstances. Reach runs a thriving Facebook forum and facilitates much-needed local branch meetings and family weekends, but the organisation was proving challenging without the right tools.

We spent some time understanding the issues at play. We were building a scalable system, one that could set the course for the charity’s future, so we explored its ambitions, looking to plot the best possible route.

Summary

Thanks to our in-depth consultation with the Reach team, we were able to build a bespoke system, considering their preferred working styles and the range of their daily tasks. We delivered comprehensive training to the whole team, which we know yields the very best user adoption rates, and therefore ramps up the impact of the state-of-the-art system. What’s more, it empowers every individual to reach their own highest standards, driving them to achieve and build upon their own personal goals.

Ultimately, thanks to Cirrico’s complete overhaul of Reach’s daily working practices, the families at the heart of the charity are better served. Children with upper limb differences have better access to the life-changing benefits of membership, including bursaries, insurance, sports equipment, musical instruments, relationships with children who share their experience, and a direct link to older role models who haven’t let ablism stand in their way.

At Cirrico, our mission is to empower people to reimagine their futures, whilst providing them with the tools and confidence to make it a reality. By providing Reach with the tools and confidence to better support its network, the charity has been able to do the same for thousands of children who needed its help.