About Acontinuous Charity (ACC)

Acontinuous Charity (ACC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to solving the interest-based
student loan crisis by providing interest-free loans. ACC focuses on educational justice and women’s
empowerment, distributing funds based on merit, need, community involvement, Islamic awareness,
and location. Their approach of “local investing with local rewards” prioritizes students in areas where
fundraising efforts have been conducted.

Project Overview

The ACC project is designed to enhance the organization’s efficiency and impact by implementing a
centralized system for operations and management, divided into two key phases.

Phase 1: Implementation and Integration

Objectives

The main aim of Phase 1 was to establish a centralized and integrated system that streamlines ACC’s
operations, focusing on donor management, fund allocation, and transaction processing. This phase
involved implementing Salesforce and integrating it with various organizational processes to improve
operational efficiency and data accuracy.

Key Components

Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) Implementation

• Overview: The Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) was implemented to customize
  Salesforce for the specific needs of ACC. NPSP offers a suite of tools tailored for nonprofits to manage their constituents, donations, and programs effectively.
• Customization: Salesforce was customized to handle ACC’s unique requirements,
  such as tracking donors, managing funds, and overseeing programs and donations.
  This customization ensured that all aspects of ACC’s operations were seamlessly
  integrated into a single platform.

Custom Development on Salesforce

• Centralized Management: Developed custom functionalities within Salesforce to
  track and manage all core operations, including:

1. Donors: Captured comprehensive donor information, enabling personalized
   communication and engagement.
2. Funds: Monitored fund allocation and usage to ensure transparency and
   accountability.
3. Programs: Managed various programs, tracking their progress and outcomes.
4. Donations and Transactions: Recorded all donations and processed transactions accurately and efficiently.
5. Refund Management: Provided tools for handling refund operations, including
   both full and partial refunds, to maintain donor trust and satisfaction.

Website Integration with Salesforce

• Salesforce API Usage: Integrated ACC’s website with Salesforce using Salesforce
  APIs. This integration enabled real-time data exchange between the website and
  Salesforce, ensuring that all data was current and reducing the need for manual data
  entry.
• Benefits: Improved data accuracy and consistency across platforms, facilitating better
  decision-making and reporting.

Payment Gateway Integration

• Overview: Integrated PayPal and Stripe payment gateways to facilitate secure manual
  payment collection via Salesforce.
• Features:

1. Secure Transactions: Ensured that all payment transactions were secure and
   compliant with industry standards, protecting donor information and
   maintaining trust.
2. Automated Receipt Generation: Configured the system to automatically generate and send email receipts to donors, enhancing transparency and providing immediate confirmation of their contributions.

System-Generated Receipts

• Purpose: Automated the receipt generation process to improve donor experience and
  ensure accurate record-keeping.
• Functionality: The system automatically sends email receipts to donors after
  successful transactions, providing them with documentation for their records and
  reinforcing their engagement with ACC.

Manual Refund Operations

• Capabilities: Developed tools within Salesforce to manage manual refunds, both fully
  and partially, ensuring that refunds were processed efficiently and accurately.
• Impact: This capability allowed ACC to handle refund requests promptly, maintaining
  donor trust and satisfaction by providing responsive customer service.

Achievements and Outcomes

• Centralization of Operations: Established a single, unified system for managing all core
  operations, leading to significant improvements in efficiency and reduced administrative
  overhead.
• Enhanced Reporting: Enabled comprehensive reporting capabilities, allowing ACC to
  generate detailed reports on donations, fund allocation, program effectiveness, and other key
  metrics.
• Improved Donor Experience: Streamlined the donation process and enhanced
  communication with donors through automated receipts and secure payment processing,
  increasing donor satisfaction and engagement.
• Scalability: Created a scalable platform that can grow with ACC as they expand their
  programs and services, ensuring that the organization can continue to meet the needs of its
  constituents effectively.

Visual Aids

• System Architecture Diagram: Illustrate the integration between Salesforce, the ACC
  website, and payment gateways, highlighting how data flows between these systems.
• User Interface Screenshots: Include images of the Salesforce dashboards and key screens
  used for managing donors, funds, and transactions to provide a visual representation of the
  system’s capabilities.
• Flowcharts: Depict the process flow for donation handling, receipt generation, and refund
  operations to clarify the steps involved in these processes.

Conclusion

Phase 1 of the ACC project successfully laid the foundation for a centralized, efficient, and scalable
system that enhances the organization’s ability to manage its operations and support its mission. By
leveraging Salesforce and integrating key functionalities, ACC can now operate more effectively,
providing better services to its donors and beneficiaries. As Phase 2 approaches, the groundwork laid
in Phase 1 ensures that ACC is well-positioned to implement a comprehensive student loan
management system, further advancing its impact on the community.