African Women’s Development Fund
“Salesforce has transformed how we work, helping us automate processes, save time, and focus more on the impact we’re making.”
- African Women's Development Fund
A vibrant organisation: Meet The Women's Development Fund.
The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) is a grant-making organisation that supports women's rights organisations across Africa, empowering them to amplify their impact. AWDF was searching for a system that could streamline its processes, from application management to reporting, as their previous systems struggled to handle the increasing volume of grant applications. With support from Hyphen8, a specialist in Salesforce implementation for grant-making organisations, AWDF was able to move to a fully integrated platform that automated many of their processes and brought significant operational efficiencies.
The Challenge Faced:
Prior to implementing Salesforce, AWDF used multiple systems, including GEMS and Good Grants. These platforms had limitations that hampered AWDF’s ability to manage their grants efficiently.
The application process was manual and time-consuming, with applications submitted via email and entered manually into a database. Each application cycle received between 800 and 1,000 applications, making data extraction for case studies and donor reports incredibly challenging.
The team at AWDF shared how it was hindering their progress and ability to scale impacts:
"Grant applications came in through emails, and we had to spend two weeks going through the emails and manually entering grant applications into spreadsheets. It was hugely time consuming and we’d have to draft in extra temporary staff to help us with the admin load” - said Belinda Amankwah, Operations Manager.
“It wasn’t just the time it took; it also made tracking applications difficult. If we wanted any information on an organisation for example, we had to ask the officers managing the grants and go through their notes as nothing was available in real time.”
The reporting process was equally laborious. AWDF support over 150 organisations, including many multi-year grants; the team at AWDF relied on Excel spreadsheets to track overdue reports and payments.
Data To Show Impacts
"It was difficult to extract the data we needed to demonstrate the difference our grants were making.
Our donors wanted detailed indicators, but manually processing everything made that almost impossible."
- Gertrude Bibi Annoh-Quarshie, Operations Lead.
Why AWDF Chose Salesforce and Hyphen8
Gertrude shared how the team made their decision which was interesting as we often hear from organisations how helpful; this is.
AWDF sought advice from other organisations using more advanced systems, and after discussions with the Global Fund for Women and Comic Relief, both of whom recommended Salesforce, AWDF began exploring Salesforce as the solution to their challenges.
Hyphen8 came highly recommended by Comic Relief, which had worked with Hyphen8 to implement their own grant management system.
Other Hyphen8 Customer's Shared Their Experiences
"We knew that Salesforce was the right choice because it was already being used by organisations like us.
But it was the recommendation from Comic Relief that really helped us see the value that Hyphen8 would be able to bring with their vast grant-making and nonprofit Salesforce knowledge."
The Solution
Hyphen8 team worked closely with AWDF to build a Salesforce system tailored to their needs. They focused on automating manual tasks, centralising data, and improving the reporting process.
“Hyphen8 showed a lot of leadership throughout the process. They provided us with multiple solutions, explaining the outcomes of each one and helping us choose the best options,” Gertrude explained.
“Their technical expertise was clear, they have a team of people from the grantmaking space, and they didn’t waiver in their commitment to finding solutions that worked for us.”
Hyphen8 implemented a centralised Salesforce system for AWDF, featuring:
- Salesforce Nonprofit Configuration with Outbound Funds: A robust setup to manage end-to-end grant processes.
- FormAssembly Integration: Simplified data capture forms for grantees.
- Conga Documentation: Streamlined meeting documents and feedback reporting.
- Conga Sign: Simplified award list management and grant agreement signing.
- Hyphen8 Accelerators: Added functionality like dynamic checks, tags, notifications, and decision meetings.
The Impact – Changing Pain Points In To Impact
Salesforce, implemented by Hyphen8, addressed all the pain points AWDF had been struggling with. The application process was automated, significantly reducing the time needed to manage each cycle.
All applications now flow directly into Salesforce, eliminating the need for manual data entry. This automation has allowed AWDF to focus on higher-value tasks.
"Before Salesforce, we needed extra staff to help with data entry during busy periods. Now, that’s no longer necessary," said Belinda. "We’ve saved a lot of time."
Feedback to applicants, which was previously difficult due to the volume of submissions, is now automated. “With just a click of a button, we can provide feedback to all applicants. This used to take days, but now it’s instantaneous,” Belinda added
Improved Reporting and Data Insights
Salesforce has also improved AWDF’s reporting capabilities. They can now generate real-time reports that track grant statuses and overdue reports, which is critical for meeting donor obligations and sharing amazing updates with funders; in just a few clicks.
Gertrude shared: "It was difficult to extract the data we needed to demonstrate the difference our grants were making. Our donors wanted detailed indicators, but manually processing everything made that almost impossible." `
This type of reporting functionality is vital for grantmakers and we love solving these simple challenges for organisations.
Belinda agreed commenting, “Having all our data in one place allows us to better track the impact of our grants. This helps us tell our story more effectively to donors and stakeholders,” Gertrude said.
What would you say about the entire experience looking back?
“With Salesforce and Hyphen8’s support, AWDF has been able to automate its processes, save time, and focus more on the impact of its grants. It’s great to reflect on how far we’ve come and the opportunities we now have thanks to Salesforce. We’re excited to continue improving how we work and maximising the impact we can make.” – Gertrude Bibi Annoh-Quarshie
