Pears Foundation

About Pears Foundation

Pears Foundation is a UK-based family foundation committed to supporting charitable organisations through grants and professional development.

Their work spans various sectors, helping organisations drive impact with financial and non-financial support. By moving from a manual, paper-based system to Salesforce, they have streamlined their grant-making processes and gained deeper insights into their partnerships.

The Challenge: Managing Grants Efficiently at Scale

As Pears Foundation expanded its grant-making activities, outdated systems made it difficult to manage payments, track engagement, and report effectively.

Their reliance on a server-based system, paper agreements, and offline processes created inefficiencies that slowed down approvals and limited visibility into grantee relationships.

"Before Salesforce, we relied on a clunky, inflexible system. Payments were slow, approvals took weeks, and reporting was a challenge.

We knew we needed a more efficient way to manage our grants and relationships."

- Rachel Franklin, Operations Manager, Pears Foundation

Pears Hub Library

  Pain Points 

A growing grant-making portfolio required a flexible, cloud-based solution to improve efficiency and transparency.

The team also wanted to ensure they were making the process as easy and efficient for the charities they support, so that they are able to make it as quick and easy as possible.

  • Pain Bullet

    Cumbersome, Manual Processes

    • Payments and approvals were time-consuming and required multiple manual steps.

    • Grant agreements relied on paper documents, often causing delays.
  • Exclamation Bullet

    Scattered Data & Limited Reporting

    • Grantee information was stored across multiple locations, making reporting difficult.

    • The system lacked the ability to track professional development alongside grant funding.
  • Pain Bullet

    Old Fashioned Servers

    • They relied on a server-based system, which was clunky and inflexible, especially as they were using it hand in hand with offline processes, for example, documents requiring wet signatures.
  • Exclamation Bullet

    Lack of Flexibility & Remote Access

    • A server-based system restricted remote work, making collaboration difficult.
    • Changes to the system required external specialists, increasing costs and delays.
19

The Solution: A Centralised, Cloud-Based System

Pears Foundation partnered with Hyphen8 to implement Salesforce, creating an agile, all-in-one platform for grant management.

  • Rocket Bullet

    Unified Data & Reporting

    • Grant and professional development data are now stored in one system, providing a full view of each grantee relationship.

    • Custom reports allow the team to easily track grant funding and engagement activities.
  • Rocket Bullet

    Streamlined Payments & Approvals

    • DocuSign integration replaced paper agreements, enabling approvals in minutes instead of weeks.

    • Payment processing time was reduced from three days to a few hours, freeing up staff capacity.
  • Rocket Bullet

    Empowering Internal Teams

    • Staff can now update records and run reports independently, reducing reliance on external consultants.

    • The intuitive interface allows non-technical users to make system changes with ease.
  • Rocket Bullet

    Enhanced Flexibility & Remote Access

    • The cloud-based system enables staff to manage grants from anywhere, supporting hybrid working.

    • Grant managers can now
      access real-time data from their phones, improving responsiveness.

The Impact of working with Hyphen8

Hrs
Payments are processed 3 days quicker, improving cash flow for charities.
Days
Grantee agreements signed in minutes, reducing administrative time by 7 days a month.
%
Centralised data ensures a clear audit trail for funding decisions- everything in one place.

The Impact: Saving Time and Improving Decision-Making

By adopting Salesforce, Pears Foundation has eliminated inefficiencies, ensuring faster grant processing and better insights into their funding activities.

  • Smile Bullet

    Greater Efficiency in Grant Management

    • Routine reporting and payments are now automated, reducing staff workload.

    • Teams can quickly generate insights on funding trends and grantee engagement.
  • Tick Bullet

    Stronger Grantee Relationships

    • Staff spend more time supporting grantees rather than managing paperwork.

    • The ability to track grants and professional development together allows for a deeper understanding of impact.
  • Smile Bullet

    Scalability & Future-Proofing

    • Pears Foundation can now easily adapt Salesforce to meet changing needs.

    • Custom fields and reporting tools enable continuous improvement without relying on external consultants.

Making an impact

"What used to take us days can now be done in an afternoon.

We're now able to spend more time building relationships with our grantees rather than getting bogged down by admin work."

- Rachel Franklin

%
Everything the team needs is now on one system.
Pears_Hub_Shoot wide shot

Why Did You Choose Salesforce and Hyphen8?

By working with Hyphen8, Pears Foundation has transformed its grant-making operations, improving efficiency, transparency, and scalability.

"We once had a grantee's dog chew up the signed copy of their agreement-it came back with bite marks! Now everything is instant and easy, with no more teeth marks!"

- Rachel Franklin