The William Grant Foundation
About The William Grant Foundation
The William Grant Foundation, established by William Grant & Sons Ltd. in 2014, is dedicated to creating lasting, positive change. Supporting over 130 charities across Scotland each year, the Foundation funds initiatives in arts, youth development, environmental sustainability, social equity, and health. Their unique approach goes beyond grant-making, cultivating networks and collaborations to drive meaningful impact.
The Challenge: Managing Complexity at Scale
As the Foundation grew, managing relationships, tracking grants, and consolidating insights across multiple systems and spreadsheets became increasingly difficult. They needed a future-proof platform that would centralise data, streamline operations, and empower them to take a proactive approach to funding and relationship management.
"It was essential to have a system that evolved with our work. We wanted more than just grant management-we needed a platform to help us track and strengthen relationships,"
Nick Addington, CEO, William Grant Foundation.
Pain Points
A growing organisation requires a strong foundation-here's where the William Grant Foundation faced challenges:
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Managing Relationships with Grantees and Funders
- With contacts spanning grantees, funders, and collaborators, the Foundation needed a single platform to manage interactions, track funding conversations, and maintain key relationships.
Difficulty in ensuring consistent follow-ups with grantees and funders due to scattered communication records.
Limited visibility into historical relationships and past funding decisions, making it harder to nurture long-term partnerships.
- With contacts spanning grantees, funders, and collaborators, the Foundation needed a single platform to manage interactions, track funding conversations, and maintain key relationships.
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Data Collection and Tracking for Impact
- Tracking learnings from grants, particularly in areas like Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Climate Change, was difficult due to fragmented data across spreadsheets and different systems.
The lack of structured data made it challenging to generate reports that accurately reflected impact and trends.
Manual data entry consumed valuable time and increased the risk of errors in reporting and analysis.
- Tracking learnings from grants, particularly in areas like Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Climate Change, was difficult due to fragmented data across spreadsheets and different systems.
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Building a Knowledge Network for Smarter Funding Decisions
- Insights gathered from family connections, events, and peer funders were not easily captured or referenced, making it harder to inform strategic funding decisions.
No centralised way to track recommendations and learnings from events and networking opportunities.
Difficulty in identifying patterns or gaps in funding areas due to siloed information.
- Insights gathered from family connections, events, and peer funders were not easily captured or referenced, making it harder to inform strategic funding decisions.
The Solution
Hyphen8 developed a Salesforce-powered grant management and relationship-building platform, enabling the Foundation to centralise data, automate processes, and strengthen partnerships.
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Centralised Relationship Management
Salesforce acts as a secure repository for all grantee and funder interactions, enabling seamless tracking of relationships and follow-ups.
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Customisable Grant Tracking
- The Grant Flex framework allows tailored tracking of DEI and Climate Change data, aligning funding decisions with the Foundation's mission.
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Proactive Network Building
- Insights from referrals, events, and family networks are captured in Salesforce, providing a comprehensive view of potential partners and funding opportunities.
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Real-Time Family Access Portal
- A read-only Salesforce portal allows family members to track active grants, view impact dashboards, and stay informed about projects such as Project Seagrass, which focuses on marine conservation.
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Integrated Learning & Reflection System
- The Foundation can record grant expectations and capture real-time reflections from reports and conversations, ensuring key insights are logged and acted upon.
The Impact of working with Hyphen8
The Impact
With Salesforce, the Foundation has transformed how it manages grants, relationships, and strategic decision-making with the following impacts;
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Stronger Relationship Management
Contacts ensure all conversations and follow-ups are logged, allowing the team to build deeper, long-term partnerships with grantees and funders.
A future-proof platform enabling real-time tracking of grant impact, DEI efforts, and climate initiatives.
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Stronger Relationship Management
- Centralised contacts ensure all conversations and follow-ups are logged, allowing the team to build deeper, long-term partnerships with grantees and funders.
Enhanced ability to identify and connect with new grantees through relationship mapping and proactive outreach.
More structured and data-driven approach to engaging with funders, strengthening their ability to secure additional support for key initiatives.
- Centralised contacts ensure all conversations and follow-ups are logged, allowing the team to build deeper, long-term partnerships with grantees and funders.
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Informed, Data-Driven Grant-Making
- The ability to track grants against DEI and environmental goals enables the Foundation to align funding with its mission more effectively.
Improved ability to measure long-term impact by connecting funding decisions to tangible outcomes.
Greater transparency and accountability through real-time reporting, ensuring the Foundation can continuously refine its grant-making approach.
- The ability to track grants against DEI and environmental goals enables the Foundation to align funding with its mission more effectively.
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Empowering the Team with Real-Time Insights
- Family members and trustees have visibility into funding decisions, grant progress, and organisational impact through interactive dashboards.
Automated reporting reduces administrative workload, allowing the team to focus on strategic planning and relationship-building.
More efficient internal collaboration, ensuring everyone within the Foundation can access relevant data and contribute to informed decision-making.
- Family members and trustees have visibility into funding decisions, grant progress, and organisational impact through interactive dashboards.
Making an impact
"Salesforce has allowed us to track everything from grant commitments to our footprint in DEI and climate.
It's not just a system; it's a resource that helps us be better stewards of our funding and more connected to our mission."
- Nick Addington, CEO
Why Did You Choose Salesforce and Hyphen8?
The Foundation selected Hyphen8 because of their deep understanding of grant-making and nonprofit needs. Hyphen8's expertise ensured the system was tailored to the Foundation's requirements, providing strategic guidance throughout the process.
"The Hyphen8 team has such deep grant-making knowledge that they provided invaluable advice on shaping our solution.
The team's expertise meant that the system truly fits our needs."
