Overview

Hasbara Fellowship, a Jewish nonprofit organization that takes Jewish students to the holy land to better connect with their heritage, was looking to better manage the various components of the application process. In order to attend the trip, students need to apply to the program, filling out necessary schooling and family information. The organization then reviews the application, approves or denies the student applicant, and then notifies them of their status. Once the student has been accepted, they then have to fill out further forms and provide additional information in order to attend the trip. All of these steps were previously conducted manually, creating time-consuming and unnecessary work for the organization’s team. Using Salesforce and Formstack, we were able to generate a seamless application process using packages that integrate the entire trip process within a single cloud-based system for the organization.

Challenges

How do we streamline the application process of students traveling abroad?

This organization had a number of issues with their original application process. Previously, the organization had to manually email back and forth with applicants in order to provide applications, approve of applications, provide necessary forms and documents, and obtain trip payments. Staff members would manually have to originate and distribute acceptance or rejection letters and necessary trip forms. They would send out individual Stripe invoices to each of the students. All of these steps created unnecessary problems for the organization’s team as they were having to deal with these issues for thousands of applicants every year. This type of manual process enabled a high margin of error and is not work you want your team to be laboring over.

Solutions

Using Salesforce and additional applications, Plutus was able to create a workflow to meet Hasbara’s needs.

Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud-based CMS software that allows for organizations to simplify the management of their memberships, fundraising, marketing, analytics, and so much more. While Salesforce’s original design was for for-profit groups, they have since created a variety of success packages for nonprofits and associations to utilize Salesforce’s unique capabilities.

One of Salesforce’s packages nonprofits can utilize is the Nonprofit Success Pack. Salesforce’s NPSP is the perfect solution for nonprofits as it organizes constituent, fundraising, and program data for organizations. NPSP allows nonprofits to accelerate their fundraising, connect their programs, and drive marketing and engagement, all from one location (NPSP). At Plutus, we use this product for most of our nonprofit clients. In this case, we specifically used the program functionality of the product to make the application and onboarding process as seamless as possible for both the organization and students.

Salesforce also supplies organizations with the Experience Cloud for Nonprofits. This software is the perfect, secure solution for nonprofits to manage their programs, cases, donors, and volunteers (Experience Cloud for Nonprofits). At Plutus, we use this product to build portals for our clients, and this product is also what allows users to log into client’s specific systems.

Formstack

Formstack is an all-in-one workflow automation software that allows you create documents, forms, and e-Signature solutions for Salesforce. By using Formstack, you can capture data, populate information into custom documents, and collect digital signatures all through one platform. Formstack allows you to break down data silos, save valuable work time, and improve your customer experience all through Salesforce. Formstack users can utilize dynamically prefilled forms, automated document generation, and streamlined digital signature collection. There are a wide variety of use cases clients can utilize with Formstack, and our client here was able to successfully implement the software to streamline their student application process.

Stripe Payments

Stripe is a complete payments platform which allows for all-in-one acceptance of payments and distribution of funds globally. We were able to integrate Stripe into the organization’s environment for student payments of both American and Canadian dollars. 

Strategy and Solution

Plutus and this organization collaborated to complete a full summary of their requirements and needs around the strategy and solution design. Through this setup, Plutus identified the workflow and crafted a custom solution using Formstack to automate the application process for both the organization and its student applicants to utilize.

To begin the application process, a student fills out an application using Formstack which was generated by the organization and implemented on their website. This application included all of the necessary fields required by the organization while also making the process as simple as possible for the student applicant.

Since the organization receives thousands of applications each year, they have regional groups which review applications based on the student’s schooling location. Once the student submits the application, the appropriate team receives and reviews the application, as all of the information is captured within their Salesforce environment. 

The student has their own record created automatically within the system allowing the organization is able to see all of the application data directly. The student’s name, contact info, and relevant application requirements are clearly organized automatically within their Salesforce system for easy organization access.

After the team has reviewed the application, they then click to either accept or reject the student. Then, through Salesforce based on the application status, an automated acceptance or rejected letter is sent directly to the student applicant. This step frees up valuable time for the organization as they no longer need to create individual letters manually.

If the student applicant is accepted, they are then directed to fill out the necessary forms and pay the required fees for the trip. The various forms required for accepted students (code of conduct, conditions, health, and flight registration) are also generated through Formstack and allow for both easy completion by the student and streamlined review by the organization’s application team. The student is able to fill out the forms and indicate once they have completed them fully. The organization is then also able to see that the student has filled out all of the necessary forms within their individual Salesforce record.

Using Stripe integration with Formstack, the accepted students are able to pay their trip fees directly from the website without the organization’s intervention. Once the student has paid for the trip, an automatic payment receipt is emailed to the student along with details for their personal user portal. A link is provided for the student to finish setting up their account and once clicked, a user is automatically generated and a welcome message is automatically sent to them.

Results

The implementation of Formstack and Salesforce for this religious organization has been a huge success. The group’s team no longer needs to manually generate and distribute individual applications, acceptance and rejection letters, and additional forms for their student application process. The students are now able to apply and access all of the necessary information and details pertaining to the application and trip directly from the website. Overall, the integration of Formstack into this organization’s Salesforce environment saves both the team and the student applicants time and energy.

Plutus is proud to have been able to create a satisfactory solution for this client and help them streamline their student application process. This integration is just one of the many ways both Formstack and Salesforce can help nonprofits and organizations improve their mission’s efforts. Are you looking for ways to simplify your organization’s goals? We are happy to help!