Happy National Superhero Day! (yes, that’s a thing)

At Sidekick Solutions, we’re passionate about helping nonprofit superheroes get the most from their database software. In celebration of National Superhero Day, we’re excited to highlight one of the many real-life superheroes we have the pleasure of supporting: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane (RMHC of Spokane).

RMHC of Spokane uses Blackbaud® eTapestry® software to track their supporters and the families that use their “home away from home” services while visiting loved ones in hospital in Spokane, WA.

With many guests, visitors, and donors actively engaged in their program, RMHC of Spokane has a wide variety of data they need to track and a large quantity of data entry each month.

In order to stay on top of their data management, they built a data integration process between external event fundraising software and conduct monthly data quality reviews to maintain clean, accurate, and reportable data.

Use processes and imports to integrate with event management software

RMHC of Spokane hosts annual events with complex purchase, auction, and ticketing structures. They use Greater Giving fundraising event management software to manage these events and transactions seamlessly. But they needed a clean, streamlined process for integrating Greater Giving data with their eTapestry database.

They set up a step-by-step process that defines when data is collected by each software solution (eTapestry and Greater Giving), when data is reconciled with their accounting (they use QuickBooks Online), and when and how that data is imported into eTapestry.

The workflow of steps RMHC uses to integrate these systems is highly detailed and well-documented. The integration uses common out-of-the-box eTapestry features to move data from system to system.  Pre-defined exports and imports to and from eTapestry are the primary mechanism used to integrate all of their database systems.

Maintain clean and accurate data with monthly data quality reviews

On top of this thorough data integration process, RMHC of Spokane has implemented monthly data quality reviews to keep data clean and accurate.

Every month they review inconsistencies or mistakes in how data was recorded for new accounts, new transactions, and new service records (tracked on eTapestry’s note record). Then, they update data to meet their best practices and, when needed, retrain users or create new data management practices to meet their users’ needs.

Use eTapestry software to make real impact in the community

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane strengthens families and promotes children’s health in the eastern region of Washington state by providing a “home away from home” for out-of-town families with children accessing medical treatment in Spokane and by delivering basic medical and dental care to over 2,000 children each year.

We’re honored to be their software Sidekick and support their incredible work in eastern Washington state.