Their Mission
Founded to Fix a Broken System
Skookum Kids was founded to fix the broken foster care system. They know that their community, like many communities across the country, is full of people who want to help but just aren’t equipped, trained, guided, or don’t know where to begin.
Skookum Kids works to identify service gaps in the foster care system. Then they work repair those gaps by providing opportunity, training and support to members of the foster care community.
The personal nature of their work with the families they serve, their volunteers, and their donors results in deep, meaningful relationships that are critical to the success of the organization.
“I made it my mission to make a personal friend out of every donor. That was a noble goal that quickly became impossible. Virtuous holds all that stuff so that my brain is free to hold other things until I need to retrieve that information”, says Ray Deck III, founder and executive director.
How We Helped
Integrations and Add-Ons
Skookum Kids leveraged Virtuous integrations with the software solutions they were already using — including MailChimp and Giving Fuel — to save time, optimize internal processes and keep data synced across all systems.
The organization also chose to purchase social media insights, which has given them information on supporters they wouldn’t have otherwise. This provides the opportunity to deepen relationships, increase support, and accomplish their mission.
“The social insights tool paid for itself on the first day we had it. I discovered that a very excited new donor was co-owner of one of our neighborhood’s most popular tap rooms. I emailed him immediately when I learned that, and he agreed to host a fundraiser for us.”
– Ray Deck III, Founder & Executive Director
Timing Saving Features
Skookum Kids looked at all the software solutions available, including modifying a CRM meant to be used by for-profit companies, but they found they’d need to spend too much time, energy and money to make other “popular” solutions work for their needs
“When you work in child welfare, you’re constantly at war against a huge, menacing bureaucracy. You don’t want to be fighting with your CRM too,” says Ray.
The built-in, auto-generated tasks based upon donor behavior help save time, standardize processes across their team and eliminate donors “slipping through the cracks” when they cross an important giving threshold or make a new pledge of support.
Standardized reporting based on industry best practices and the ability to create custom reports give Skookum Kids’ entire team, including staff, board members, and volunteers, quick and easy access to the information they need when they need it.
