Atlas Preparatory School Switched from eTapestry and Spreadsheets

Atlas Preparatory School was founded in 2009 to better serve the students of Colorado Springs, CO’s east side. As managing director, Emily Dean works with the school’s executive director to develop fundraising strategies that fill their budget gaps as grant funding becomes more difficult to secure. Atlas Prep is focused on individual giving to raise funds for resources like summer programs and books that their 900 students need to thrive.

As the need for managing individual donors grew, Emily realized that Atlas Prep needed a better solution, and the fundraising software she previously used was overly complicated.

“We tried using eTapestry for a year. It was overloaded with too many features for what we are trying to do. Plus, I was trying to learn it on my own, which was difficult and it was expensive to get training. So, I ended up just using a spreadsheet.”

Emily evaluated many platforms to find a tool that worked for Atlas Prep. In her search, she found that most software options were too complex, too expensive, or lacked the support that small organizations need when growing their fundraising programs.

“We chose Network for Good because it suits our needs the best. Other platforms had too many functions and options that we’d never use. Plus, I like having our fundraising platform and database come from one source.”

Easy Set-Up and Guidance

Network for Good was recommended by one of Emily’s colleagues in the field. She found that the Network for Good team, from sales to support staff members, was attentive and patient as she worked through the selection process and needed answers to her questions.

“The set up and onboarding were pretty straightforward. It was nice to know I could call with any questions I had along the way. I especially appreciated the attention I received when we were uploading data to the database. I’m glad I went with Network for Good!”

Intuitive Software

Emily found that Network for Good’s user-friendly software made it incredibly easy to manage donors. Since switching from overly-complex software and spreadsheets, Emily says the biggest benefit is using the database to pull reports and create lists for invites and email blasts.

“I can actually tell what I am doing in the Network for Good software. It is very intuitive: the functions, options, and buttons all make sense. We were able to immediately take care of duplicate contacts because I was prompted by the software to do so.”

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Atlas Prep also had the challenge of coordinating fundraising efforts school-wide. Individual teachers were using different platforms to fundraise for specific projects, which weren’t coordinated with the larger fundraising strategy. Plus, they were unable to capture donor information, which made it impossible to see who their donors were, send thank you messages, or report how the gifts made an impact. With Network for Good’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform, Atlas Prep can centralize their teachers’ efforts and pull it all together, seamlessly.

”With Network for Good’s platform we can create campaigns for classroom fundraisers, collect donor information and monitor which classroom is fundraising and what they need funded. Plus, all the information will flow directly into our donor management system which gives us greater visibility on campaign success.”

Ready to make the switch to simpler, smarter software? Contact us today!