The challenge 

The Children's Foundation needed to update their Adopt-a-Family software since they were upgrading their IT infrastructure. They wanted participating social workers and donors to have an easier way of registering with the program. 

The new system had to be simple enough that volunteers could match families with donors, easily retrieve information from the system, send emails, track the status of thousands of records, and reconfigure elements each season without technical support and without affecting the accessibility of the site on various screens.

Confidential information had to be stored securely and user data safeguarded according to hte Foundation's privacy policy.

The solution

The Adopt-a-Family application was created in Phoenix / Elixir, a robust, secure programming platform that allows all elements to be accessed through a web browser. We worked closely with the Foundation to develop and test the system, to ensure it aligns with and makes improvements to long-established program processes.
 
The new system now boasts the following features:
  • Social workers and Donors can register online and provide key, confidential information through a streamlined, user friendly system that alerts the Foundation to review and approve their records.
  • The process of checking for and resolving duplicate records has been automated.
  • Staff and volunteers can search and sort records using various criteria to find important information, or export records for reporting purposes. They can also perform bulk status changes and printing functions.
  • Volunteers can easily match families with donors, and send select information about their matches to the donors.

These system features have made it so that the Adop-a-Family program is much less labour intensive, freeing the Foundationto focus on making life a little better for local families.