Rotary Foundation Selects SmartSimple for Grants Management

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The Rotary Foundation selects SmartSimple for grants management under new Future Vision Plan

Background

Through its grants program, The Rotary Foundation – the charitable arm of Rotary International, a global, club-based humanitarian organization – enables Rotary clubs to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through projects that improve health, support education, and alleviate poverty. The Future Vision Plan is The Rotary Foundation’s new grant model to support Rotary clubs in implementing humanitarian and educational projects in the communities they serve, both locally and internationally. The ultimate goal is to use Foundation resources more strategically by supporting projects that will make a greater, more sustainable impact on communities worldwide, affect a significantly larger number of beneficiaries, and enhance Rotary’s public image.

To achieve Future Vision’s goals, Rotary recognized the need for an online grants management software platform to streamline grant-making operations and improve efficiency. The idea was to provide Rotarians positive user experience; the opportunity to submit, monitor, and report on grant applications online in their native languages; greater transparency on the Foundation’s grant activities; and a mechanism to work with their international Rotary partners. Foundation staff would use the system to track and manage all grants more efficiently and effectively to provide improved customer service to all Rotarians and beneficiaries.

Given the geographic and linguistic distribution of Rotarians – 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 clubs in over 200 countries and areas -- and the unique nature of the Foundation’s programs, selecting a system was not an easy process. After a comprehensive review of numerous software providers, Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation ultimately selected SmartSimple as their technology partner.

On Selecting SmartSimple

While the SmartSimple’s GMS 360° system offers all the functionality typically required by grant makers, what makes it unique is its high level of configurability and the number of deployment options available. Clients are empowered to create a system capable of supporting almost any business process. Rotary has elected to have its own operations and technical staff work collaboratively with SmartSimple to improve its business processes and configure the system to support the new grant model workflows. SmartSimple has committed resources to provide support and training for the Rotary team.

The project was initiated in November 2011 and the system is expected to go live in January 2013, with interim launches for specific processes in October 2012. The system will be deployed to Rotarians worldwide and available in nine languages.

“This intuitive and configurable package provides great opportunities for Rotary International and its Rotary Foundation to improve its digital customer service in the Foundation’s programs,” says Peter Markos, Rotary International’s Chief Information Officer. “Rotarians are tech-savvy and have been asking for a more streamlined, paperless environment to reduce the administrative burden and help them focus their efforts on the communities and people they serve. We believe SmartSimple’s solution, along with creative process improvements on the business side, provides significant opportunities now and in the future.”

”We are proud to have been selected by Rotary as their technology partner for such an important project,” said Todd Lapin, Director of Strategic Accounts for SmartSimple. “Rotarians around the globe will be empowered to do even more good in the world through the use of our system.”

About Rotary International

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary’s top priority is the eradication of the crippling disease polio. There are 1.2 million Rotary members in 34,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary clubs have been serving communities worldwide for more than a century. The first Rotary club was founded in Chicago in 1905. For more information, visit www.rotary.org

About SmartSimple

Founded in 2003, SmartSimple Software Inc. currently serves over 200 clients in a number of vertical markets. The company is a leading provider of social responsibility solutions, the most prominent of which is the GMS360° series. GMS360° is available in “Essentials” and Enterprise” versions, and like all SmartSimple products offers end users several hosting and configuration options. More information is available at http://www.smartsimple.com/

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