Foundations manual
Welcome to the Nonprofit Builder platform!
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the Nonprofit Builder platform!
Below, you will find guidance on the main services we offer and how to utilize this CRM to track all activities of your grantee partners on our platform.
Should you have any questions while navigating the system, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at email: support@nonprofitbuilder.org.
1. Services we offer:
All participating Foundations will receive access to the Nonprofit Builder platform. You can control which consultants are seen by their grantees by using the system’s simple permissions features.
We offer these organizational development modalities to your grantees.
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- Guided consultant projects: a consultant is paired with a grantee for support on topics like strategy, communications, fundraising, organizational structure and roles, and so on. Typical projects are between 3 months and 6 months, with between 20 hours and 6 days of consultant time. These projects allow for the most in-depth organizational transformation.
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- Training courses: these are highly interactive training sessions guided by our best consultants. Groups are intentionally small, between 6 and 12 participants to promote participation and peer learning. Sessions are spread every two weeks to facilitate absorption, and participants work on a tangible asset where they apply the knowledge to their own organization.View here our Training Program
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- Leadership and capacity coaches: Leadership coaches are certified executive coaches who will focus on supporting the leaders to reach their full potential: the focus is on the person. Capacity coaches are seasoned generalist consultants who can advise the chief executive in a number of areas (strategy, hiring, planning, prioritizing, working with the board) and call on other more specialist consultants when needed.
We are continually improving and refining these modalities based on feedback and ideas from our constituents.
2. The process between your grantees and consultants:
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- The grantee can browse the consultants and filter by expertise, country, and language
- The grantee can choose one or more consultants and book matching calls via the "Book a meeting" button on the consultant's profiles, and decide who they want to work with.
- Once the grantee agrees to work with the consultant, the consultant will need to prepare a proposal. Our NPB team will review it to ensure this proposal aligns with what we already agreed to and discussed with the grantee before sending it to you for approval via the CRM (you'll get a notification).
- Once the project is started, our NPB team will constantly check in and follow up with any query during the ongoing projects.
- When the work is completed, the grantee will need to write a simple feedback on the project that has been done, whether they are satisfied with the consultant, and how we can further improve.
- The consultant will prepare and submit a report via the CRM.
- The grantee can browse the consultants and filter by expertise, country, and language
3. About our consultants:
We have over 600 consultants, and their amazing diversity is what nonprofit organizations appreciate the most about their services. They cover every topic and come from all over the world, so grantees can find someone who really fits their needs and understands their context.
As a foundation, you can work with your own consultants that fits your requirements. You can introduce them to us and we'll get them onboard.
4. Different roles at the foundation level:
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- Super admin: Receives all the notifications, approves/declines the proposals and/or assigns the responsible person, invites staff and consultants, tracks the financials and the activities.
- Program Officer: Receives notifications to those activities happening from grantees or consultants directly managed by him/her; Tracks the list of assigned grantees and their activities, and invites the consultants.
- Super admin: Receives all the notifications, approves/declines the proposals and/or assigns the responsible person, invites staff and consultants, tracks the financials and the activities.
5. What you can also do:
Access other upcoming initiatives that we are developing to facilitate the organizational development of grantees, such as:
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- To review, accept or decline the proposals with a comment. The Foundation should strive to approve all activities rapidly, ideally within two working days, to keep a good momentum and encourage the grantees.
- It is up to the Super admin's responsibility to assign a person or leave it for him/herself.
- To review, accept or decline the proposals with a comment. The Foundation should strive to approve all activities rapidly, ideally within two working days, to keep a good momentum and encourage the grantees.
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- Explore the consultants in the Nonprofit Builder database and "like" all those who are relevant to the needs of your grantees. This will make them visible to your colleagues and grantees (you have full control over which consultants are accessible to your ecosystem). However, this “like” feature may also restrict your partners from the benefit of considering other consultants' expertise on the Platform. This will also require regular visits to the list of consultants to make sure everyone is “liked” as we constantly expand the pool of experts.
- Invite the team members on the platform: This depends on what role you have so you have different rights to invite.
- To track the activities, reports and feedback of the consultants and grantees.
- The CRM provides up-to-date financial reporting so you will be able to track the contracts unless specific reporting is needed to account for special projects that cannot be covered by the CRM.
- To track the statistics and download reports
- Post a project
- Reach out to us to discuss your needs and the capacity challenges of your grantees. We are happy to help you identify the right consultants for your pool or source new ones through our network. We can also design specific learning events to support your needs.
- Discover our upcoming learning events, panel discussions, and webinars, and share them with your colleagues who will be the most interested.
- Invite your existing consultants to join so that they may continue to serve your grantees [Button "Invite new consultant"]. We will help you onboard them and introduce them to the community.
- Invite your whole team to create accounts for themselves so they can also access these resources [Button "Invite staff"]. This is free and unlimited. Staff user accounts are included in your membership.
- Invite your grantees to join, as part of your membership [Button "Invite grantees"]. Unlimited grantee or partner accounts are included, so make the best of it. Again, our inviting form makes this easy.
- Ask us to help you onboard your team with webinar-presentations at your convenience.
- Explore the consultants in the Nonprofit Builder database and "like" all those who are relevant to the needs of your grantees. This will make them visible to your colleagues and grantees (you have full control over which consultants are accessible to your ecosystem). However, this “like” feature may also restrict your partners from the benefit of considering other consultants' expertise on the Platform. This will also require regular visits to the list of consultants to make sure everyone is “liked” as we constantly expand the pool of experts.
6. Maintenance, customisation and new features:
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- Nonprofit Builder does its best to maintain a well running service. Bugs do happen, however. Ideally, they are fixed the same day they are found or reported, but it can take a couple of days depending how much time it takes to investigate.
- Foundations can request both customisations and new features, for example custom taxonomies, new notifications, new kinds of content, etc. Such ideas are welcomed as they enhance the platform.
- Nonprofit Builder does its best to maintain a well running service. Bugs do happen, however. Ideally, they are fixed the same day they are found or reported, but it can take a couple of days depending how much time it takes to investigate.
7. How to use this CRM:
1.7 Dashboard:
Your starting point. What you can do here:
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- See what urgent tasks you need to so (review and approve proposals) >> menu "Urgent Actions"
- See the list of all your grantees’ ongoing projects >> menu "Activities"
- Go to the general consultant browser "Consultants" or see the grantee's consultant browser "Find a consultant".
- Invite your colleagues/consultant or grantee to create accounts (see screenshots below "5.7 Invite staff, Grantee & consultant").
- See what urgent tasks you need to so (review and approve proposals) >> menu "Urgent Actions"
2.7 Urgent actions:
You will receive notifications such as:
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- A proposal requiring your review and approval by yourself or Program Officers.
- Acceptance of invitation and profile creation by an invited consultant, grantees or staff members on our CRM.
- Completion of a project by a consultant, along with their report submission.
- A proposal requiring your review and approval by yourself or Program Officers.
Please click on the notification or activity to view the task:
3.7 Grantees list:
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- When you click on the Grantee list, it will take you to a list of grantees under your management, along with details such as their country of operation, programs, number of activities they have been engaged in, or the budget they have utilized on the platform.
- When you click on the Grantee list, it will take you to a list of grantees under your management, along with details such as their country of operation, programs, number of activities they have been engaged in, or the budget they have utilized on the platform.
4.7 Staff and Programs:
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- You will be able to manage your programs and the program officers already assigned to each program. Here is how it looks:
- You will be able to manage your programs and the program officers already assigned to each program. Here is how it looks:
5.7 Invite staff, Grantee & consultant:
Admin and Programme officers (PO) can invite partners to create accounts at any time from the menu item in the top menu (it may be quicker and easier than directing them to the partner portal)
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- You can invite your staff members, grantees or consultants to your organization space. However, only the Super Admin role can do this.
- This takes you to a second page where you can click on the green "Invite new grantee", "Invite new staff member" or "Invite new consultant" icons and then you just need to add all required information and send:
- You can invite your staff members, grantees or consultants to your organization space. However, only the Super Admin role can do this.
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- They will then instantly receive a personal invitation email to create an account, access the NPB platform.
6.7 Assign grantee to Project Officer (PO):
To assign additional grantees to your program officer, please follow these steps:
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- Click on "Staff and Program"
- Scroll down to the "Managing Grantee" section
- Locate the program officer under whom you wish to add more grantees
- This action will direct you to the next window to search and input the grantee's name
- Ensure to SAVE your changes before closing the window
- Click on "Staff and Program"
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- In case the grantee is not in our platform yet, click in the green bubble "Invite new grantee" to invite them.
- In case the grantee is not in our platform yet, click in the green bubble "Invite new grantee" to invite them.
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- You will receive an email (only super-admin user ) whenever the consultant/grantee accepts your invitation to open their profile on our platform.
7.7 Activities and details:
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- From the moment SOW is approved by you, your grantees and consultant start working together, activity will be created, and you can keep track of all status updates, introducing the next steps here:
- From the moment SOW is approved by you, your grantees and consultant start working together, activity will be created, and you can keep track of all status updates, introducing the next steps here:
8.7 Proposal (Consultant’s SOW) to take actions, timeline:
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- After the initial meeting, the consultant will prepare a proposal based on the discussions between them and the grantee in the area they need to support. We will review that proposal to see if the requested working hours are consistent with the deliverables and if the fees are consistent with the consultant's established rate. We will then ask the consultant to detail the work plan if it's not clear and to lower the cost if it's not justified before it is sent to you for approval.
- The proposal looks like this:
- After the initial meeting, the consultant will prepare a proposal based on the discussions between them and the grantee in the area they need to support. We will review that proposal to see if the requested working hours are consistent with the deliverables and if the fees are consistent with the consultant's established rate. We will then ask the consultant to detail the work plan if it's not clear and to lower the cost if it's not justified before it is sent to you for approval.
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- You can find the proposal of each activity created from here:
- You can find the proposal of each activity created from here:
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- You will also receive an email like this to see the proposal:
- You will also receive an email like this to see the proposal:
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- You can either accept the project or return it back to the consultant for changes, or decline it. If you return it, you can comment on the sections that need to be modified. If you return it, the consultant will make the changes and return it to you.
- Once it's approved by you, both the grantee and the consultant will be notified by email, and they can start work.
- You can either accept the project or return it back to the consultant for changes, or decline it. If you return it, you can comment on the sections that need to be modified. If you return it, the consultant will make the changes and return it to you.
9.7 Financial report:
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- Financial dashboard provides an overview of your expenditure to date. Scroll down to view detailed information for each activity:
- Financial dashboard provides an overview of your expenditure to date. Scroll down to view detailed information for each activity:
10.7 Consultant browser (grantee facing):
From here, you will be able to see the consultant browser for grantee:
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- Grantees can browse by expertise, by country, by language
- Then they can click to visit a consultant’s profile page
- They can read consultant's profile, visit their website or LinkedIn
- Grantee can see their working languages, country of residence
- You can see the list of what other projects they have done for other grantees
- Grantees can browse by expertise, by country, by language
And here is how you can see all consultants available in our platform under: "Consultants" top menu or “General Consultant Browser” action menu on the "Welcome page":
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- There is also a Contact button so you can send them email individually.
- There is also a Contact button so you can send them email individually.
11.7 Profile editing:
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- You can update individual or organizational information such as email, name, avatar, and other key information if necessary.
- You can update individual or organizational information such as email, name, avatar, and other key information if necessary.
12.7 Training program:
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- We offer two training programs each year: one in the spring and one in the fall. If you would like to discuss a topic that you believe would be useful to grantees and suitable for a training course, please contact us. You can find more information about this opportunity here:
- We offer two training programs each year: one in the spring and one in the fall. If you would like to discuss a topic that you believe would be useful to grantees and suitable for a training course, please contact us. You can find more information about this opportunity here:
13.7 Adding Resources:
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- If you need to add any resource, you can find it under your profile picture, click on it and select "add". Then, fill in all the information in the required fields and save. Here is how it looks:
- If you need to add any resource, you can find it under your profile picture, click on it and select "add". Then, fill in all the information in the required fields and save. Here is how it looks:
14.7 Statistic analysis:
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- We also compile statistics including the number of grantees and their engagement in activities within programs, charts displaying the grantees with the highest activity levels on the platform, and the most popular topics utilized by grantees. Through this, you will gain a brief understanding of the frequency of operation and the top priorities of grantees.
- You can select from suggested time frames such as 7 days, 30 days, or last year, or choose a custom period that suits your needs as shown here:
- We also compile statistics including the number of grantees and their engagement in activities within programs, charts displaying the grantees with the highest activity levels on the platform, and the most popular topics utilized by grantees. Through this, you will gain a brief understanding of the frequency of operation and the top priorities of grantees.
15.7 Invitation tracking:
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- From the Invitation section on the left sidebar, you will be able to track all invitations that have been sent out by your organization's user.
- You also can use the search or filter option as shown here:
- From the Invitation section on the left sidebar, you will be able to track all invitations that have been sent out by your organization's user.
16.7 Feedback/Report:
After the project is finished, the consultant/ grantee will submit their report and close the project. At that moment, you will receive a notification to see feedback about the project.
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- This is how the emails look:
- This is how the emails look:
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- This feedback is very important, otherwise, how can we improve? The feedback form looks like this:
- This feedback is very important, otherwise, how can we improve? The feedback form looks like this:
8. Contact us:
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- Last but not least, when you return to the dashboard, you can also see some useful information here such as a summary of the process of working with us, the total amount of consulting work,etc.
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- Yes there is a CRM, but behind the CRM are Nataliia, Yuliia, Anna, Natasha, Lyn. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions or make suggestions! Do you find the resources you need? Let us know how to improve, reach out to support@nonprofitbuilder.org or use our online chat and we'll help you asap.