Why Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County Chose Giveffect
Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County grew from a budget of just under $1 million to nearly $5 million in three years. As the affiliate grew, its technology needs changed too.
Growth Changed What the Team Needed
Charity Proud had served the affiliate well when it was smaller, but as the organization grew, Development Director Daffney Sandoval and her team started to need more from their technology. The focus became about what could support where the affiliate was headed next.
One need was non-negotiable: connecting volunteers and donors in the same system.
“I really wanted a system that connected volunteers and donors.”
During the evaluation, Daffney found platforms that were strong in fundraising and others that were strong in volunteer management. Giveffect stood out because it brought the two together.
“Giveffect was the first platform I felt actually met the needs of both donors and volunteers.”
For a Habitat affiliate, the same person may volunteer on a build, attend an event, make a donation, or engage in several different ways over time. Being able to see those connections gave Daffney’s team a more complete picture of the people behind their mission.
Getting to Know Volunteers Better
Before Giveffect, the team knew who wanted to volunteer, but they knew very little about how those people wanted to contribute.
During the transition, the affiliate asked existing volunteers to complete a new application within Giveffect that captured their skills and interests. It gave the team information they had never had before.
Roughly 400 volunteers identified painting as an area of interest, while others shared experience with flooring, tile, administrative work, and other skills.
Now, when a specific need comes up, staff already know who to contact. If bathrooms need to be tiled in a Habitat home, for example, they can reach out directly to volunteers with flooring and tile experience instead of sending another email to everyone on the list.
The impact: volunteers receive opportunities that are more relevant to them, while staff spend less time trying to find the right people when help is needed.
Making Reporting More Useful
As the affiliate grew, getting the right information out of its nonprofit CRM became increasingly important.
Sweat equity was a good example. Daffney’s team needed an accurate, easy way to see where partner families stood on their hours, but reports from their previous system could be difficult to work with and sometimes produced duplicate numbers.
With Giveffect’s Sweat Equity management feature, Daffney can more easily pull a report and see where partner families stand.
The transition also gave the team an opportunity to rethink reporting more broadly.
Instead of automatically recreating reports simply because they had always been available in their previous platform, Daffney started talking with the board about what information was actually useful to them and what would help them better understand the organization.
It shifted the conversation from what can we report? to what do we actually need to know?
The impact: easier access to important information, more confidence in Habitat-specific reporting like sweat equity, and better visibility into the numbers leadership actually cares about.
Making Sure Follow-Up Happens
As the affiliate grew, so did the number of relationships the team was managing and the small but important moments that help keep donors and volunteers engaged.
With Giveffect, the team is building more of that follow-up directly into their automated workflows. A donation can trigger a stewardship task, while a community service application can prompt the volunteer coordinator to follow up.
They’re also building a New Donor email series and automated volunteer birthday and anniversary emails, creating consistent touchpoints without adding another task for staff to remember.
And when something does require a personal next step, Giveffect can create a task and send an admin email notification so the right person knows it needs attention.
Instead of relying on memory to keep relationships moving forward, the team can build those important moments into the way they work.
The impact: more consistent donor stewardship and volunteer engagement, fewer missed follow-ups, and more capacity to nurture relationships as the affiliate grows.
A Longtime Donor Becomes More Engaged
One of the affiliate’s early wins shows what can happen when a team has more opportunities to engage the people already connected to its mission.
Before Giveffect, the team managed email marketing in a separate system. That meant maintaining a separate email list and another place for supporter information and communications to live.
Bringing email marketing into Giveffect made that process simpler. Supporter data and communications now live together, saving staff time and reducing the chance that someone misses an important message.
One longtime donor shows the potential impact.
For years, he had given approximately the same amount annually, with little interaction beyond his gift. Then he received an email about the affiliate’s Blitz Build.
He called to learn more and ended up volunteering throughout the build. Afterward, he doubled his previous donation and allowed the affiliate to use his gift as a match to encourage additional giving.
Through that deeper engagement, the team learned something they hadn’t known before: he had volunteered with Habitat around the country and around the world.
He wasn’t simply an annual donor. He had a longstanding connection to Habitat that the team hadn’t fully understood.
The impact: less time maintaining separate email lists and fewer opportunities for supporters to miss communications, while giving the team more opportunities to deepen relationships with the people already connected to Habitat. For this donor, that meant moving from an annual gift to volunteering, doubling his donation, and helping inspire additional giving.
Daffney’s Advice to Other Habitat Affiliates
For Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County, the decision to move to Giveffect came down to growth. The technology that worked at one stage of the affiliate’s journey was no longer enough for where the organization was headed.
After researching multiple platforms alongside other Habitat affiliates, Daffney points to one Giveffect difference in particular:
“No one can compete with Giveffect’s capability when it comes to connecting volunteers and donors.”
And for another growing Habitat affiliate considering what comes next, her recommendation is clear:
“If you’re a growing or bigger affiliate looking for what’s next, Giveffect is what I would recommend.”
For Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County, moving to Giveffect wasn’t simply about changing CRMs. It was about choosing technology that could grow with the affiliate and give its team a better way to understand, engage, and support the people behind its mission.
Is Your Organization Outgrowing Its Current Technology?
As your organization grows, the systems that once worked well may start making it harder to see the full picture of your supporters, manage relationships, and keep your team moving forward.
In a complimentary 30-minute Technology Strategy Call, we’ll look at how your current systems are supporting your organization today, where they may be creating gaps, and what a more connected approach could look like as you grow.