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Vfonds annually supports more than 200 projects that contribute to our strong democratic constitutional state and a peaceful society. With their support, they want to inspire different generations and encourage them to actively contribute to this.

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vfonds: individual administrations have disappeared

Every year, at the beginning of May, countless events are organized in the Netherlands to celebrate and to commemorate. The National Fund for Peace, Freedom and Veteran Care (vfonds) has an important share in the financial support of these events. The choice for Salesforce has meant a lot to them.

The challenge

After his appointment, director Michiel van Hattem saw a number of challenges in the management of vfonds. The approval process for grant applications was mainly in the minds of some employees, which entailed a continuity risk. In addition, the recording of data was fragmented across various systems. Although an add-on to Outlook was good at archiving, it did not provide insight into the status of the more than 300 annual grant applications. The application process was inefficient and the allocations were made too much on the basis of financial figures and too little on content. All this was the starting signal to look for a new information system.

"Working towards the future, Salesforce is the best choice because of its flexibility and scalability."
Michiel van Hattem, CEO vfonds

The solution

After a tour of lotteries and charities, a shortlist was drawn up of possible solutions: customization, expanding the old system or Salesforce. Van Hattem: "With customization, you run the risk that you will always run into new limitations. Salesforce is the best choice in the future because of its flexibility and scalability. The 10 free licenses were decisive for choosing Salesforce."

The result

With Salesforce, the application process is considerably more efficient than before, but handling standard solutions proves to be more difficult than expected in practice. The main process covers 80-90% of all incoming requests. The individual administrations have disappeared or are being phased out. Requests for approval can be processed in a mobile app and that is quick and easy. Management can see at a glance what stage the applications are in. An added value is that new sources of management information have been explored. For example, how many people have been reached thanks to the granting of a grant. The evaluation of projects is now much more content than before.

Van Hattem: "During the implementation, we learned a number of things. For example, the Board of Management has a greater need for information than was previously estimated. Automation of the application process also turned out to be more complex, meaning that the project took longer than planned. We have made considerable progress in the correspondence with the applicant, but it could be even better: in practice, the community is not yet user-friendly, which is also a matter of getting used to. It is not easy to make the necessary and desired improvements in the management phase, but the consultation with g-company is positive and I expect that we will really see from 2020 what this choice has meant for the organization. is that we have positioned ourselves as THE expert in our field. "