Helping Youth Through Technology
Technology may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay, a nonprofit organization dedicated to matching area children with adult volunteer mentors. But after Needham-based Coretelligent conducted an extensive survey of BBBSMB’s technological infrastructure, the nonprofit implemented significant improvements, making them better able to support both their daily operations as well as position themselves for projected growth. For their role in making instrumental changes to the area’s youth, Coretelligent has been named a 2015 Corporate Citizenship Partner of the Year.
Kevin Routhier, Coretelligent founder and CEO, was initially introduced to the organization by a colleague, and took an immediate liking to BBBSMB’s mission of ensuring that every child have the support of a caring adult. “It’s a great way to give back to the community,” he said.
His involvement with the organization quickly went from donor, to assisting with events, to his current seat on the board of directors. Also a member of their technology task force, his focus is on making sure the organization is using the technology available to power their business.
“About 18 months ago, a group of Coretelligent’s senior engineers spent a few days evaluating Big Brother/Big Sister’s infrastructure,” said Routhier. This included analysis of their architecture, security, handling and managing of data, and a continuity plan in case of data interruption. The resulting executive summary advised the nonprofit on best practices and areas on which to budget for improvement.
A second, similar initiative took place several months later, this time focusing on ways to help the organization modernize their volunteer match platform. A priority was to create an efficient and sustainable way to keep track of the vast amount of data that BBBS accumulates.
“We have a staff of about 70, and we support 2,100 big brother/big sister matches,” explained Wendy Foster, BBBSMB president and CEO. “Within each match is at least three people: a child, a volunteer and a parent or guardian, amounting to 6,300 people. On top of that, we get countless inquiries.”
But the nature of their business — supporting youth and preparing them for success — means there’s really no limit to the assistance they can offer.
“We’re intent on expanding our service beyond the 2,100 matches,” added Foster.
Coretelligent was able to recommend upgrades to help improve the yields for volunteer and youth recruitment, support existing matches, and anticipate growth.
Other IT changes helped to assist workers in operating remotely. “This is also a great help; being able to take advantage of talent wherever they may live,” Foster said.
Foster says that Routhier has been instrumental. “It’s like having an in-house chief technology officer, without the price tag. Kevin’s deep knowledge of our IT infrastructure has enabled us to transform the way we work, and envision and plan for needed enhancements.”
To encourage clients to donate to BBBSMB, Routhier created the Coretelligent Match Program, offering in-kind matching of monetary donations made to the nonprofit.
“We’ll match any client’s monetary donation with free IT services. So if a client donates $10,000, we’ll provide that amount in free services. It’s a win-win.”
Read the article on the Boston Business Journal
