How Project Lifelong Used Knack to Modernize their Nonprofit

Hello. I’m Mike Sajid with Project Lifelong.

We are a nonprofit in Sacramento, California, and our mission is to connect kids to their school, connect kids to their community. And we do so by offering unique programs on school campuses. So we have two core programs that we offer on the middle school campus, and one is the Skate Nights program—and that’s where we literally drop a skate park in the middle of the school campus. And the other is our high school leadership program, and those high school leaders mentor and coach the middle schoolers.

Early Challenges with Manual Systems

So when I first started the organization, we had these applications—seven pages’ worth—and there’s just so much information. We had to extract all that and input it into, at first, Excel spreadsheets, and then create our rosters from that. And then we created a Microsoft Access application.

And every time Microsoft Access did an update, it would break our system. The workflow was just not working well for us. I really needed something that allowed not just me, but others within the organization and from other parts of the area to log in and get work done. Finding a solid cloud-based solution was really important.

Why Knack Was the Right Fit

And what really sold me on Knack was the ability to add unlimited users. We could scale up, and we can totally customize the application.

The last ten or so years that we’ve been using the Knack solution, we have actually created not just a place where parents can log in, create their account, and add children to their account, and then allow us to be able to pull rosters as needed. But we’ve been able to do so many other applications within the member data management.

I think I’ve got a total of like six, seven different applications just within the member data management system. So using Knack has been a game changer for us.

Automation and Communication Upgrades

One of the things we’re really excited about is we now have two-way texting capabilities—thanks to Knack’s ability to allow us to integrate with third-party vendors.

One of the things that’s very important to me is that I have the ability to do the things that I really am passionate about, and that’s program planning. So the one thing that I really don’t want to do is have my face buried in the computer, trying to extract information or input information.

From Binders to Full Automation

Once we dumped these things—the fifty or so binders that we had these things housed in, four-inch thick binders—and we dumped the Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft Access, we’ve been able to completely automate a lot of the things, including the signature forms for parents, the reports that staff have to write (info report and action report).

All those types of things have all been automated. All those types of things have been put into a cloud-based solution that is secure and allows different people with different roles to be able to log in and just get their work done—including myself.

Building and Using the System

So I’m both a builder of this system, and I’ve also been an end user. It’s been a really good process over the years.

And Knack has made that really easy for me to accomplish.

A Better Experience for Parents

Bottom line, our parents appreciate the fact that they can intuitively create their account, log in, add the information they need to add, sign the information they need to sign, and—most importantly—be able to register for programs easily and then make the payment for those programs.

We’re looking forward to seeing what Knack has to offer moving forward.