ServeMinnesota: Administering state grants with Knack

My name is Mayan Gupta, and I’m the Information Systems Analyst with Serve Minnesota. We’re the state commission for AmeriCorps, and we manage a number of grants at the state level.

I help create and manage Knack apps for hundreds of AmeriCorps members across the state, helping them track progress in programs like Recovery Corps (focused on substance use recovery), Heading Home Corps, environmental initiatives, and more.

Building Secure, Flexible Tools With Knack

Recovery Corps is a program built with input from people actively doing the work. Knack really helped us build a secure application that members could use to enter data safely. It also allowed us to pivot quickly as the program evolved and needed new features.

Before Knack, we were relying on tools like Google Sheets or expensive third-party platforms that didn’t fit our needs. That led to a lot of extra manual work—validating data, downloading spreadsheets, and merging files—causing headaches for our teams.

Now, with Knack, we can look at live, updated data and handle everything we need in one place.

Easy to Build and Scales With Our Team

After spending time exploring Knack, it felt pretty straightforward to build our database objects and relationships on the back end—and then turn around and build a useful, secure front end for staff to enter and view data.

The pricing model was a big win too—based on records, not users, unlike many other tools. And the fact that Knack handles security and uptime really helps our small internal team stay focused on what matters.

Since many of our programs evolve year to year, Knack’s flexibility to quickly make updates is essential.

Real-Time Data for Field Teams Across the State

All of our programs have AmeriCorps members serving at community sites statewide. That work can range from conducting tree inventories, performing home energy retrofits, or helping participants find stable housing and navigate recovery.

Knack helps us give members, supervisors, and staff real-time access to the data they need to track progress at every level.

The results have been eye-opening. I honestly don’t know how we would have accomplished this level of visibility and coordination without Knack. It has unquestionably saved hundreds of staff hours by eliminating the need for manual data cleaning and follow-ups.

Measuring Outcomes With Confidence

Knack has enabled our leadership and stakeholders to ask deeper, more strategic questions about our impact.

For example, with Recovery Corps, we track something called Recovery Capital—a measure of a participant’s resources for recovery. Each time someone meets with a recovery navigator, they fill out a form. Using Knack, we can now track:

• The percentage of participants whose recovery capital has improved
• The frequency of navigator visits (e.g., how many participants have had more than two sessions)

These metrics have improved year over year since we began using Knack.

I think that’s a real testament—not only to Knack’s capability as a tool—but also to how it complements the AmeriCorps model we follow. We’ve been able to improve our programs through data, and Knack has played a big part in making that possible.