Success Story: transforming growth and grantmaking with salesforce
catholic foundation of eastern washington
The Catholic Foundation of Eastern Washington is a community foundation based in Spokane, dedicated to supporting Catholic parishes, schools, and ministries while helping donors align their charitable giving with their faith and philanthropic goals.
The Challenge
When Sister Mary Tracy, Executive Director, joined the Catholic Foundation of Eastern Washington, the organization used spreadsheets and a basic accounting system. “We didn’t have a real database. We didn’t have real constituent management,” Sister Mary recalled.
The Catholic Foundation was facing a pivotal moment: transitioning from being a small arm of the Diocese to becoming its own independent nonprofit. After surviving a major bankruptcy and preserving $35 million in assets, Sister Mary knew they needed more than spreadsheets, they needed a sustainable solution.
“I had used a different CRM in another role,” she said, “and I knew it was built for huge volumes, not small nonprofits like ours. Salesforce caught my attention because it was so customizable. We could start small and grow into it.”
When offered a discount to join the Diocese’s Blackbaud system, Sister Mary didn’t hesitate: “Big deal. It wasn’t right for us. We needed our own something—and I was really hoping Salesforce would be that.”
A partnership based on trust
Working with Foundation Partners, the Catholic Foundation began the journey of configuring Salesforce to meet their unique needs. “Judy Otto, the Project Lead at Foundation Partners, was essential,” Sister Mary said. “We didn’t know what we didn’t have. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without her.”
The initial setup focused on getting the basics right, importing accounts, contacts, and establishing fund records. "At first, it was all about building a home for our data," said Lila Allen, Executive Assistant, who helped oversee the system buildout.
Once the groundwork was laid, the team began adding functionality as their budget allowed, moving from basic gift entry to managing funding requests and even disbursements.
“For the first time, I could look up a fundholder’s full history without shuffling through five spreadsheets,” Lila said. “Addresses, gifts, fund connections—it was all there, linked, and clean.”
revolutionizing the grant process
One of the Catholic Foundation’s biggest achievements was launching a Salesforce-integrated grants portal. Previously, grant applications arrived as emailed Word documents, PDFs, or physical mail, which Lila had to scan, sort, and manually organize.
“That first year, I was printing, scanning, mailing binders around to committee members…it was chaos,” she recalled. "When we moved applications into the Salesforce portal, I could finally just open a record and see everything in one place. It was a dream."
The impact was immediate. “The year we introduced the portal, the number of applications we received doubled,” Lila shared. “It showed the community that we were serious about our grantmaking program.”
Yet the team kept accessibility in mind. “We still accept mailed applications to accommodate those who, for any number of reasons, are not able to use the online format," Sister Mary explained. “We want to provide a way for all of our applicants to communicate with us in the ideal way for them.
better data, smarter decisions
Salesforce also transformed how the Foundation approached reporting and finance. “Before, there was no easy way to answer basic questions like ‘How much did this fund distribute last year?’” Sister Mary said. “Now, I can get that information in four minutes.”
With a direct integration between Salesforce and QuickBooks, the days of double-entering gift data are gone. “Gifts entered into Salesforce sync into QuickBooks automatically, cutting hours of manual work and reducing errors.”
The Catholic Foundation’s board also benefits from these improvements. Board finance packets, once a maze of separate documents, are now consolidated and clean. “Instead of emailing 12 separate attachments, everything is in one scrollable PDF,” Sister Mary noted. “Our board members have everything they need at their fingertips.”
A future of continuous growth
Today, the Catholic Foundation manages over 260 active funds, up from around 120 at the start of their Salesforce journey. Their assets have grown from $23 million to over $53 million.
"The transformation is night and day," Sister Mary said. "We have real infrastructure now. The integrity of our processes has skyrocketed."
Looking ahead, the Catholic Foundation is eager to keep building. Sister Mary is particularly excited about using dashboards to visualize key fundraising goals. “I'd love to log in and see a thermometer or a gauge showing our progress,” she said. “That would get me on Salesforce every day.”
Reflecting on the journey, Sister Mary summed it up best: "Salesforce has not just improved our operations—it has elevated our entire organization."