Success Story: Modernizing Philanthropy
JEWISH Community Foundation of San Diego (JCF)
The Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego (JCF) has long been dedicated to building flourishing communities and advancing sustainable, just, and vibrant societies. However, as the organization approached $900M in assets under management and 1,000 donor advised funds, it became clear that its existing system was struggling to support its evolving needs. Reporting inefficiencies, limitations in donor management, and a lack of system updates were impeding JCF’s ability to serve fundholders as effectively as it wished.
To address these challenges, JCF partnered with Foundation Partners to implement Salesforce with Fund 360, modernizing its operations and enhancing data transparency. The result was a transformation that revolutionized how JCF manages finances, donor relationships, and grantmaking.
The Challenge
For over two decades, JCF relied on the Foundation Information Management System (FIMS). However, it became increasingly clear that FIMS was not evolving with the times.
“ We didn’t see a plan for FIMS to modernize or update its system for the current environment. We knew other systems could better serve us, improve our reporting, and enhance our CRM capabilities. ”
- Eli Landau, Chief financial officer at JCF
Additionally, the system had been bought and sold multiple times, causing a decline in support and expertise. Other community foundations were transitioning away from FIMS, and JCF recognized the need to follow suit to avoid being left behind.
The solution
After evaluating several options, JCF selected Salesforce with Fund 360 due to its robust capabilities and open API, which allowed seamless data sharing between its internal CRM and donor portal, JCFConnect (powered by Gifting Network).
Foundation Partners played a crucial role in facilitating the transition, addressing JCF’s concerns about data migration and change management. “The idea of adding a conversion to our existing workload was daunting,” Eli admitted. “You hear horror stories of data conversions, and we had team members who were comfortable with FIMS and concerned about change.”
To ease the transition, Foundation Partners collaborated with another expert familiar with FIMS to streamline the migration process. Their expertise and guidance ensured a smooth and efficient conversion.
Key Features Driving Efficiency
The move to Salesforce with Fund 360 introduced significant efficiencies across JCF’s operations:
Reporting Capabilities: “The first thing that comes to mind is reporting,” Eli shared. “We now have more opportunities to visualize and transform our data. Even at this stage, we can create reports that weren’t possible before.”
Time Savings in Finance Operations: Monthly Innovest uploads, which previously took 1.5–2 hours in FIMS, now take less than 45 seconds in Salesforce.
Automated Donor Insights: “With Salesforce, we’ve become more self-sufficient,” said Ollie Benn, Vice President of Philanthropy and Social Impact at JCF. “We can now run reports ourselves rather than submitting manual requests to finance.”
Customization & Flexibility: “If we see something slowing us down, we know that working with Foundation Partners, we can come up with a solution,” Ollie added. For example, Foundation Partners implemented a checkbox and custom list view to track donor acknowledgments, making it easier to manage high-volume donations at year-end.
“ The knowledge that Foundation Partners brings is invaluable. They don’t feel like a purely transactional partner, they feel like part of our team. ”
The Cultural Shift: Empowering Teams
Beyond technology, the transition to Salesforce sparked a cultural shift within JCF. By eliminating data silos, different teams gained greater autonomy and insight into donor relationships.
“There are details that staff want to track regarding donor outreach and relationship management,” said Ollie. “We now get near real-time, customized data tailored to each staff member’s needs.”
“For example, one of our employees, who runs our giv4 homelessness in san diego curated giving initiative, can now generate instant reports to track contributions to the fund. Previously, she had to manually compile data from multiple sources. Now, it’s all in one place, streamlining operations significantly.”
The Results
The transformation has delivered measurable improvements:
Efficiency Gains: Financial processes that once took hours now take seconds.
Improved Donor Engagement: Staff can now rapidly personalize donor communications based on specific interests and giving histories.
Greater Transparency: Teams have access to real-time data, enabling smarter decision-making and stronger donor relationships.
A Trusted Partnership
JCF attributes much of its success to the expertise and support of Foundation Partners. “The knowledge that Foundation Partners brings is invaluable,” Eli said. “They don’t feel like a purely transactional partner, they feel like part of our team.”
JCF has even discussed Foundation Partners with other foundations considering a system transition. “I recently spoke with Vancouver about our experience and answered their questions about Fund 360,” Eli shared.
Looking Ahead
As JCF continues to explore Salesforce’s capabilities, the foundation is poised to unlock even greater efficiencies. From expanding automation to enhancing donor communications with Marketing Cloud, the future looks bright.