Concern Worldwide

Concern Worldwide
– ending poverty through sustainable self-help programmes

The disastrous famine in Biafra in 1968, which resulted from the Nigerian civil war, was the catalyst which gave rise to Concern. Amongst the many people In Ireland who expressed their anxiety about the famine stricken victims was one group of individuals who called themselves "Africa Concern".

Concern Worldwide’s mission statement is: To enable absolutely poor people to achieve major improvements in their lifestyles, which are sustainable without ongoing support from Concern. To this end they will work with the poor themselves and with local and international partners who share their vision to create just and peaceful societies where the poor can exercise their fundamental rights.

The organisation’s Head Quarters are in Dublin, with offices in Belfast, London, Glasgow and an affiliated organisation in New York.

the original system

Previously, Concern used a series of bespoke databases. The Dublin office used a bespoke database based on Informix SQL and the offices in England used bespoke databases based on Omnis.

In 1999 Concern decided that it needed to implement a single, all-inclusive database in place of their existing systems, which were becoming incapable of supporting the business needs of the Marketing function. The new system would also open up the possibility of undertaking detailed analysis of the information held by Concern.

the new system

Concern’s implementation of thankQ incorporated a number of specific modifications. The System itself is based on thankQ’s Contact, Events, Finance and Mail Manager modules, however aspects of these modules have been customised to meet with Concern’s requirements.

One of the most significant changes to the system is the inclusion of a module to manage Direct Dialogue fundraising. This module includes the management of direct dialogue staff timesheets and holidays.

There have also been several other smaller additions specific to Concern’s system such as the ability to create AUDDIS Files.

the benefits

Concern enjoys many benefits from implementing thankQ, including:

• Ease of training Customer Services staff in the core areas of the application
• Everyone working in Fundraising is using a single system to record information about their contacts and fundraising activities

• thankQ has allowed Concern to roll out an integrated UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI) fundraising strategy

• Information is shared across all the Fundraising departments and organisations as required
• Improved efficiency in many areas such as loading of banking files
• Ensures that Concern maximises the potential of UK Gift Aid and ROI tax claims
• Allows for centralised administration and support of the system
• Easy and efficient data entry and intuitive, user friendly forms
• Ability to link with Microsoft Access to design customised reports
• Ensures that they have complete and up to date information on contacts, regular gifts, communication histories and financial gift history
• Full audit trail on all Gifts

• Ensures best practice for Customer Services through automated and personalised receipting, communication preferences, etc.
• Records data on Direct Dialogue teams ensuring that they can maximise the potential for regular gift recruitment.

Concern Worldwide (PDF - 218KB)