All about CharityTracker

Last Wednesday, Greg and I went to Guntersville to present CharityTracker to the agencies and churches that serve Marshall County. The meeting was held in the meeting hall of the public library. I was happy to see Jeannie Lyle, the Executive Director of the United Way of Marshall County, who was at the United Way state meeting in Clanton last week. I was also glad to finally meet Betty Terrell, the 2-1-1/First Call for Help Director from Marshall County, with whom I have had numerous conversations about CharityTracker. Also present was Kasey Kearce, Executive Director of the United Way of Cullman County, I met her when Greg and I did a presentation in Morgan County last November.

When I first learned of the Marshall County organizations, I was surprised by how well-connected they were. They had already been working together and sharing information through another tracking system for well over 10 years! But their old tracking system was no longer meeting their needs, so we did a database transfer for them in December in preparation for a CharityTracker launch this month.

There were about 20 people there, representing numerous agencies and churches throughout Marshall County. There were folks from The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, The Food Bank, United Methodist Church, Episcopalian Church, Baptist, Catholic Church, Church of Christ, and many others.

The presentation went well and there was quite a bit of interaction and questions being asked. There was a lot of head nodding and positive comments throughout the meeting. In fact, at the conclusion of the meeting, we were approached by quite a few agencies and churches wanting to know what the next step was to begin using CharityTracker right away.

We were also approached by Donna Manning, the Divisional Service Extension Field Representative for the State of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi Division of the Salvation Army. Donna said that she had heard about CharityTracker and wanted to come and see it for herself. I was both pleasantly surprised and humbled to hear that she wanted brochures that she could take with her when she visits Salvation Army offices. She went on to say that she would like to see every Salvation Army office in her region get on board with CharityTracker.

I’m still blown away by how we’ve been welcomed in communities all over our area. The best part is that we know that CharityTracker is helping those communities, and helping people who are in real need.

Next week, we go to the Regional United Way Great Rivers Conference in Indianapolis, IN where we will get the opportunity to share CharityTracker with close to 300 United Way Executive Directors. Then it’s on up to Warsaw, IN for implementation and training for Combined Community Services of Warsaw, IN.

Please keep us in your thoughts as we continue to spread the word.

- Larry