In volunteer-run organisations, the time of everyone who contributes is a valuable resource. However, time spent on administrative and financial tasks is often a necessary overhead. Many organisations can increase their reach and focus more on their mission by automating these tasks through digital transformation. This strategy aims to develop digital products, services, resources and businesses based on the organisation's core competencies to generate future value.
Happy Boxes, an organisation focused on empowering remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women by alleviating the barriers to accessing basic needs, started their digital transformation last year after identifying they were spending too much time on admin chores instead of focusing on their mission.
"Women in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders remote communities in Australia face daily hurdles that are not real in big cities, for example, the lack of access to basic toiletries. Accessibility to simple items like deodorant, shampoo and soap proves challenging when the closest store can be up to 1000 km away. Flood waters can also cut off other communities for months or be accessible only via boat or plane. And if some communities are lucky enough to have a small store, the prices of essential items are exorbitant", explains Emma Sullings, founder and chair of Happy Boxes volunteers.
Through a pro-bono partnership with Visagio, a business transformation consultancy, they enhanced the project's reach and impact in remote Aboriginal communities throughout Australia.
"Through data centralisation, we helped them to reach more donors using data-driven insights", explains Cath Astell, consultant responsible for the project alongside Alexandra Moroianu. "The collection and organisation of Happy Boxes data provided key insights for informed decision-making in areas such as marketing, community impact, and operational decisions.".
Their Digital Transformation journey also impacted the volunteers. Using Process Optimisation, they reduced manual efforts, improved organisational efficiency, and minimised errors in repetitive processes, freeing volunteers time to focus on what matters the most.
Finally, the digital transformation efforts provided a better donor experience. "We simplified and personalised the processes, revamped our website for a better donor experience, and added donor certificates during form submissions", explains Emma.
Since the Digital Transformation projects supported by Visagio started, the number of regular donations of health and beauty packages increased by 55% from 2022 to 2023, resulting in $49,500 of products donated from individual donors across the country (it was $22,000 in 2022). The number of communities supported went from 9 in 2022 to 55 in 2023, and the number of donors increased from 147 to 1174.
