Blue Shield of California Foundation Focuses On Mission With New Grants Management Software

As Blue Shield of California Foundation began to grow and learn from and interact more with their grantmaking data, Grants and Contracts Manager Gwyneth Tripp recognized the need to move to a grants management solution that would grow with them and, more importantly, evolve with the industry.

“We knew it wouldn’t be enough to look at grants management in isolation. We needed to understand the full ecosystem of our work and all the interactions within it, between grants management and finance, knowledge management, and learning and evaluation,” Tripp said.

Fluxx was a strong fit for the foundation. The grants management team loved the look and feel of the interface and knew that it would allow them to fulfill the goal of having data readily accessible to anyone in the organization. "Fluxx had the pulse of the industry and was obviously built with grantmakers, for grantmakers," Tripp added.

Tripp tackled the implementation phase of the project with the same attention to detail and thoughtfulness that she approached vendor selection and worked closely with the Fluxx implementation team to get up and running.

She says, “Our project manager, Samantha Remeika, brought a wealth of experience and commitment to a well-designed and iterative process that allowed us to stay on course and divert when we needed to. Shelia Kappeler-Finn and I worked very closely together on the build. Her expertise both in Fluxx and in foundation culture allowed us to get to the right solutions for us and for me to learn the system along the way. Suni Sidhu was a kind, smart and patient guide in our data journey, bite-sizing and contextualizing the tasks so that I could approach them willingly.”

Looking ahead, Tripp is excited to see how Fluxx helps the foundation focus on its mission. She says, “I’m excited about that intersection of systems and programs. While software in itself won’t make us more successful, it will allow us to save time on the day-to-day processes and manual tasks which can drag us down. With Fluxx, we can focus on impact and partnering with our grantees in meaningful ways beyond the transaction."

Download the complete Blue Shield of California Foundation success story here.