Our own Shawn Garrison sat down with Mark Farrar, the Funding Manager at the Wellington City Council in New Zealand to talk about their Fluxx experience.
About the Wellington City Council (WCC):
The Wellington City Council is the governing body of New Zealand’s capital city and is responsible for all public works, sanitation, land use, special programs and other local services. The WCC manages a portfolio of funds to support grants for heritage buildings, environmental projects, support of the arts, community programs and much more. Mark and his team manage about 17 funds from a multitude of departments within the council - amounting to $9-10 million (NZ) each year run through their Fluxx grants management software system.
Trading a Legacy System for a Purpose-Built Grantmaking Solution
Prior to joining fluxx, WCC had an older legacy Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that, over time, had many custom additions and “bolt-on” features to help manage their grantmaking and funding needs. As they continued to grow, the current system was not able to keep up with them in both performance and the needed features to streamline their process.
They needed a solution that was purpose-built for grantmaking, and had all the tools they needed for success natively within the platform. For them, Fluxx was the solution that would help them scale and manage their processes effectively.
A Bespoke Solution with a Strong Community of Users
For Mark and his team, the benefits of Fluxx have continued to grow as they continue to expand their usage. The most compelling benefit has been the fact that Fluxx is a purpose-built solution for grants management. The teams are able to easily manage their processes through the intuitive user interface, and all their funders are familiar with how the system works and can easily navigate within the different cards and records. Internally, their users love the unique card layout, and it gives them the visibility they need to manage funding in what can be a complex process.
Another benefit is the ability to configure the solution to meet their unique needs. As the WCC is a government entity, there is an aspect of politics that can influence funding decisions and create potential conflicts of interest. To mitigate that risk, they configured a Conflict of Interest module which helps them keep track of any potential conflicts and get in front of them early in the process. They have also leveraged the integration capabilities of Fluxx to connect with their financial system in order to speed the process of payments, tax invoicing and linking financial information to the grantmaking process.
Perhaps the most wide-ranging benefit of all is the Fluxx community, and the growing group of New Zealand organizations using Fluxx. For Mark and the WCC funding team, having access to a large community of Fluxx grantmakers has been a huge benefit both in sharing ideas, getting advice and helping to innovate processes. The Fluxx Community is one of the strongest and most influential of all grants management solutions out there, and the WCC has seen this as a massive resource for knowledge sharing.
What’s Next: Scaling and Growing the Fluxx Footprint
WCC continues to roll out more and more of their departments and their associated funds to the Fluxx platform. They started with a phased approach, bringing on more each year with the end goal of having every fund within the portfolio running on Fluxx. The future for Wellington continues to be one of growth, supporting programs that preserve the beauty and integrity of the capital city of New Zealand. Fluxx is thrilled to be able to help Mark and the Wellington City Council achieve their mission for years to come.
If you are interested in learning more about the Wellington City Council, you can visit them at:
https://wellington.govt.nz/
If you would like to learn more about Fluxx Grants management solution for government agencies, visit us at:
https://www.fluxx.io/grants-management-software-government
