Northwest Hope & Healing - Helping Women Get Through Cancer

Organization Name
Northwest Hope & Healing
Mission Statement

Northwest Hope & Healing Foundation provides assistance and encouragement to women and their families throughout the Pacific Northwest, while they endure breast and gynecological cancer treatment. Northwest Hope & Healing provides non-medical support services such as childcare, food, transportation, emergency rent, and healing baskets to patients in need. The goal is to support the healing process and to help individuals feel whole once again.

City & State
Seattle, 
Washington
Question 1
The Before: What was the challenge, issue or problem your organization was facing? Or, what was the opportunity you were not able to take advantage of before you put a technology solution in place?

Answer: NW Hope & Healing was started in 2000 by a breast cancer survivor who recognized he unmet needs of other women who where battling breast cancer. After paying for medical care, deductibles, co-pays & prescriptions, many patients face a shortfall for basic needs like food, rent & childcare. The NWHH Patient Assistance Fund helps ensure that women don’t have to skip treatment to have food on the table, childcare during treatments, transportation to appointments, or a roof over their heads. In 2004 we incorporated & basically started a non-profit from scratch & used Microsoft products to create a professional look, while employing only one part time employee. As a small organization, our outward appearance to donors was critical, especially considering our tiny budget.

Question 2
What Microsoft software have you used/are you using in your organization to more effectively engage your beneficiaries, donors and/or volunteers and/or to make a difference in your community?

Answer: Other (Please specify – Windows 7, Communicator, Visio, Project, InfoPath etc.)
Other: Windows XP, Microsoft Office 2003

Question 3
The After: How have these Microsoft products allowed you to engage your stakeholders more efficiently or effectively to make a difference in your community?

Answer: Since we have a tight budget, we have been able to use, and continue to use, Office 2003, to create flyers and brochures in Publisher, professional documents in Word, slide show presentations in Powerpoint, track donors in Excel, and use Outlook for our email. This combination has allowed us to maintain a professional appearance, host fundraising events, communicate effectively with donors, while still only employing one part time employee. This has proven a winning combination, as our organization doubled the amount of donations received and patients served in just two years. With the help of Microsoft products, we are able to reach out and assist over 200 cancer patients financially each year and deliver nearly 700 Healing Baskets to women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Question 4
What about these products (the features or the way you used them) made them particularly helpful in enabling your organization to expand and improve upon its community impact?

Answer: The Microsoft products are so easy to use. The Microsoft products have allowed us to create a professional image and most of our donors don’t realize we are so small. We are able to use Microsoft software to communicate our mission to both donors & supporters which has resulted in our organization doubling in size in just two years.

Question 5
Please provide any examples, stories or data that illustrate the difference the use of Microsoft software has enabled you to make (i.e., # of new clients reached, new program added, increased dollars raised, increased volunteers, etc.

Answer: The core group of donors were 300 of Christine’s friends & family. Once we began using Microsoft products, our donor base multiplied & now has over 3,000 supporters. We have over 200 committed volunteers & use Microsoft products for efficient communication. Outlook allows us to send requests when we have a project we need help with; Excel helps keep the volunteers organized; Word let’s us effectively state their role. We use Microsoft software to communicate our mission to both donors & supporters which resulted in doubling the amount of donations received & patients served in just two years. With the help of Microsoft products, we are able to assist over 200 cancer patients financially each year & deliver nearly 700 Healing Baskets to women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Supporting Work Web URL
www.nwhopeandhealing.org
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