Dress for Success Oregon (DFSO) is a local branch of the Dress for Success international nonprofit organization. Since 1999, they have been empowering women by providing professional attire, career coaching, and support networks to help them thrive in work and life. With a strong community of dedicated volunteers, Dress for Success Oregon ensures that every woman they serve feels supported on her journey to success.

When DFSO needed a volunteer management solution that could keep up with their growing impact, they turned to Advanced Communities and our AC Events Enterprise app. 

Project Objectives

DFSO was already using the AC Events Lite free application, which allowed for a limited number of events and attendees per event. As they continued to grow, they needed a full-featured event management app without these restrictions to keep up with their increasing demands. AC Events Enterprise turned out to be the perfect solution as it offers unlimited events and attendees, along with a host of additional features that made their work much easier.

What makes DFSO’s use case particularly interesting is how they used the AC event management app to manage volunteer shifts through their volunteer portal on Salesforce. In their system, “events” essentially represented volunteer shifts. The app was used to collect volunteer submissions through the portal, enabling volunteers to assist women with makeup, styling, selecting interview outfits, or even hosting meetings to build confidence, network, and discuss workplace-related topics and strategies to support their professional growth.

Since DFSO were repurposing an event management app for this unique need, some customization was necessary to tailor the system to their specific requirements. That’s where Advanced Communities stepped in with our expertise and professionalism to make it happen.

Solution

Advanced Communities implemented our AC Events Enterprise app for DFSO and customized it to meet their specific needs for managing volunteer jobs, shifts, applications, hours, and more. The result is a robust and efficient system that makes volunteer management easier than ever.

By automating tasks and streamlining processes, we helped DFSO save their valuable time. Managers can now focus on supporting their volunteers and clients instead of getting bogged down by manual work. Volunteers also benefit from a smoother experience, with clear communication, automated updates, and an easy way to track their shifts and hours. 

Benefits & Results

Automation has been a game-changer in this project. Whenever a volunteer shift is created internally—whether one-time or recurring with specified start and end dates and the weekday—it’s automatically posted as an event on the DFSO Experience Cloud volunteer portal. Previously this was a manual, time-consuming process.

So, let’s take a closer look at the other customizations we’ve done to improve DFSO’s internal operations and volunteer experience.

Automated Shift Cancellation
Previously, if a shift was deleted, the event would remain in the system, and managers had to manually notify volunteers about the cancellation. We’ve made this process fully automated. When a shift is deleted, the corresponding event, participants, and volunteer hours are also removed from the system, and a notification is automatically sent to the volunteers.

Also, if a volunteer cancels their registration, the shift manager receives an email notification, and the corresponding volunteer hours are also removed from the system.

Instant Notifications 

Volunteers signing up for shifts now trigger instant email notifications to both the volunteer and the shift manager, keeping everyone in the loop. In case of any changes to the shifts, such as time or location, shift managers no longer need to manually notify volunteers. Instead, volunteers automatically receive email notifications with the updated details.

Calendar View with Participant Tracking
Volunteer managers benefit from a dedicated shift calendar where they can view all shifts at a glance, including data on confirmed participants and available spots. They can even sync volunteer shifts directly with their calendars.

Volunteer Hours Tracking
Volunteers can track their hours and view completed or upcoming shifts directly from the community portal. Shift managers can monitor volunteer hours in two ways: through the shift calendar mentioned above or internally in Salesforce by reviewing specific records. 

Real-Time Shift Availability Updates
Another improvement addressed the issue of filled shifts. Before, events would disappear as soon as the volunteer spots were filled, causing confusion. Now, the system shows a notification indicating that no positions are currently available. If a volunteer cancels their spot, the system automatically updates to reflect the newly available position on the portal.

Automatic Image Integration for Events
To top it off, visuals for shifts (events) are added automatically, eliminating the need for manual uploads, saving time, and ensuring a consistent look on the portal.

And here’s what Dress for Success Oregon (DFSO) said about our performance:

“The team at AC Events took a program we were using—despite needing workarounds—and transformed it into a fully functioning solution tailored to our small team supporting thousands of women through volunteer management. They enhanced the portal to manage our volunteer operations effectively. Our volunteers serve as personal shoppers, interview coaches, financial advisors, and administrative support, and we required a system capable of evaluating each contact’s skills on the backend. This allows individuals to sign up for opportunities that best match their needs. The AC Events team collaborated with us to build exactly what we needed and found solutions that worked seamlessly for our organization!”

Lindsey Norlander, Executive Director at Dress for Success Oregon, Dress for Success Oregon

Learn more about Advanced Communities:

Visit AC Consulting Services page on the Salesforce AppExchange.