Nonprofit

Functionality of FormAssembly Powers Nonprofit Program to Better Serve Community with Rare Disease

Amy Blum

Chief Operating Officer

Case Study Snapshot

Formed in 1984, the National Gaucher Foundation (NGF) works year round to advocate for families and individuals impacted by Gaucher Disease. This nonprofit organization is dedicated to education, awareness, and advocacy for not only those affected by the disease, but also for physicians who work to treat and cure the disease. In order to serve this population, NGF collects applicant data ranging from insurance forms and patient medical history to medical expense proof and reimbursement.

When the foundation was established, staff relied on a paper document process, which accounted for hours of administrative work and hassle. After years of frustration, they searched for an electronic solution and decided to build an in-house data collection system. However, the system soon proved to be heavily antiquated and convoluted. It wasn’t until their Salesforce consulting partner, Plative, encouraged the team to try FormAssembly that they found the solution they needed for their years of data collection problems.

About the National Gaucher Foundation

The National Gaucher Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1984 by several families who came together with a common mission—to support those affected by Gaucher disease. Through financial support, educational programming, patient services, and collaboration with medical professionals, NGF empowers Gaucher patients to “live a better today, everyday.”

Today, the NGF advocates for patients by:

Imparting general education about Gaucher disease as well as topics specifically pertinent to the Gaucher community
Conducting outreach to raise awareness about Gaucher disease among health professionals and people who have not yet been diagnosed
Providing financial assistance programs for eligible patients and their families through the CARE Programs
Hosting meetings of patients, physicians, and researchers
Supporting legislation and programs vital to the Gaucher community

The numbers

200

families and individuals impacted by the NGF CARE Program yearly

$2.4 million

in grants gifted yearly

100s

of administrative hours spent inputting patient data saved with FormAssembly

99.9%

of applicants claiming FormAssembly made the user process simpler

The Need

Spend Less Time on Sensitive Data Entry, More Time on Mission-Critical Initiatives

NGF needed reliable data collection system that was able to modernize the application process and seamlessly house all of the sensitive data.

With the goal in mind of better serving Gaucher patients and families, NGF was searching for a streamlined solution. The organization needed to save time with data input, put the responsibility into the hands of their applicants, and gain more time to serve their community.

NGF needed a reliable data collection system that was able to modernize the application process and seamlessly house all of the sensitive data collected for the NGF CARE Program. Their in-house data collection system was built as a check collection system that did not communicate with any of their other platforms or processes. As a result, this system actually created more work by requiring administrative staff to re-input data into Salesforce once it had been collected from applicants. This system also slowed down the application process, which caused financial troubles for patients who relied on this assistance, especially during insurance coverage opt-in periods.

The Solution

A User-Friendly Platform for Program Applicants and Staff

99.9% of NGF applicants and staff found that this process saved time and was much easier for them

With the help and direction of Plative, NGF was introduced to their new data collection solution, FormAssembly. With FormAssembly, NGF was able to provide a platform for their applicants to submit their medical records, proof of insurance, expense reimbursement forms, and other critical information.

NGF was excited and impressed with the accessibility of FormAssembly. Previously, the editing and updating of applications had to be done by NGF on the back end of their in-house system by administrative employees. The save and resume feature in FormAssembly gave their applicants freedom to go back and update or edit their application as necessary. “99.9% of NGF applicants and staff found that this process saved time and was much easier for them,” said Amy Blum, NGF Chief Operating Officer.

Use Cases

Flawless Data Integration Powers NGF CARE Program

Relief Program Applications

As a Salesforce customer, NGF was encouraged to use FormAssembly for the seamless Salesforce integration. The NGF CARE Program, a program that provides assistance for Gaucher patients and families to ease the financial burden of the disease, required patients to fill out a detailed application for relief. The application process required sensitive data like patients’ medical records, proof of insurance, and income statements. Once submitted, these applications were sent to a committee to be reviewed and accepted or denied. With FormAssembly, the previously inefficient application process transformed into a streamlined, automated workflow that gathered and compiled the data, inputted it into Salesforce and notified the committee, and then communicated the application status to the applicant all in one simple process. Now, NGF is also able to process checks quickly and easily so that patients have access to funds shortly after being accepted.

The other monumental benefit that Amy shared was that when applications were missing information or needed to be edited, the team could reach out to the applicant to amend the application instead of the team having to do it themselves. This saves the team countless hours in paperwork.

What’s Next?

Functionality of FormAssembly Powers Nonprofit Programs

Before FormAssembly, NGF struggled with a system that had no communication with their other platforms and also lacked the functionality they needed to operate their foundation and programs.

The standalone system once built to collect NGF applications and forms was not created with the capabilities necessary to sustain the organization’s needs in the long term. Amy shared that the previous system lacked logic and usability, which are qualities she has since found in FormAssembly. The original system acted as a third-party check processing system that did not have the reliability she needed, but FormAssembly was able to provide a reliable solution with logical templates that make form creation easy for herself and her staff.

Looking to the future, Amy is excited about the endless possibilities of FormAssembly. The team at NGF is looking to expand their use of FormAssembly across other processes in their organization, and they are exploring additional connectors and integrations. Currently, they are looking to update and expand upon their main forms, which include the application form, change of insurance form, audit form, and expense reimbursement form. Amy explained that every new solution they discover with FormAssembly enables the team to spend less time on administrative needs and put more money back into the foundation and Gaucher community.

FormAssembly is proud to partner with Plative. Plative is a digital-first management consulting firm with a global footprint that offers advisory, professional services, and project implementation to some of the world’s leading companies across Financial Services, Professional Services, Nonprofit, Technology, Media, and Consumer industries. Plative has been recognized on the Inc-5000 list of fastest-growing companies, as well as Consulting Magazine’s list of fastest-growing firms. At Plative, our mission is to make a global impact by improving our client’s performance.

“The passionate people at NGF make working with this organization an absolute pleasure and Plative has been honored to partner with NGF to help accelerate their impact through easy-to-use and easy-to-integrate digital forms. FormAssembly is excited to provide a solution that impacts the National Gaucher Foundation’s financial assistance programs. We are honored to support an organization that fuels education and awareness for this rare disease, not only in the medical community, but also across the United States.” – Damian Le Brocque, Nonprofit Client Partner