SAGE Expands Access to Life-Changing Community Programs With Better Data Collection

Case Study Snapshot

As a national advocacy and service organization for LGBTQ+ older Americans, SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) offers a variety of services. Through a vast network of affiliates, trained healthcare providers, and partnering agencies, SAGE is able to offer critical resources to an underserved community.

With such a diverse network, the organization requires reliable data and infrastructure to keep their programs running smoothly. While SAGE operates six on-site senior centers in New York, the organization also provides social services, meals, case management, and physical services. FormAssembly has played a critical role in helping the organization scale programs digitally in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

About

SAGE is a national advocacy and service organization that works to provide essential human services for LGBTQ+ elders and older adults. These services are designed to help LGBTQ+ seniors age in place with dignity and connection to important services and resources.

SAGE has a representative in Capitol Hill that is working with legislators to ensure that older LGBTQ+ Americans enjoy as much inclusivity as possible. The organization is headquartered in New York City and has 29 affiliates dispersed throughout the country.

Collectively, the team at SAGE identified the need to pivot from inefficient processes and to transform into a digitally based service organization. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for a robust data collection platform that would allow staff to gather as much information as possible about adults who were interested in key services, as well as organizations who were interested in partnering with SAGE and having their staff trained.

Additionally, a recent website refresh meant that SAGE had a fresh and updated WordPress site from which to build new lists and reach new audiences. FormAssembly’s simple WP plugin was one feature that made it even easier to make the jump to digital data processes.

Right away, SAGE started using FormAssembly to identify website visitors and to collect data from adults interested in learning more about services. This modernized web form process allowed the organization to build a more complete audience list and to reach out and follow up with constituents as needed.

FormAssembly’s drag-and-drop functionality allowed staff members to build forms quickly and easily. With such a simple learning process, they were able to scale the number and complexity of their web form use cases and adapt to new needs throughout the pandemic.

Robust Salesforce connectors on the back end gave FormAssembly an advantage over other form and data tools, several of which were being used at any given time by different staff.

“We had all been using disparate systems, and I really wanted to get us to a place where we were all using the same tool,” said Denise Atherley, Director of Data Strategy Initiatives at SAGE.

With FormAssembly, SAGE has been able to enhance the number of services and virtual programs that the organization offers. Online RSVP and event processes have also benefited from the simplicity of new and improved data collection methods.

As SAGE continues to partner with other organizations (both now and in the future), features such as the HTTPS Connector continually pave the way for new options and greater flexibility. Additionally, Denise and their team have a goal of expanding the use and application of FormAssembly to as many people as possible, allowing for more form creators and users with access to relevant data.

Overall, the team at SAGE hopes to continue creating new connection points to allocate resources well and to better serve a population in need of life-changing resources. As Compliance Cloud users, SAGE will now have access to FormAssembly Workflow, which will enable the team to build multi-step data collection workflows and trace the flow of data from people, to forms, to connected systems like Salesforce.