Customer story · Healthcare foundation
100 staff hours reclaimed in a one-person development office.
How AutomateGenius helped McLaren Port Huron Foundation automate donor outreach and scale communication inside Raiser's Edge NXT.
When the McLaren Port Huron Foundation needed a better way to communicate with and track its donors, it turned to AutomateGenius.
What started as a way to streamline correspondence became something more powerful. It became infrastructure for a one-person development office.
The result
- More consistency
- Faster donor outreach
- Stronger relationships
- Nearly 100 staff hours reclaimed per year
At a glance
McLaren Port Huron Foundation at a glance.
- 100 staff hours
- Reclaimed annually
- 200 lapsed-donor emails
- Sent per month
- 30 milestone donors
- Acknowledged monthly
- 1 minute
- To send a personalized email
The challenge
Too much manual work for one person.
Karynn Carrell, Director of Philanthropy, manages fundraising as an office of one. She is responsible for events, gift acknowledgments, stewardship, cultivation and donor outreach. She was also new to Raiser's Edge NXT.
To identify lapsed donors, every cycle meant working through the same manual sequence:
- Run queries
- Pull reports
- Sort through data manually
- Determine which donors met criteria
- Draft and send emails
Finding time for that process was difficult. Learning a sophisticated database while leading fundraising was even harder. The work was important. The process was exhausting.
The shift
Automation inside Raiser's Edge NXT.
AutomateGenius stepped in with a two-part solution. First, PSG reviewed the McLaren Port Huron Raiser's Edge NXT database, evaluating how data was entered and how it was used. That made sure the automations would work correctly and gave Carrell guidance on improving data structure going forward. Then Daily Digest went live, landing in her inbox each morning with the donors who need attention.
1. Lapsed donors
Each day, Carrell receives a list of up to 10 lapsed donors. The email includes direct links to donor records and a personalized email ready to send, so outreach is one click away. She now sends roughly 200 lapsed-donor emails per month, with an estimated 5% response rate.
2. Milestone donors
Daily notifications also flag donors who reach giving milestones, including first-time gifts. Carrell acknowledges those donors in about a minute with a personalized message, instead of hoping the moment gets caught later.
“It's been something that has given me hours back within the day. It has streamlined processes that were really clunky for me. The emails I've sent have made a difference and allowed me to connect with donors.”
From reports to relationships
Technology as leverage, not a replacement for strategy.
Before AutomateGenius, identifying and reaching lapsed donors could take up to an hour. Now it takes minutes. On average, 30 donors per month are acknowledged for milestones, and what once risked being delayed or missed is consistent. Carrell can send up to 50 personalized donor emails in a single morning, and checking the Daily Digest over coffee is part of her daily rhythm.
As someone new to the organization, she lacked historical context about donors. Automation helped fill that gap by surfacing opportunities she might not otherwise see. Nearly 100 staff hours per year came back, which is significant for a one-person office. The software does not replace strategy. It supports it.
What AutomateGenius made possible:
- Consistently reach out to lapsed donors
- Recognize first-time and milestone gifts quickly
- Strengthen donor communication
- Free up time for strategic fundraising work
Looking ahead
Sending personalized donor emails is now part of the daily workflow at McLaren Port Huron. Automation runs quietly in the background, and relationships stay at the center. For teams using Raiser's Edge NXT who feel buried in reports and spreadsheets, automation creates the space to focus on donors instead of data.
Straight answers
Questions about the McLaren Port Huron story
- How much time did McLaren Port Huron Foundation save with AutomateGenius?
- McLaren Port Huron Foundation reclaimed nearly 100 staff hours per year. Work that once took up to an hour, such as identifying lapsed donors and drafting outreach, now takes minutes because Daily Digest delivers the list and the draft together.
- How does Daily Digest work for a one-person development office?
- Daily Digest emails arrive each morning with up to 10 lapsed donors, direct links to their Raiser's Edge NXT records and a personalized email ready to send. The Director of Philanthropy reviews and sends without running a single query.
- Did McLaren Port Huron need to hire additional staff?
- No. AutomateGenius let McLaren Port Huron expand donor outreach without expanding staff. Roughly 200 lapsed-donor emails now go out each month and 30 milestone donors are acknowledged, all from the same one-person office.
- Does AutomateGenius work for someone new to Raiser's Edge NXT?
- Yes. PSG reviewed the McLaren Port Huron database first, evaluated how data was entered and used, then built the automations around it. That review also gave the team guidance on improving data structure going forward.
Running a one-person shop?
Take the five-minute Automation Impact Assessment to see which solution fits your team, or book a discovery call with PSG.