ARDEM was contacted by a non-profit organization that focuses on providing financial assistance to families in undervalued communities to build and grow a strength-based approach to end poverty.
The organization operates as a community, a movement, and a platform that highlights and helps accelerate the initiatives in traditionally undervalued communities to improve the lives of the people living there.
The organization was looking for a reliable partner to help them process a large volume of applications for different funds so that they could provide financial aid to qualified applicants as fast as possible, especially in communities that were severely affected due to COVID-19.
They needed us to review applications submitted for a variety of funds as they were expecting an increase in applications that would exceed the number of independent agents they had freelancing for them. We already had prior experience in processing financial aid applications for an educational non-profit.
The non-profit firmly believes that timely financial aid without the stress of exorbitant interest rates can help the hardworking people within these marginalized communities recover from the negative social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Let’s see how ARDEM was able to build and execute a successful solution for this financial aid NPO.
Determining the Scope of Work and Current Goals
The challenge set before us was to process more than 1000 applications per day while ensuring a high level of accuracy, i.e., as close to 100% as possible.
The task was further complicated by the fact that our team was required to review applications for three different funds and determine eligibility based on a set of qualifiers shared by the client.
We had to train a team of specialized remote analysts who could assess and evaluate the eligibility of the applicants across 3 different financial aid funds. The aim was to verify the details and determine eligibility based on the answers in the application while providing aid to as many people as possible.
Our team would have to study the different eligibility criteria for the 3 different funds and process the applications received for each fund to provide aid to as many eligible people and communities as possible. This further required us to create a multi-faceted training regime to check and ensure that our analysts were fully aware of the different eligibility criteria across these 3 diverse funds.
Our team was excited to partner up with the organization and help them maximize their impact by providing much-needed aid to families and communities in distress.
Understanding the Client's Process to Formulate a Plan of Action (POA)
Once we had ascertained the full scope of work, our production team got to planning and creating a successful solution for reviewing between 300 to 1200 applications coming in daily for aid across 3 different financial aid funds.
We then built them a remote team of skilled analysts, meanwhile, our training engineers built customized virtual training modules in line with our client’s specified instructions for application review.
Once we had trained the team, we also appointed QC experts to ensure uniformity of output via a multi-step quality control process to deliver close to 100% accuracy.
Executing a Successful Solution for the Non-Profit
- As stated above, we started by gaining a thorough understanding of their current application review process.
- Once we had the process mapped out, we built an execution strategy and a specialized training program to build a specialized remote team for our client.
- We were also meeting the client at least 3 times per week to review performance and discuss their growing requirements.
- A major challenge for our team was the evaluation of the answers on the application review forms as the answers were quite subjective in every individual case.
- We worked closely with the client and their team to identify the qualifying parameters for the application review.
- Our analysts reviewed the applications and supporting documents that have been uploaded by those seeking aid to process (approve/deny/flag) using each fund’s eligibility rules.
- This required our team to be fully conversant with the detailed eligibility criteria specified by the client.
- We had to train our analysts thoroughly to ensure that they were aware of the different eligibility criteria for all three funds.
- We also had our QC experts monitor the process and review the processed applications to achieve the expected level of accuracy.
How We Helped the Non-Profit Maximize Their Social Impact
The client chose to partner with us as ARDEM had the technology and ability to mirror their process and we took the time to understand their mission and objectives.
However, apart from our technical prowess, the non-profit organization was also looking for a trustworthy partner whose values and vision were aligned with its own. At ARDEM, we seek to create opportunities for many so that the lives of many can benefit from the new possibilities that become available to them. The client was further encouraged by our internal work culture and the communities values that define us as a company.
The organization was also impressed with our ability to map out their process, create a training regime for it and build them a remote team in a short period.
The client further praised our work every week for being able to achieve the daily goals and always encouraged us to improve the accuracy in the process by adding additional qualifiers for measuring eligibility.
What the Experience Taught Us About Driving Social Change
The client was focused on helping families in undervalued communities to build and grow a strength-based approach to end poverty.
Our experience with the client gave us deeper insights into how we can aid non-profit organizations in expanding their outreach to help people in an accelerated time frame during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
We took the chance to work with the client as a great learning opportunity while striving to assist communities in need in real-time.
If you would like to learn more about how we assist non-profit organizations in streamlining their operations, you can learn more about our NPO solutions here.
If you would like to get in touch with our sales team to discover how we can customize a solution for your organization, you can schedule a free consultation with our team here.
