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The Chernobyl Children’s Project International (CCPI) is an Irish charity that depends on the goodwill of 2,000 volunteers to perform its work. To make these people, and its own staff, more efficient, CCPI subscribed to Microsoft® Online Services. With easy access to the latest communications and collaboration software, CCPI staff saves 30 hours a month and can dispatch information faster. The organization also enjoys higher service availability.
The Chernobyl Children’s Project International (CCPI) is a Cork, Ireland–based charity that serves the victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and is one of the largest nongovernmental organizations operating in the region. Established in 1991, CCPI has delivered over €76 million (U.S.$100 million) in humanitarian aid to the Chernobyl region. The charity also arranges “rest and recuperation” visits with Irish families for about 1,000 Chernobyl-area children each year.
With a paid staff of only eight people, CCPI is highly dependent on the more than 2,000 volunteers across Ireland who provide fundraising, medical, carpentry, host-family, and other types of assistance. “Our volunteers are the bedrock of our organization. We want to help them be as efficient as possible,” says Miriam Forde, Fundraising and Communications Manager for the Chernobyl Children’s Project International.
Volunteers are divided into 70 outreach groups, and group leaders communicated with their volunteers using a combination of e-mail messages and mailed paperwork. CCPI sent e-mail news bulletins to volunteers a few times a year, but there was no real two-way communication between volunteers and CCPI. For many activities, such as arranging permits necessary for children’s visits, a huge amount of paperwork had to be mailed between Ireland and Belarus.
The Cork staff spent hours each week fielding requests for images and information from volunteers and the public. For example, CCPI has an electronic picture library containing 35,000 images. Forde spent approximately 10 hours a month finding and organizing images. Other requests consumed five hours a week of another staff member.
Electronic efficiencies at CCPI were limited to one file server, a handful of desktop computers, a financial application, and e-mail software. The aging file server failed every few months, making information unavailable for hours at a time.
CCPI knew that it could benefit greatly from an online collaboration solution but simply did not have the resources to invest in technology. Fortunately, Inspired Software and Services, a Dublin-based Microsoft® Certified Partner, recognized CCPI’s work and introduced it to the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite from Microsoft Online Services. The Business Productivity Online Standard Suite makes a set of communication and collaboration applications available online for a low monthly subscription fee. It includes Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint® Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Microsoft Office Communications Online—all of which are hosted in a Microsoft data center.
Making our images accessible through SharePoint Online will save me at least 10 hours a month. We’ll also free up 20 hours a month that another staff person spends fielding requests.
Miriam Forde
Fundraising and Communications Manager, Chernobyl Children’s Project International
CCPI purchased subscriptions for its staff and volunteers, who now have access to shared online workspaces where they can post documents, share calendars, and business contacts. CCPI uploaded its image library to SharePoint Online so that volunteers can easily and quickly access needed images themselves.
Using Office Live Meeting, CCPI staff and group leaders can organize Web conferences, which helps its geographically dispersed staff communicate face to face, without expensive travel. They can use online instant messaging to get in touch with one another quickly, without having to trade voice-mail and e-mail messages.
Through Exchange Online, CCPI employees and volunteers can access the latest messaging software to communicate quickly and more securely. CCPI e-mail is protected by enterprise-grade virus and spam filtering, and the organization enjoys 99.9 percent scheduled uptime and financially backed service-level agreements.
Using Microsoft Online Services, CCPI staff members are saving about 30 hours each month, volunteers are more efficient, CCPI can disseminate information faster, and the organization can create a more tight-knit community. Also, information is stored more securely in Microsoft data centers.
With volunteers able to access documents and images themselves through SharePoint Online, CCPI staff members are saving at least 7.5 hours each week, and volunteers are saving time, too. “Making our images accessible through SharePoint Online alone will save me at least 10 hours a month,” Forde says. “We’ll also free up 20 hours a month that another staff person spends fielding requests.”
Also, the ability to find suppliers faster will save time for volunteers, who no longer have to wait to hear back from other volunteers or vendors to move ahead with plans. Online meetings reduce travel time for volunteers and enable them to get more work done in less time. Sharing ideas about fundraising and other topics enables volunteers to benefit from others’ insights without duplicating effort. Plus, CCPI estimates that it will reduce its phone bills by €400 a month (U.S.$527) by using Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online.
CCPI can distribute information faster, which is important with time-sensitive documents such as press releases. “It’s important for group leaders to have access to materials as soon as possible so that they can talk to local media knowledgably,” Forde says. “Before, when we issued a press release, our volunteers were often the last to know.”
“Having an online collaboration site and a way to chat and meet with other volunteers helps our volunteers feel like they are part of a community, which is important in an organization like ours,” Forde adds. Volunteers can visit the site any time of the day or night and share their successes or frustrations with likeminded people.
CCPI feels confident that documents and images are more secure because they are hosted in a Microsoft data center. Information is highly available, without the fear of server outages that previously made information unavailable for hours.
