
A Collaborative CRM to Help Rebuilding Together Strengthen Communities
About
Started in 1973, Rebuilding Together is a nonprofit focused on bringing volunteers and communities together to improve the homes and lives of our neighbors and strengthen our communities. The organization leverages a national network of 140 affiliates to deliver services in communities throughout the country, utilizing nearly 100,000 volunteers to complete approximately 10,000 rebuild projects per year.
Challenges
North Peak and Rebuilding Together began working together in 2016. The organization was preparing for growth and seeking to increase collaboration and cohesion across the network. Investing in CRM technology was core to their strategy. At the time, each affiliate was using their own CRM solution— ranging from excel- and paper-based systems to CiviCore and eTapestry (a Blackbaud product)– to manage volunteers, programs, and fundraising.
These solutions were unique to each affiliate, and they were time- and resource-intensive to maintain. They also created some big challenges for individual affiliates and for the network.
The national Rebuilding Together team envisioned a CRM that would help all affiliates overcome these hurdles.
Project Goals
The Rebuilding Together team believed a shared CRM solution would get their network to a stronger, more sustainable place. To be successful, this solution would need to:
- Provide one system to manage volunteers, programs, and fundraising, including analytics to support data-driven decision making in these areas
- Support standard approaches to common processes that save admin time and enable scaled operations, locally and nationally
- Help create a connected network where affiliates and the national office can work together more productively
- Be affordable and easy to use for all affiliates, regardless of staff size and budget
Delivering on these outcomes would result in better engaged supporters and more homeowners served.
North Peak and Rebuilding Together came up with a plan: create a managed package built on Salesforce that would provide a standard feature set to manage volunteers, programs, and donors. Affiliates could then choose to customize their Salesforce further.
The Pilot
North Peak collaborated with 5 affiliates and the national office to design a pilot solution. If the Collaborative CRM was going to be embraced by the network, affiliates needed to see their perspectives in its design. The national office facilitated and oversaw the project, while affiliates made final decisions on most features and functionality.





Affiliates that participated in the RTSP pilot.
This process produced the Rebuilding Together Success Pack, or the RTSP. The pilot package was built on Salesforce.org’s Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) and included functionality for:
Part 2 of this series shares the impact of Rebuilding Together’s collaborative CRM.
Learn More About Collaborative CRMs
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