Mary MacKillop Today is an international and community nonprofit organisation based in Australia, continuing the legacy of a 150-year service initiated by Saint Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Since its establishment in 2018, the organisation has committed to walking alongside the marginalised poor while empowering individuals and communities across Australia and overseas.

The Financial Inclusion Team at Mary MacKillop Today works to expand financial access and equity for people on low incomes. As a provider of Good Shepherd No Interest Loans (NILS), they provide fair and accessible credit options throughout Australia, with offices in Sydney and the Central West of NSW. In addition to microfinance, their Financial Inclusion Program enhances clients’ financial literacy, facilitates access to government-funded energy efficiency subsidies, provides financial counselling to advocate for those on low incomes, and connects clients to additional services and programs when needed.

The team at Mary MacKillop Today needed a solution that could consolidate and streamline their processes while accommodating future growth. After thorough research, they chose Salesforce for its scalability, robust feature set, and extensive training resources via Trailhead, which would enable self-sufficiency in system management. “Salesforce was a big decision,” Emma Roberts explained. “But it was future-proofing our operations and gave us the flexibility to build on it over time.”

With the Salesforce CRM at the core, Mary MacKillop Today now benefits from a single source of truth for client information. Unlike the disjointed spreadsheet and SharePoint approach, Salesforce allows the team to maintain clear, comprehensive records across locations and over time. This unified database has reduced errors, improved handovers, and enabled team members to collaborate more effectively. With Salesforce, client details, case notes, and loan documentation are all instantly accessible, enabling staff to respond promptly and accurately to client needs.

Enrite customised Salesforce Leads to manage and categorise incoming enquiries and developed a purpose-built enquiry form to streamline intake. The new enquiry form screens applicants based on criteria such as geographic eligibility, which ensures that only relevant cases proceed to the team. This feature has halved the volume of enquiries to a manageable 250 per month, allowing the team to focus on eligible clients and improve service quality. As Emma Roberts observed, “Now, we’re converting about 30% of enquiries compared to 15% before.”

The team transformed document collection, which was previously a labour-intensive process, through a custom-built online submission form. The form, designed with visual guidance and organised tabs, simplifies the process for clients. Each tab represents a type of document, using visual icons like an electricity bill icon to clearly indicate what’s needed, making it intuitive even for clients with limited digital literacy. This feature has substantially reduced staff’s document management workload and ensured that submissions are complete and automatically stored on the appropriate record.

Enrite developed a process for incomplete applications that allows staff to send resubmission forms via Salesforce when they require additional paperwork. The resubmission request integrates directly with the client’s record in Salesforce, making it easy to track and manage. “That’s been a game changer for the staff,” Emma Roberts shared. “It’s working beautifully, and saves us at least 2-3 hours each day in follow-ups.”

Salesforce’s commitment to accessibility has proven a major bonus to Mary MacKillop Today’s all-inclusive team. For example, one team member with vision impairment found Salesforce’s screen reader compatibility, use of contrasting colours and icons, intuitive page layouts, and comprehensive feature set all on one screen, a game-changing advantage. "Salesforce’s commitment to inclusivity, like their screen-reader compatible training resources, was a huge plus,” shared Emma Roberts. “It’s an easy system to navigate, which hasn’t always been the case with databases.” By prioritising accessible design, Salesforce has become an empowering tool for all team members.

By optimising the enquiry and document intake processes, the Salesforce project has reduced monthly enquiry volume by half, bringing it to a manageable 250. This improvement has allowed the team to concentrate on higher-quality interactions with eligible clients, doubling their enquiry conversion rate to 30%.

By involving clients in the documentation process and allowing them to manage their submissions online, the system assists to build capacity and fosters a sense of shared responsibility among clients, helping the team identify their commitment to the loan application process.

By eliminating the back-and-forth for missing documents, the solution saves Mary MacKillop Today at least 2-3 hours per day in administrative tasks. This streamlined process also reduces application delays and speeds up service delivery, an essential factor in supporting vulnerable clients.

With Enrite training and the Trailhead learning platform at their fingertips, Mary MacKillop Today’s staff have embraced Salesforce and have taken ownership of the platform. Team members can now make incremental updates and improvements, which reduces dependency on external support and strengthens their confidence in using the system. “We’ve learned so much through working with Enrite,” Emma Roberts reflected. “They were incredibly generous with imparting knowledge and fantastic at empowering us to take charge.”