Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children Uses eTapestry to Track Donor Interactions, Facilitate Growth, and Better Serve Its Mission

Founded in 1936, Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to providing accessible, compassionate, and effective dental care to children from low-income families who reside throughout the South Sound area of Western Washington. The organization also provides family education and preventive care, and strongly encourages early intervention for even the youngest members of the family.

The Challenge

Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children began operation as a dental assisting program at Bates Technical College and Clover Park in 1936. Since then, the organization has expanded considerably, making several moves from one facility to another in order to accommodate growth. Between 2000 and 2002, the Clinic increased its patient services by more than 50 percent, and staff members describe feeling like the organization was "bursting at the seams." Thanks to its many dedicated donors, the Clinic completed an expansion project in 2005 and moved into a new facility with 10 treatment rooms. The new facility has helped the organization expand the depth and breadth of its dental services, provide better access to care, and collaborate with other specialists to provide expanded services.

During all this, staff members at Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children were having difficulty keeping track of donor information. The Clinic was able to collect donations through its website but didn't have a way to track donations after they came in. Everyone knew that if the organization was going to grow to better serve its mission, it would need to keep track of who was giving so it could maximize exposure with those donors.

The Solution

Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children had always relied on word-of-mouth advertising and local networking with community organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, and the United Way to communicate its mission to the public. After teaming up with these and other local nonprofits and growing its database, it became even more important to track all of the information that came through the doors. The organization knew it was missing out on fundraising dollars because of the lack of visibility to its constituents.

With this in mind, the organization began looking for a database solution for constituent relationship management. The Clinic took a look at eTapestry, and knew it had found what it was looking for.

The Results

After selecting eTapestry, Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children has been able to store all donor information in one secure place. The web-based system is user-friendly and offers a level of convenience that other traditional systems can’t. eTapestry allows staff members to enter and extract information from anywhere, anytime.

Most importantly, the Clinic is now able to trace donor dollars and track donor records, plus provide a level of visibility it couldn’t before. Many of the organization’s donations arrive in the form of grants, and now with eTapestry, the Clinic can record how the money is being spent.

Thanks in part to all of this, the Clinic is well-prepared to open a new clinic. The organization plans to network even more with other nonprofits and eTapestry will help
staff members stay connected with all their constituents during this new endeavor.