Community Foundation of the Fox Valley Region is a nonprofit organization that focuses on connecting donors with personally meaningful nonprofit organizations in the Fox Valley region of Wisconsin. With a 25% spike in growth, Community Foundation leaders realized their legacy infrastructure was holding them back from doing more in the community. Microsoft Tech for Social Impact (TSI) and TechSpark brought in trusted Microsoft and Azure enablement partner, Valorem Reply, to help the Foundation evaluate their current infrastructure and migrate to the Microsoft cloud for its growing mission. Initial cloud migration discovery determined that the existing infrastructure was more fragile than originally thought. Valorem quickly pivoted to migrate and rebuild with ample backup for the Foundation to continue operations.
We here at the Community Foundation are truly thankful for the way Valorem partnered with us. We had a specific SOW, but they quickly saw the status of our environment and didn't allow the initial SOW to deter us from doing the right things for the right reasons. Our team is very appreciative for that partnership, that level of commitment to several nights and hours spent making sure everything is ok. Valorem partnered with us not just nights and hours spent making sure everything is ok. Valorem partnered with us not just with their expertise but with their heart as well.
- Mito Kudaka, Community Foundation for the Fox valley Region
The Community Foundation wanted to digitally transform and realized their infrastructure wouldn't be strong enough to do that. They engaged the Microsoft TSI team to help with maturity and find the right partners. Through that, the Foundation gained the knowledge of change management and a new long-term partner in Valorem.
- Michelle Schuler, Manager TechSpark Wisconsin, Microsoft
Our original assessment revealed many risks in the Foundation's infrastructure. However, when we started building out the Azure environment and turning on major parts of services, an outdated Active Directory was discovered. We moved to Plan B to ensure the Foundation was able to continue serving the needs of the Fox Valley community. This is a great example of how a digital transformation partner can help you reach your cloud goals while minimizing the impact on your business.
- Steve Cummings, VP Customer Success, Valorem Reply
CHALLENGE
- Co-located, on prem infrastructure becoming unreliable and hindering growth.
- Core business processes/systems managed by multiple providers creating unnecessary and inefficient complexity to their business.
- Cloud enabled data resilience, security and compliance for growing donor management.
SOLUTION
- Upgrade and modernize CFFVR’s infrastructure using Azure and Microsoft 365.
- Build Azure infrastructure and install applications and databases.
- Build Sites in SharePoint Online and Teams, migrate content.
- .5 terabyte after hours data migration to allow normal business operations.
RESULT
- Modernized collaboration and improved end user productivity.
- Scalable, highly available, and performant solution to support the future needs of CFFVR.
Our work with the Community Foundation is a great example of how one donation can not only transform an organization but support the needs of an entire community by enabling them to do more with modern tools.
- Steve Cummings, VP Customer Success, Valorem Reply
This is a great example of how TSI, TechSpark and Microsoft Partners can work together to enable philanthropic organizations with Microsoft Azure. It was an incredible effort and investment from all parties to digitally transform the Community Foundation and serves as an example to other nonprofit organizations of how technology investments can allow them to do more for the donors, constituents, communities and causes they serve.
- Minji Kim, Program Manager, Tech for Social Impact, Microsoft
