Reporting within the Furniture Bank Salesforce platform comes in two main categories: your operations and your impact. Once joining the FB Support Service, the entirety of your data is contained within Salesforce. These reports allow you to see your efficiencies and where you need to improve. They can also make tax receipting easier as all that information can be compiled into a single report. But maybe most importantly is understanding the impact you have on your community.
Within the FBSS Salesforce platform are pre-made reports to help you analyze these key reporting components to determine the success of your furniture bank. There are six key reports you’ll use regularly.
There are many more reports you can pull. The challenge is that the list is, literally, as long as your imagination. The FBSS Salesforce reporting suite has a wide range of combinations that can suit any stakeholder’s needs. These can be created on your own or with the help of Toronto Furniture Bank. The following examples are just the basics. While they may be basic, they are valuable and vital.
The Basic Reports
The following summarizes all the basic reports that the Redwood Furniture Bank Program in Barrie, Ontario, (our first pilot for the FBSS program) uses regularly.
Redwood’s output numbers have been blanked out for privacy.
Delivery Details
Keep track of all the details related to your client deliveries. You can use this report to see how the month is shaping up (the stage of each case) or look back to see your performance within a particular time range. Each row represents a family you’re helping.
In-Kind Donation Details
Get an annual summary of your furniture sources to determine year-over-year growth. Additionally, see associated impact outputs from your in-kind donations (total items received, tax value of items, volume and weight of the items).
Furniture Delivery Metrics
Not all furniture received from in-kind donations is good enough for reuse. See a detailed view of the furnishing sent back into the community. Highlight the impact of donated furniture to your donors and potential funders.
Charity Tax Receipt Information
Many donors obsess over tax receipts. This report contains all necessary information to issue a compliant tax receipt. Schedule this critical report to run at any interval (daily, weekly, monthly) and arrive by email to the person in your organization that creates your tax receipts.
Family Demographics
A range of metrics tracks all family cases. A common report is the demographic breakdown of the supported families (i.e., at-risk youth, formerly homeless, indigenous, etc.). You can use this information to highlight who you support when talking to potential donors.
Furniture Flow (In & Out)
Furniture bank programs live or die on their inventory management. Knowing the location of items (arriving, leaving, or in inventory) affects trucking capacity, warehouse floor space, and staffing & volunteering needs. Salesforce tracks furniture by Family and Name. This report summarizes volume, count, and estimates the weight collected and delivered.
