With more than 1,500 stores and a complex grants and donation process, the Safeway Foundation needed a way to better manage their grants program. Versaic developed a custom solution that not only met all of Safeway’s needs but was delivered in just a few weeks.

Situation Safeway and the Safeway Foundation are responsible for over $200 million annually in grants and product donations. With a process that is managed regionally and at corporate, Safeway’s goal is to manage all the requests and proposals they receive in a manner that is respectful of their customers and partners while supporting their various brands and divisions. In implementing an online solution, Safeway wanted to be sure that each request is handled in a timely fashion by the appropriate group with access to real-time reporting across the entire organization.

Solution After talking by phone with Safeway for a couple of hours to identify their requirements and making suggestions based on similar situations, Versaic created a customized system to gather the necessary information from organizations and employees seeking grants, and route them based on request type and region. The Versaic solution reviews the requests for adherence to guidelines and status and automatically screens those clearly not eligible. Versaic also generates email approvals and check requests, and provides custom and ad-hoc reporting features for each division as well as enterprise-wide. Impact Reporting data is collected post-grant, providing the Safeway Foundations with valuable insights into the impact of their giving.

Safeway Launches Revamped Foundation Initiative in Record Time

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CASE SUMMARY

Situation The Safeway Foundation handles three funding streams: local community funds, requests from corporate employees, and national or multi-regional grants. Managing all of these across their different brands and regions was difficult and time-consuming. Safeway wanted a solution that would guarantee fair consideration for all external requests and speed up handling.

Complication With a revamped grants program and website well underway, Safeway needed a solution fast without compromising their brand identity.

Solution • New Safeway Foundation

website launched on schedule including comprehensive grant management.

• Customized solution from Versaic to collect appropriate information from employees and organizations.

• Continuous system improvement based on clients’ feedback and evolving needs.

Benefits • Time and costs reduced • Brand and missions supported

through clear guidelines and open submission

• Enhanced tracking across the organization

• Ensures compliance with criteria for submission & corporate policies

• Higher constituent satisfaction • Greater reporting capabilities

“Getting started with Versaic, we set the bar high — deliver a solution that meets our specific needs and implement it fast. Not only did Versaic meet that goal, they went above and beyond, designing an even better solution than we’d thought possible. It was perfect!”

Christy Duncan-Anderson, Executive Director, Safeway Foundation

This case study is for informational purposes only.

Benefits Time Management Rather than manually reviewing and managing requests and grantees, the system automatically routes and screens requests according to the unique guidelines and criteria for each Safeway brand and region.

Brand Management By providing and working within clear guidelines and ensuring efficient handling of requests and prompt responses, Safeway’s brand promise and foundation goals are fully supported. In addition, by monitoring gifts across the enterprise, corporate can track gaps or duplications to extend their brand reach.

Improved Tracking & Reporting Even with decisions being made regionally, in different departments and at headquarters, the Versaic system can consolidate and organize the information across the organization while brand and regional managers manage their own areas of responsibility. All grants and donations data is tracked in the Versaic system providing a simple go-to source for the Safeway team.

Summary With relatively little time investment on Safeway’s part, Versaic was able to create a custom solution that exceeded Safeway’s expectations. Today, after working together for more than three years, the Versaic solution for Safeway has evolved to support the organization’s full philanthropy program from small donations to large grants. Through a new initiative called Healthy Futures, the Safeway Foundation donates millions of dollars in grants to address childhood obesity. The office of Public Affairs for Safeway provides product donations (small and large scale) to connect with community members and partner with local non-profit organizations. Versaic ensures all these programs are well-managed, support the Safeway brand and help deliver on the company’s mission to strengthen neighborhoods and change lives.

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For more information about Versaic solutions, please contact us at info@versaic.com or 650-212-7264.

CASE STUDY www.versaic.com

This case study is for informational purposes only.

Safeway had already created a new website to focus their Foundation’s efforts and explain the process for requesting a grant from them.

Requesters can either review the information provided or jump directly to applying online through the Versaic system.

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Once the requester has decided to complete a grant application form, they’re brought to the Versaic system that was branded to Safeway’s specifications.

The system guides the requester through a few simple questions to ensure proper delivery. While in Safeway’s case this is explicit, Versaic can also provide implicit routing based on answers to questions as part of the questionnaire (e.g. by amount requested or zip code).

Since the answer to the first question was Local, the system then asks which state, listing only the states in which Safeway operates.

Since it’s California, the system then asks which brand and section of California to ensure the right request gets to the right place every time.

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Here the system is providing more detailed information on guidelines and options for the brand/region they’ve selected.

Validate that it’s the correct division, if incorrect the requester can go back.

More details on what’s needed to submit to this particular brand/region, and instructions on selecting the giving category.

By clicking on one of these giving categories, the requester gets more information about each, and then can select the choice best suited to their request.

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Here the requester selected Grant Request and this is the first page of that questionnaire.

Status bars show requesters where they are in the process (first of three pages in this case).

Custom questions ensure the right information is submitted in the right format for automatic compliance checking, faster review and better management.

Safeway requested that we validate the 501(c)(3) status of all their submitters, and this message is shown after it’s been verified.

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This page is a sample of the view for the Safeway corporate administrator.

List of the various “mailboxes” that the admin can review either in summary or individually.

The view of each mailbox may be configured to meet each user’s needs, showing the information needed to make decisions more quickly.

Labels are unique to each mailbox and are used for a number of purposes by Safeway.

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This is an example of the details of an individual request.

Menu of most often used actions, which may be configured for each user (custom decline and approval emails, auto-generating check request forms, etc.)

Approval information can be used to track information such as who/when approved, amount or type of product provided, what budget the amount donated is assigned to, and any other information defined by Safeway (other tabs may be created to track or notate other information at client request).

Versaic populated this section from the IRS database of 501(c)s at Safeway’s request so they can validate status and cross-check against possible other donations made to this organization over time and across the brands/regions.