More than a Job

Non-profit organization, Baptist Global Response, changes lives in need across the globe.

Making a Difference in Our World

Days often go by quickly for the average person. We wake up, eat, work, sleep, and do it all again the next day. Rarely do we stop and think about those in need—people that have little to no food to eat, no job, no water source, nowhere to sleep. For Baptist Global Response (BGR), this is at the forefront of their organization.

BGR is a disaster relief and community development organization with a heart for helping people in desperate need. “Our mission is to demonstrate the love of God so that people in need can live full and meaningful lives,” says Rick Funderburk, chief operations officer.

At BGR, their desire is to see people live their lives with hope—with the ability to raise their families with confidence and dignity, to build their own communities, and share in life with others peacefully.

On a daily basis, BGR and its partners respond to critical needs all over the world, including extreme poverty, endemic hunger, natural disasters, human trafficking, and personal trauma to name a few.

Additionally, BGR is known to stay in areas of need longer than most organizations to ensure lasting results. “There was a natural disaster where we stayed for months when other organizations left after weeks,” said Rick.

In 2018, BGR helped nearly 1.4 million people in 5,334 communities. At any given time, BGR has up to 300 programs running – programs that save young girls and boys from human trafficking or provide clean water to communities suffering diseases from contaminated sources.

How Do They Do It?

Managing all these programs isn’t an easy task. From donors to partners to volunteers, information needs to pass quickly, easily, and with a holistic view in order to fulfill their mission at the time needs arise.

“This is where Salesforce comes in handy for us. In the way we can segment those lists of people—donors, churches, volunteers—and also input all of our programs from across the globe. Accounting Seed allows us to link it all together,” said Rick.

Having worked with other systems in the past, such as Blackbaud’s FinancialEdge, BGR needed a full system with CRM and accounting all in one. But not just any accounting system. BGR works heavily with donors to continue their work. Thus, fund and project accounting was key.

“Let’s say a donor wants to donate to a well that is being built in Zimbabwe. With Accounting Seed, we can apply that gift to that exact project, even to the point where we know all the statistics and details from project to donation and back. That helps us keep everything together and track efficiently,” said Rick.

Because BGR works overseas, they often have to manage certain funds differently than others. Now, they’ve eliminated the additional work that comes with this.

“We have an overseas operation that we keep in a separate fund and report separately. Accounting Seed allows us to easily manage separate funds without a lot of extra work,” said Terry Heeringa, chief accountant.  

The value that BGR found in Accounting Seed is that it not only works seamlessly within Salesforce but, more importantly, that it allows them to focus on helping others, changing lives, and serving communities.

“It’s just a huge privilege to come to work each day knowing we are really helping people and impacting their lives,” says Mary Frances Satterwhite, office manager.

And that’s what it’s all about for BGR – giving 100 percent to each and every person they come in contact with and using the right tools to accomplish this.

“The beauty that I think we have in Accounting Seed is that it works very well in the database world that we live in to help others,” says Terry. “[Helping others] is what God has called me to do, and using the skills I have to further BGR’s mission is exactly where I want to be.”

To learn more about Baptist Global Response and find opportunities to volunteer, visit gobgr.org.