Acolyte Applications

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

 ECHO Collective supports refugee and immigrant women by offering business education and professional mentorship to help them achieve financial independence and build social capital.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Acolyte Applications?

 We needed an in-house client tracking system that was suitable for entrepreneurs. Many of the other CRMs were built for case management in the traditional social work sense, which is not how ECHO functions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

 Acolyte Applications built a platform where we could track our entrepreneurs and the interactions we had with them. We could also track staff. They handled everything; they built us a bottom-up solution.

What is the team composition?

 We worked with two teammates from Acolyte Applications.

How did you come to work with Acolyte Applications?

 We found them through a referral. After my first meeting with Jonathan (Founder & CEO), I knew Acolyte Applications would be a great fit for us. They were really familiar with nonprofits and our unique business model.

How much have you invested with them?

 We spent less than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

 We worked together from January–August 2025.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

 With the new platform, we were able to control our data internally without spending nearly as much money. We also built a platform that could be expanded easily with further work. It increased our team's efficiency.

How did Acolyte Applications perform from a project management standpoint?

 They were great to work with and delivered ahead of schedule. We communicated via Asana and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

 They were very attuned to exactly what we were looking for and knew which questions to ask to figure out how to best deliver on our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

 No, there weren't any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

 I recommend retaining them for future projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Operations of St. Margaret's House

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Nonprofit daycenter serving women and children living in economic poverty.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acolyte Applications to accomplish?

• Manage profiles for the individuals we serve and the services they receive from us.

SOLUTION

How did you find Acolyte Applications?

Referral

Why did you select Acolyte Applications over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Acolyte Applications were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

As a nonprofit that serves women and children living in economic poverty, we have had a Microsoft Access database that has housed our guest's information. Each guest had a profile with demographic information for themselves and their children. It also contained an entry or "visit" for any day that they came to our facility. Within those visits, it would indicate whether or not they recevied a select few of the services we offer. From there, we had reports to help our daily operations. i.e. one that informed us who was eligible for certain services. This system was free and served us well from 2002 until 2024. It was, of course, not without its limitations and as time passed we began to use spreadsheets on the side to track things we didn't know how to track in our database. 

We researched and demo-ed several database options and couldn't find anything close to a fit. Everything was going to be way more expensive than we can afford and their functionality was too complex for what we needed to run smoothly. We needed something super user-friendly and tailored to exactly what we want to track and report on. A custom-build was the right answer for us. 

The scope of this project was to replicate our current database, incorporate the additional information we have begun tracking outside of it, and have the capacity for growth in its functionality as we develop needs in the future.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Tranfser of historical data (All guest profiles, their visits, and accompanying services)

Additional information added (The services, programs, and notes we have started keeping outside the database that we want connected to an individual's profile)

Reports that then pull out the necessary information we need for daily operations

Variable user access (We need staff to be able to see things that volunteers can't) 

Staying on schedule and budget

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They are very organized and incredibly responsive. Always able to understand what I was trying to ask for or helping me clarify so they could get the root of the problem. They were always very good at asking their own questions to help me think about things differently as well in a way that was very helpful to the end product. They are quick to resond but never rushed when you are working through something. They never let a question go unanswered and kept things ahead of schedule.

What was your primary form of communication with Acolyte Applications?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They just seem like great people. Very relatable and very smart. So they are easy to talk to and incredibly capable. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acolyte Applications could have done differently?

They use the project management tool Asana quite a bit which I liked but don't know if I ever really understood what my role was or wasn't in that. So maybe a little more guidance or clarity around that. I am sure in the beginning they told me what I needed to know but then as time passed - not using it all the time - I never really feel like I got great at that. This wasn't actually a problem though because I did use it for the most part and if I was ever unsure I would send a regular ol' email and always got a quick response either way. Very accomodating which is the more important take-away. Thank you! 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am a Director at an education company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We strengthen K12 education and workforce development by providing professional development, student programming, and partnership supports.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acolyte Applications to accomplish?

• Create a database that's easy to use to track contact information.
• Create a system for tracking participants as individuals and as their organizations to see changes year over year.
• Generate reports that help us quickly identify trends and support grant writing and reporting.

SOLUTION

How did you find Acolyte Applications?

Referral

Why did you select Acolyte Applications over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Acolyte Applications were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The project was to create a focused customized database using Filemaker Pro, designed to track the elements of work that we find most necessary. It needed to be extremely easy to use for someone who is less comfortable with technology. We required setup for hosting, licensing, and were supported through finding the most cost-effective way to support the system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Yes!

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were excellent communicators, timely, and professional. It was one of the best vendor experiences I've had.

What was your primary form of communication with Acolyte Applications?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Even though we are a small organization, we were given the same attention as a major client. It's been a pleasure to continue working with them for expansion and maintenance purposes, and I know they always want the best for our organization.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acolyte Applications could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Administrative Assistant of University of Notre Dame - Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government seeks to cultivate thoughtful and educated citizens by supporting scholarship and education concerning the ideas and institutions of constitutional government.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acolyte Applications to accomplish?

• Database for storing information
• Hope to help with future reporting

SOLUTION

How did you find Acolyte Applications?

Referral

Why did you select Acolyte Applications over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Acolyte Applications were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Custom FilemakerPro database. Included records management for academic courses, Center constituents CRM, grants and financial records.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• A successful database that has custom features to fit our Center's unique needs. Continued communication with the vendor to ensure that it fits our needs. 
• Troubleshooting any features that needed to be altered for a better fit and/or providing add-ons and additional needed features (such as additional users, import/export support, and brainstorming for future reporting options).

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project was completed in a timely manner. Communication was stellar, detailed, and always worked to come up with a solution when needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Acolyte Applications?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The company is lovely to work with, particularly as they hold themselves to a high standard. As a smaller unit that is part of a larger University entity, our situation had some logistical challenges and took much patience on the vendor's end. We are appreciative for their positivity, ability to take our ideas on paper and turn it into a specific, custom tool that meets our needs is great. They are kind, and the company has integrity. Very thankful for the great work!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acolyte Applications could have done differently?

Considering that we are new to this technology, Acolyte did a great job at interpreting and asking the right kind of questions to understand exactly what our needs were. They also anticipated things that we might need that were not communicated.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Conservation Programs Officer of Rainforest Trust

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a conservation fundraising non-profit that provides grants to organizations working to achieve land protection in the tropics and sub-tropics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acolyte Applications to accomplish?

• Build out and refine our project management database

SOLUTION

How did you find Acolyte Applications?

Referral

Why did you select Acolyte Applications over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Acolyte Applications were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Acolyte builds various aspects of our project management database, houses our server, and maintains the quality and functioning of our system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have a high functioning, easily customizable project management database that rivals the programs used by other departments in our organization. 

This database without a doubt has enabled us to scale up our work and implement key indicators of success with metrics we can confidently share with our donor community.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Acolyte staff are easy and fun to work with, making developing a database a breeze. Jonathan is a wizard and his ability to make sense of our non-technical rambling and fix a problem or create a function that was taking us hours in mere minutes, sometimes just seconds, is invaluable.

What was your primary form of communication with Acolyte Applications?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They can communicate their technical recommendations in clear, non-technical friendly language. Acolyte very quickly picked up on our operations and processes just through regular collaborations, they could easily anticipate our needs and understand our requests.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acolyte Applications could have done differently?

None!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive director of Neighbor to Neighbor

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We support immigrant newcomers adjust to their new community through wrap-around services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acolyte Applications to accomplish?

• Build a custom CRM

SOLUTION

How did you find Acolyte Applications?

Referral

Why did you select Acolyte Applications over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Acolyte Applications were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

1. Detailed understanding of our work and what we needed an application to do. 
2. Building the application. 
3. Testing the application and making edits based on feedback. 
4. On-boarding new users.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. Data input and storage 
2. Assignment of cases 
3. Case note

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were very receptive and responsive to questions and input. They were patient with our lack of IT knowledge. They were very timely, delivering the product sooner than we expected.

What was your primary form of communication with Acolyte Applications?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Not only did they truly care about the work that our organization does, but they were very generous and delivered a beautiful and functional tool.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acolyte Applications could have done differently?

I cannot imagine what they could have improved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Production Manager of AlphaBet Soup Productions

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Professional Theatre for Young Audiences

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acolyte Applications to accomplish?

• Update existing box office software
• Implement new changes
• Streamline process

SOLUTION

How did you find Acolyte Applications?

Referral

Why did you select Acolyte Applications over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Acolyte Applications were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our old FileMaker program (which was in much need of an upgrade) was recreated/configured with updates/new technology and further improvement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A much better software program for our Box Office needs. Updated, redesigned and recreated with a more modern feel.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Great time management. Deadlines and goals were met on time throughout the project. Any feedback/changes requested were executed efficiently.

What was your primary form of communication with Acolyte Applications?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The attention to detail and overall time that was put into this project impressed us. Although we are a small business with a relatively small project, Jonathan and his team were incredibly communicative, efficient, and thoughtful as they created a new version of our old program.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acolyte Applications could have done differently?

N/A