The Efficacy of Efficiency

BY TINA V. BRYSON

Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) is the largest human services organization in the nation that serves Appalachia exclusively. We provide a network of 16 interrelated service programs including mental health counseling, a food pantry, a thrift store, preschools, summer camps, housing, disaster relief, and elderly services. Shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a devasting impact across human service organizations, disrupting the channels that connect staff and volunteers with participants. But CAP addressed the issue head on, answering the questions “how could we continue to deliver services in our area of 11 counties, especially in our six primary counties?”

“For the past five years, CAP’s strategic plans and Leadership Team Playbook have focused on a culture of collaboration, technology, and safety,” said Gloria Jordan, vice president of administration. “Our thematic goal of ‘All In’ created an intentionality around working strategically together to further CAP’s mission. All of these measures helped prepare CAP staff to manage well during the impact of COVID-19.”

CAP had spent the last five years transitioning to cloudbased systems for many administrative functions including Finance, Human Resources, and Information Technology. It also connected programs across the many counties CAP serves. Files can be easily shared and meetings can be conducted digitally. “I believe that God gave us the wisdom to upgrade to a cloud-based system,” said Brian Stiefel, CAP’s Chief Financial Officer. “This upgrade made it possible to access our system and any needed documentation from anywhere. Even though Finance doesn’t interact directly with our donors or participants, we support those who do. We strive to provide the support needed so that our donors’ gifts have the greatest impact in Appalachia and our programs are able to focus fully on serving our participants.”

From the Leadership Team through each department and program, CAP’s community of care has worked to live out its mission of building hope, transforming lives, and sharing Christ’s love through service in Appalachia. While the mission is easy to see in direct service to participants, it is equally present in every aspect of our operations.

“All staff now employed in Information Technology previously served in direct service programs at CAP which gives us a profound sense of purpose and special insight into what will help programs more efficiently and effectively live out the mission and purpose of CAP,” said Barry Powers, manager of Information Technology. “It doesn’t matter which program we are serving, we love the fact that our work directly assists programs in carrying out CAP’s mission to participants and their families, shoring them up to feel safe, healthy, and above all, hopeful.”

The Administration Team consists of Human Resources, Risk Management, Finance, Information Technology, Facilities Management, and Operation Sharing (CAP’s gifts-in-kind program). Collectively, they help CAP fulfill its mission by providing accountability and stewardship of all resources. They work diligently to provide a pathway into the organization, to ensure a safe and healthy work environment where the work is done within the required standards, regulations, policies, and best practices; to ensure financial stewardship and accountability; to ensure all equipment, facilities, and vehicles are available and in good working order; to ensure gifts-in-kind are available to offset program overhead costs; and to ensure the necessary infrastructures are in place so that work can be performed with the least amount of disruptions.

“Administration supports, empowers, and enables the staff who are in the trenches serving as the hands and feet of Jesus to our participants,” Jordan noted. “During this time of COVID-19, the needs of our participants did not decrease; in fact, they became greater. Administration was able to provide resources, encouragement, and supplies to program staff, so that they could continue to fulfill the CAP mission of serving our participants and meeting their needs,” she said.

CAP was not immune to government restrictions to stay at home and practice social distancing. The entire staff worked to ensure that exposure to the virus was minimized for employees and volunteers as well as our participants. Everyone began with a limited knowledge of COVID-19 and there was a steep learning curve that required increased communication and collaboration. Things were changing rapidly, and it was difficult to keep up with those changes.

“This crisis has afforded us the opportunity to work directly with our programs in a profound way, helping them to devise plans for how to continue administering assistance to participants, donors, and our surrounding communities, no matter the situation surrounding us,” Powers added. “CAP has always been an organization that is very spread out over a large geographical area, most of which is rural. Our transition a few years ago to digital and cloud services helped alleviate what we saw as a pain point for employees who largely worked out of the office. This transition has allowed us to have more efficient and effective processes.”

Once COVID-19 hit, CAP was far ahead of a lot of other organizations in our area, including businesses, as we had already done the brunt of this transition over a long period of time, managing costs and maintaining our high standards as stewards of donated funds. Powers explained, “This strategic planning allowed us to effectively pack up and shelter in place, but still continue to function on a very high level very quickly. All of the groundwork that was laid was essential. We were able to pivot on a lot of fronts and still provide services that were otherwise cut off from other organizations. The hard work paid off in equipping our staff during that transition, and most importantly that through technological solutions CAP was able to continue to provide service to our participants in an unprecedented time.”

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