— Parts & Crafts

Following the summer of 2015 Zach Hirschtritt, Co-director at Parts and Crafts, came to the conclusion that he needed a solution to support his organization and help them grow. He required a software that added value to Parts and Crafts and didn’t want multiple solutions to get the job done. After his research, he decided Amilia was the right fit. Now, he can focus on his program development and give more of his time to the children who come to his workshops.

THE STORY

Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, Parts and Crafts is a makerspace for kids. It was founded in 2009 by Will Macfarlane, who believed in providing the appropriate technology to kids who wanted to play, learn, create, and build. It started with a summer camp but their program was so unique that parents asked for more, and the organization scaled up from there. They now have six full time employees and welcome nearly 450 kids every year for their different activities:

• Vacation camps
• Afterschool programs
• School alternatives
• Makerspace workshops
• Field trips
• Birthday parties

There is something for everyone, and everyone is welcome!

Zach has been at Parts and Crafts for over six years. His job has changed over the years, as new activities and programs were developed. Without a system or dedicated administrative assistant, the entire staff was working extra hours during busy registration periods. Everyone was doing a little bit of everything so the information was scattered.

THE CHALLENGE

Parts and Crafts employees have very close ties with their customers and community. They want everyone to have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their financial situation. In order to make that possible, they must be creative with payment methods and plans: some parents pay for activities in full, some pay 50% up front and 50% later, and some only pay when they can afford it.

It became laborious to keep track of all the transactions on excel sheets. Ultimately, Zach decided it was too much. He had a feeling Parts and Crafts was losing money as parents would forget to make their payments, but it was impossible to be sure. It was time to start looking for a solution that would meet their needs.

First, Zach gave Eventbrite a try. He could accept online payments, but there was still no link between a payment and a participant, and it didn’t provide financial records. Financially speaking, he was still in the dark. He needed more from a solution, so he went ahead and looked for a more complete solution online. He found many solutions, but they were either too expensive or too niched; they solved one problem but not the others.

THE SOLUTION

Then, he found Amilia. He liked that he could test the system with a 30-day free trial. After spending some time test-driving his trial account, Zach realized Amilia would be easy to use for both his customers and his staff. Most importantly, he understood that Amilia could provide exactly what he was searching for: support for multiple payment methods and plans that are automatically tracked and updated in real-time.

Not only did Amilia solve his main problem – it also came with a full suite of other time-saving features for his staff and customers.

Favourite Features

Financial Reports

Zach now has access to many financial reports that help him analyze his organization’s financial performance. He has all the information he needs on sales and revenue. He doesn’t have to chase after late payments anymore because everyone knows what they owe and when they need to pay it.

Attendance Lists

Before Amilia, it was impossible for Zach to make last minute changes on his attendance lists. Now his staff always has a list of all participants and important information about them (allergies, medical conditions). He can create, send, and update attendance lists in few clicks. Plus, his staff can access all this info in real-time with the Amilia Smartphone App.

Donations

Parts and Crafts relies a lot on the generosity of its sustaining members. By giving a donation every month via their Amilia account, these generous donors offer more kids the chance to join Parts and Crafts.

THE RESULTS

Zach is happy that all the information at Parts and Crafts is now centralized in one database; it was an essential step in growing the organization. Using Amilia allows Parts and Craft to achieve major savings in time and money.

Even though Parts and Crafts has 483 member accounts and has generated over 3133 invoices, the staff hasn’t had to work any additional hours to complete administrative tasks. When they need extra help with Amilia, they reach out to customer service via chat or email to get straight answers, quickly. Finally, customers are delighted with an easy system that lets them register and pay online. Over 90% of their payments are now taken online.

If you are interested to learn how SmartRec could help you and your organization succeed like it helped Parts & Crafts, just reach out to our team. We would be happy to discuss it with you!