Connecting fundraising, training and supporter data at Leeds Mind

Leeds Mind is an independent mental health charity that has been supporting people in and around Leeds for more than 50 years. Part of the wider Mind federation, the charity provides a range of services including suicide bereavement support, social prescribing and employment support.

Their Business Development team manages fundraising, training, and external marketing and communications, helping generate income and build relationships with supporters, donors and local organisations.

Leeds Mind were using a fragmented combination of systems, spreadsheets and manual workarounds to manage supporter, fundraising, training and Mindful Employer network activity. This made it difficult to maintain a complete picture of how people and organisations engaged with the charity over time. One person or organisation could interact with the charity via several of these different routes, and reporting and relationship management were often more time-consuming than they needed to be.

The team had already identified Beacon as the right CRM for their needs and were looking for support to implement it. Through Beacon, they were introduced to Torchbox to support the migration, configuration and onboarding process.

Before configuring Beacon, we ran a discovery phase, holding workshops with key stakeholders to understand how teams were working, how data moved through the organisation, and where Beacon could help improve existing processes.

Together with the team, we created a series of process maps documenting how key activities were managed across their different areas, sense-checking our understanding, identifying pain points and exploring opportunities for improvement.

Rather than simply recreating existing workflows in a new CRM (and bringing across inefficient ways of working), we used these conversations to understand what was working well, where processes weren't serving teams well, and how Beacon could help streamline day-to-day activity. The process maps then became a foundation for the rest of the project, guiding configuration decisions and ensuring the final setup reflected how teams actually worked while making the most of Beacon's capabilities.

Using the insights we gained from discovery, we then spent time configuring Beacon to reflect how Leeds Mind's teams actually worked and to streamline day-to-day processes.

A key part of this was bringing together all of the data that was previously spread across multiple systems. We set up Beacon so that interactions across training, fundraising, volunteering and the charity's Mindful Employer network could be captured within a single record, creating a more joined-up view of how people and organisations engage with Leeds Mind.

Regular playback sessions and demos gave the Leeds Mind team opportunities to review progress, test functionality, and refine the platform as it evolved. Alongside data migration from their existing sources, these sessions helped ensure the final configuration reflected the charity's needs while giving teams confidence in how the system would work in practice.

Rather than running training on Beacon at the end of the project, we took a more hands-on approach, building knowledge and confidence throughout the implementation.

As soon as early configurations and test data were available, Leeds Mind staff were encouraged to start using the platform, exploring reports, dashboards and workflows while the project was still underway.

This gave teams time to build confidence gradually, take ownership of their CRM, and shape the final setup around how they wanted to work. By involving staff throughout the project, we were able to refine the platform based on feedback and ensure people felt comfortable with the new system.

The result was a smoother transition at launch and a team that felt ready to use the platform from day one.

Delivered over four months, the new setup provides:

• Unified supporter, fundraising, training and Mindful Employer data in one place, covering both individuals and organisations
• Streamlined processes that reduce manual administration
• Improved reporting and data management
• A charity-focused platform with features such as Gift Aid management and integrations with tools including JustGiving and Enthuse

Following launch, we also provided a dedicated support period to help the team settle into the new system and ensure everything was working as expected.

With Beacon now embedded within day-to-day operations, Leeds Mind has a stronger foundation for managing relationships, improving reporting and developing richer supporter journeys.

By bringing data together into a single platform and involving staff throughout the implementation, the charity is well placed to continue building on this work as it grows.