Customer Stories
Friends of the Library, Montgomery County, MD, Inc.
This Maryland nonprofit turned to OnBoard for a secure way to share and store documents, but found other ways to use the platform as well.
Customer Stories
This Maryland nonprofit turned to OnBoard for a secure way to share and store documents, but found other ways to use the platform as well.
Industries: Nonprofits, Associations
Headquarters: Rockville, Maryland
Board Management Goals
Results
OnBoard Capabilities Utilized
On the surface, the Friends of the Library Montgomery County, MD, Inc.’s mission might seem obvious, and it is. But how it carries out that mission include some impressive and unconventional means.
The nonprofit serves Montgomery County, Maryland, just north of Washington, D.C., and supports the Montgomery County Public Library system by providing supplemental funding, programs, materials, and equipment to the library system to supplement ongoing funding.
Montgomery County, Maryland is the most populated county in the state, with just over 1 million people. Unlike many “Friends of” library systems, FOLMC boasts a professional, paid staff that includes five executive team members and 18 to 24 part-time staff. It raises $1.5 million annually, with 75 to 80% of the revenue coming from book sales, and the rest largely coming from donations and grants. “We know how to sell used books,” says Ari Brooks, FOLMC’s Executive Director. “Seventy-five to 80% of our annual budget from books that cost about $2.”
FOLMC also hosts the largest free comic convention in the Washington, D.C. area, along with pop-up book-related events throughout the county.
“We want to be responsive to all different kinds of needs, from people just wanting to check out a book to folks who want to learn about becoming a citizen to teaching children how to read or teaching adults to learn how to read who don’t even read in their own language,” Ari says.
The 14-member FOLMC board meets quarterly, as do its four standing committees. The board structure also includes an ad-hoc strategic planning committee, a working group, and two additional high school students who serve as non-voting members and meet monthly. The all-volunteer board can serve two three-year terms but can serve an additional term with a unanimous board vote.
When the FOLMC board searched for a board management solution, its primary goal was security. “We were using a password-protected side of our website that we realized had been hacked, and we had some very sensitive documents at that time that we were sharing, and there was a lot of data in there that they wanted to remain confidential,” Ari says. “We know our documents are secure now.”
Ari also cites a desire to reduce the amount of time they spent on document management. “Prior to the pandemic when the board was meeting in-person (it meets virtually now), we used to print board materials and mail them. Inevitably, we would have to reprint most things because of a change.”
The problems didn’t stop with security or efficiency issues. “My staff always had to troubleshoot issues,” Ari says. “Inevitably people lost their passwords or locked themselves out. Right before a board meeting, we’d get bombarded with emails from people trying to get into their secure documents. Now we can just call OnBoard.”
— Ari Brooks, Executive Director, Friends of the Library, Montgomery County, MD, Inc.
FOLMC started its search for a cloud-based board portal with four options, then narrowed it down to two. OnBoard won out thanks to a few key factors, Ari says.
“My deputy director Lysette [House] did extensive research and talked to companies and got demos and shared them with me and another board member,” Ari adds. “The responsiveness is what enabled OnBoard to win out. We got very quick responses to all our questions, our need for information. It was comparable in price to others, so it helped that it wasn’t overly costly.”
The board adopted OnBoard about two years ago and hasn’t looked back since.
“OnBoard did a couple of trainings for us,” Ari says. “100% of the board members participated in the training options. That was invaluable, to actually have a live person walk them through the software.”
Ari admits there was some reluctance to the change at first, but eventually the board members adapted to the switch. “They trusted the process when we said to just call [OnBoard] when they encounter a problem,” she says.
When Ari went on a lengthy vacation recently, she went to a destination where she had no internet access. This meant she needed to delegate payroll and accounts payable approvals to someone else.
They wound up using OnBoard for this process. Not only did it work efficiently, but it also had the added benefit of a built-in “paper trail” for auditors.
“We still use it to this day where we upload all the accounts payables in a certain section,” Ari says. “We thought, ‘How can we get this information to the board president securely and not bombard her and overwhelm her?’ So, we gave her and our accountant permissions to use it … and when our auditors ask, ‘Where is Ari’s approval on this?’ we can screenshot the OnBoard file and show that I approve.”
It wasn’t difficult for Ari to say what she loves most about OnBoard.
“Everything is in one place,” she says. “I don’t have to worry about sensitive documents. It’s a one-stop shop, and it took away such a huge headache for my staff. It is by far the best business solutions software that we have ever invested in.”
She adds that the messenger, calendar, and the mobile capabilities are her favorite features. “I use messaging all the time,” Ari says. “Lysette takes the minutes for all the meetings, so I know she would say the minutes and agenda builder are so simple.
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