Client spotlight: KidsCan
Welcome to the Flo2Cash client spotlight series.
In this edition, we interviewed Leigh Jeffs, Marketing Communications Manager, and Lizette Louw, Supporter Services and Database Manager, from KidsCan.
This is a story about an organisation with humble roots.
It begins with their founder. It’s 2005.
After hearing media stories about child poverty and wanting to find out how bad things were, Julie Chapman sent out an unsophisticated survey to low decile schools. The response was overwhelming. Children were missing out on the essentials many of us take for granted and it was having a huge impact on their education.
Soon after, KidsCan started out of an Auckland garage and founded with a clear mission: To help these kids receive the essentials to participate in learning, so they can reach their potential, no matter where they come from.
Fast forward to today.
KidsCan is one of New Zealand’s leading charitable organisations, providing support to over 1,000 schools and early childhood centres.
Flo2Cash is privileged to be working with and supporting them since April 2010.
We interviewed two of their team members - Lizette and Leigh - who exemplified and made obvious that KidsCan is full of fiercely passionate and caring individuals connected by a shared vision.
That vision? A better New Zealand for all Kiwi kids.
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In your own words, could you please share what KidsCan is all about, and what it means to you?
Leigh: KidsCan has been helping Kiwi kids for 17 years with established core programs; food, raincoats, shoes, and health.
As of this year, we support over 1,000 schools and early childhood centres right across New Zealand, so from the top of the north island right to the bottom of the south.
Those programs are the essentials that enable kids to get to school in a position to learn.
We all know education is key, and these kids deserve an equal chance to actually get one.
From the impact there’s also so much more than just items - these items give the kids self-esteem. It makes them feel like people care about them. It makes them feel equal to those around them.
For lots of them it’s the first brand new item they've ever received.
Lizette: See, she’s got all the words! Beautiful. (Laughs). That’s really it in a nutshell.
I love the impact part for sure, and just like Leigh mentioned, it’s a lot more than the kids just getting food or shoes - it’s a whole little person and everything around them. It’s about making them feel equal.
What are your roles, and how long have you both been part of the team?
Leigh: I’ve been here for a long time! I’m the Marketing Communications Manager - I’m coming up to nine years in June.
Lizette: I’m Supporter Services and Database Manager, and I’m a year later than Leigh… so that would be my 10 years.
Leigh: That’s crazy.
Lizette: I can’t even think it, my goodness.
Leigh: That’s insane, where does 10 years go…
Time sure flies. What are some of the exciting initiatives / projects you’re working on right now?
Lizette: Our most exciting project would be the one with Flo2Cash from a technical monthly-giving space.
This will be significant for our supporters. There’s no product like that on the market and I’m excited to see where it goes.
I can’t imagine having to manage so many schedules and making sure those payments come through, so to give them a secure way to update their details, I think, is something supporters really want. (Especially in a space like today where so many people get scammed. The trust of giving credit card details over the phone is dropping. People are unsure.)
We think it’s going to help us massively in the attrition space, giving our supporters the opportunity to update their details securely and them knowing that it’s done; and then for us to get the funds through the door so that we can use it to fund our programs.
Leigh: It’s a really hard time in the world. COVID has hit so many vulnerable families the hardest and I don’t think the effects of that are quite known just yet.
The scale of what we do is really large – every day we fed 44,000 children and no doubt that need is going to continue to grow. So support is needed now more than ever, especially in the regular donation space.
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Support KidsCan
You can help make sure that Kiwi kids aren’t going cold, hungry, or missing out on a day of learning:
Winter appeal
KidsCan has launched an urgent appeal as winter hits, asking the public to donate just $15 for the 15% of children in New Zealand who live with food insecurity.
$15 will feed a child for a week with a nutritious breakfast of baked beans, bread, spreads, fruit and yoghurt, and morning tea of trail mix, snack bars and fruit pottles. The charity is able to source its items at low cost thanks to discounts from suppliers.
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In your nine and 10 years of being part of KidsCan, what’s the best aspect about being part of the organisation?
Lizette: For me, it’s when you enjoy what you do, and then in the same space, you’re actually in the broader picture helping kids… that’s a big driver for me.
I’m more on the technical and data side of things, but in some way, shape, or form, every day when I get home (it doesn’t matter exactly what I’ve done that day) it’s a nice feeling to know you’ve done something good - that you’ve played a small part in a very big team.
Everybody at KidsCan is very devoted, works really hard, and are very passionate about our cause.
For me personally, that’s what gets me through to showing up the next day and giving it another go… and also working with awesome people. (Smiles)
What’s your main reason for using a payments platform?
Lizette: It comes down to when organisations implement revenue streams. When they seek the benefit of recurring giving revenue streams (so having that sustainable revenue), it automatically flows over to them having to build a relationship with the merchant. That merchant will then process all of your donor payments but should also give you the best rates.
The relationship we have between Flo2Cash and KidsCan is very important.
There aren’t a lot of merchants that process both direct debits and credit cards.
Most merchants only process credit cards. And that’s where Flo2Cash stands out - they own that space a little bit with direct debits. We have half of our customers with credit cards, half our customers with direct debit.
Having fair fees is very important to us as well - because you can imagine that the more you add to your recurring giving pool, the more significant the fees can become.
Thus, having a relationship with a payment platform that understands this is super important.
Flo2Cash is always having conversations with us about the fees and are understanding that we are a charity. It can mean a significant difference for us in getting a reduction in fees. And again, having a relationship with your merchant that understands that is key.
There’s also the mechanics and the back end, the integration between the systems, and being able to integrate the payments into our database. I worked with Flo2Cash at a previous charity as well. Christian Blind Mission (CBM) used Flo2Cash for recurring giving. So, your system and the way you operate was familiar to me when I came to KidsCan.
How is Flo2Cash helping to fulfil KidsCan's needs / overcome any pain points?
Lizette: First of all, from a customer service point of view, and having a team like yours (we’ve been working with your team for so many years), having a team that can just take a situation or an issue or anything and basically deal with it.
Across the last few years we’ve made many changes and your team has always been on point, always there to help us, always keen to understand what the issue is.
Having that is major.
You’re not just talking to a chatbot or a call centre, you’re actually talking to someone.
Someone that wants to understand and help.
That, for me, is key. Especially in this space - it’s a very different relationship that we have with our merchant that handles our one-off payments.
With them, you’re very much talking to whoever and you’re lucky if you get a response - whereas with Flo2Cash it’s more authentic and personal, which is what we need in that space because it’s so agile.
Sometimes we need to make decisions and correct things really quickly. Because if our form is down, or we’re having issues with a payment, we need to make really quick decisions so that we’re not losing out on donations. This particular part is key.
The other key part is having a company that understands that fees for charities hits us really hard.
Being a charity of choice and having a reduction in fees is massive for us, because it means we can allocate that money somewhere else.
And when I say 'somewhere else' it literally means helping more kids.
It’s a direct correlation. If we save money, we can help more kids.
Leigh mentioned before about the kids on our waiting list. Every cent we have, every reduction in fee, everything we get in kind, it means we can do more.
Therefore, we always have those conversations with Flo2Cash around the negotiated fees and making sure we have a good relationship there, but also that we get the support. It makes us stay.
How did you first hear about Flo2Cash?
Leigh: I’m on the marketing side of things - Lizette’s our guru when it comes to database, data, and supported services.
The one really cool thing that I've seen over the years is that we’ve had a few developments alongside Flo2Cash.
Developments we’ve tried and tested and have helped evolve along the way. It’s great to be at the forefront of the evolution of some of the Flo2Cash pages, systems, and setup.
What’s the best part about working with us?
Lizette: For me, it’s certainly working with the Customer Success team.
It’s down to having someone that is taking care of you, and understands, I need to answer them or I need to do something about this, something needs to be done today and so forth.
If I had a different relationship with Flo2Cash where I had to really wait, like with other companies where you’re just not hearing anything or you’re feeling not that important… I think it would change our relationship.
But with us - KidsCan and Flo2Cash - it really feels like both parties have a good relationship!
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Donate to KidsCan New Zealand
Your donations will support a Kiwi kid in need with food, shoes, jackets and basic health items.
Other ways to help
Winter appeal
KidsCan has launched an urgent appeal as winter hits, asking the public to donate just $15 for the 15% of children in New Zealand who live with food insecurity.
$15 will feed a child for a week with a nutritious breakfast of baked beans, bread, spreads, fruit and yoghurt, and morning tea of trail mix, snack bars and fruit pottles. The charity is able to source its items at low cost thanks to discounts from suppliers.
Find out the many other ways you can support or get involved by visiting their website or following them on social media:
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