Scaling a nonprofit to do more good with tech with Lynette Farhart




The Building Code show

Summary: Construction software has helped thousands of builders optimize their operations, and it’s also powering life-changing charity right in Buildertrend’s backyard. On 2022’s first episode of “The Building Code,” Lynette Farhart of Project Houseworks tells Zach and Charley all about the Omaha nonprofit’s mission to help seniors with free home repairs. Lynette describes how the Buildertrend helped them better serve seniors and the benefits of the Estimate and Time Clock features for her team’s fundraising. WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOUR TEAM NEEDED PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE? “We were serving more, and the projects were getting really big. We're trying to manage all of this on Word documents and spreadsheets. And I think it was pivotal when someone accidentally messed up one of our spreadsheets and saved it. And all of our data was completely messed up. And it was like, "Okay, we can't do that anymore." Because I think what's important to know is that our funding comes a lot from grants, and we have deliverables on those grants. And so, if we told a donor through the grant process that we're going to serve X amount of people, we've got to report that we did that work. So trying to manage our data with spreadsheets just didn't make sense for us anymore”   HOW ELSE DOES BUILDERTREND HELP YOU WIN OVER DONORS?“Some of our grants are reimbursable, which means we have to do all of the work, and then we ask for funding. So we have really accurate reports to submit. And that just earns the trust of our donors knowing that we're keeping such good records on everything that we do.”   LINKS AND MORE   Related content:   Read more about their Buildertrend story here.   To help Project Houseworks serve more seniors, visit their website here.   Want to get your finances in shape for the new year? Listen here for accounting pro-tips.Got podcast topic suggestions for 2022? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com. “The Better Way” a podcast by Buildertrend: Resolved to improve how your team plans projects with the world’s No. 1 construction management software this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bing-eable episodes on your favorite listening app now. Follow us on social: Instagram and Facebook: @Buildertrend   Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.