How Roswell Park Alliance Foundation Automated 17,000+ Gifts during the peak season and Saved 30 Hours Per Month with Charity Automator Data Flow

The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that manages all donations made to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Since its inception, more than $689 million has been contributed to advance lifesaving research, treatment, education, and patient-care programs.

With a mission to maximize dollars available for promising research, operational efficiency directly supports progress toward cures. Behind every campaign, special event, and online gift sits a data process that must work reliably, accurately, and in real time. For years, that process was creating friction. Last year, the team made a decision to change their workflow and to make the data process as smooth as possible. This is how they discovered Charity Automator Data Flow.

Below, you will find how SimpliPhi automated data integration across Luminate Online’s key fundraising modules, including Donation Forms, TeamRaiser, E-commerce, and Events, using Charity Automator Data Flow. This ensured that all transactions flow seamlessly into Raiser’s Edge NXT, eliminating manual processing and improving reliability at scale.

The Breaking Point: Manual Work, Exceptions, and System Instability

Before partnering with SimpliPhi, the Foundation relied on another data integration product to transfer online gifts from Luminate Online into Raiser’s Edge NXT. Over time, that system became increasingly unstable: the team was forced into constant manual work. During peak seasons, hundreds of gifts per month had to be entered manually.

One team member was spending six to eight hours per week managing the integration alone. Month-end reconciliation could take one to two full days of pulling reports, comparing systems, identifying missing gifts, and redistributing work across the team.

Even more stressful, the Foundation raises funds through complex channels: special events, teamraisers, tribute gifts, recurring donations, and major online gifts that can reach $25,000 or more. With 60,000 transactions in heavy months, reliability was not optional.

The system instability created inefficiency and anxiety for the team.

Implementation: Structured, Collaborative, and Transparent

The onboarding process of Charity Automator Data Flow involved detailed mapping sessions to align how gifts were qualified in Raiser’s Edge NXT and how Luminate Online data would flow.

Despite operating under tight contract timelines and entering the busy holiday season, implementation moved forward with collaboration between The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation's team and SimpliPhi’s technical specialists.

The key difference quickly became visible: proactive monitoring.

“We were told SimpliPhi's team is constantly watching and managing the system, and I was skeptical. But it’s true. Even if something takes a few days to fix, we are sure that someone is working on our issue.” — Stephanie King, Assistant Director of Digital Operations at Roswell Park Alliance Foundation

Results of the partnership with SimpliPhi

1. Measurable Results

Since the implementation in Autumn 2025, nearly 17,000 Luminate Online gifts have successfully flowed into Raiser’s Edge NXT through Charity Automator Data Flow.

Operational improvements include:

• Elimination of weekly 6–8 hour integration management
• Reduction of 1–2 full days of monthly reconciliation work
• Removal of manual entry for hundreds of gifts per month
• No database freezing during processing
• Faster processing during peak campaigns
• Reduced exception handling and reruns

Stephanie estimates the time savings at approximately 30 hours per month, with even greater impact expected during heavy event seasons.

The change is particularly significant during major fundraising initiatives such as IceCycle, Empire State Ride, Ride for Roswell, and year-end giving campaigns, where online transactions surge.

Instead of stopping everything to run integrations, the team can now operate continuously.

2. Real-Time Visibility and Reporting Confidence for the Leadership Team

Before Data Flow, reporting lag could range from several days to a full week. If discrepancies appeared, the team had to manually reconcile Luminate reports against Raiser’s Edge NXT.

“There were times when I would go back in and rerun things to add however many gifts I could get in before we started doing them manually. That was double work on both of our parts. Sometimes five or six hours of double work.” — Sarah Pierce, Manager, Development Data & Gift Processing at Roswell Park Alliance Foundation

Today, data flows far closer to real time.

The Foundation can estimate revenue performance with significantly greater confidence. Month-end closing no longer feels like a scramble to find missing gifts.

That clarity improves internal forecasting, executive reporting, and campaign tracking.

3. Redirecting Capacity Toward Mission

Roswell Park Alliance Foundation’s mission is to maximize funding for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s most promising lifesaving research, treatment, and prevention programs, while supporting the psychosocial needs of patients and families affected by cancer. This work is carried out through fundraising initiatives led in partnership by dedicated volunteers and Foundation staff.

When gift processing becomes predictable and reliable, staff capacity shifts toward mission-supporting work rather than administrative repair.

• Manual entry is eliminated, giving the team time for more advanced data projects.
• Reconciliation time is replaced with strategic analysis.
• Anxiety is replaced with confidence.

Every hour saved is an hour redirected toward accelerating research, patient support, and community impact.

Looking Ahead

The system now handles high-volume teamraisers, major online gifts, recurring donations, and complex fundraising structures without freezing databases or creating reconciliation backlogs.

Operational clarity has become operational confidence. And that confidence fuels stronger fundraising performance in support of ongoing research that could lead to groundbreaking discoveries, changing how cancer patients are diagnosed and treated.

Book a Discovery Call

Interested in building a fundraising system that supports your organization’s ambitions?

Book a discovery call with SimpliPhi to explore how a clean implementation and expert guidance can help your team move faster with confidence.