Rainbow Railroad is a global not-for-profit organization that helps at-risk LGBTQI+ people get to safety worldwide. Based in the United States and Canada, the organization helps LGBTQI+ people facing persecution based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.
When we launched our Pro Bono Award, our goal was simple: support nonprofits doing extraordinary work by helping them overcome key technology challenges. From the moment we reviewed Rainbow Railroad’s application, we knew we had found a mission that resonated deeply with our own values.
Operating globally, Rainbow Railroad helps LGBTQI+ people escape violence and persecution simply for who they are. Since their founding, they’ve supported over 19,000 individuals through emergency relocation, crisis response, cash assistance, and other forms of assistance—reaching people in 95 countries in total. Their work is urgent, courageous, and centered around helping people live freely and safely. And like many nonprofits, their systems hadn’t kept pace with their growth—especially when it came to donation processing.
With a shared connection to Canada and the communities Rainbow Railroad serves, we felt especially connected to their mission—and their commitment to compassion and human dignity deeply resonated with us.
The Challenge
Despite Rainbow Railroad’s global impact, their internal systems told a more familiar story—manual processes, time-consuming workarounds, and hours lost to entering donations by hand. Every week, development staff spent hours entering online donations by hand, slowing down donor acknowledgements, creating room for human error, and holding back donor stewardship.
As Kathryn Busch, Director of Donor Relations for Rainbow Railroad, mentioned during their pro bono application:
“Donation entry is the base of everything needed for the fundraising team. Without efficient and clean data from the start, none of our subsequent processes and systems work as well.”
What seemed like a small manual task had a significant impact—delayed tax receipts, slowed donor communications, and lost time that could otherwise be spent engaging supporters.
The Solution
We launched a 3-month engagement to address the key operational bottleneck—manual donation entry—and to introduce systems and practices that would support long term growth and better donor engagement.
Fast Fix for Streamlined Data Entry
As an immediate solution to the burden of manual data entry, we implemented a batch donation import using Salesforce’s Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) Data Import Mapping. This allowed staff to import batches of Funraise donations into Salesforce with just a few clicks—relieving the immediate burden of time spent on manual entry. While this solution has since been replaced by a fully automated Funraise integration, it gave the team early relief, reduced the risk of error, and freed up time for higher-value work during the build.
Recurring Giving Enhancements
We deployed Enhanced Recurring Donations, enabling the team to better track and manage monthly giving. This has provided greater visibility into donor activity and improved the accuracy of Rainbow Railroad’s recurring revenue data.
Fully Automated Gift Tracking and Currency Conversion
To replace manual entry and reduce friction across systems, we implemented three connected integrations—linking Rainbow Railroad’s Canadian and U.S. Funraise accounts to Salesforce and integrating with Stripe to support automatic currency conversion for international gifts.
Together, these integrations created a fully automated flow of donation data into Salesforce, significantly reducing processing time and giving the team greater visibility and confidence in their fundraising data.
As Kevin Lemieux, Development Officer, shared, the clarity and ease of the process made a real difference for the team:
“I find a lot of this stuff generally confusing, but all the instructions have been straightforward enough where I can follow along—which says a lot... The whole thing has felt extremely efficient. I feel like there’s just been no time lost through the whole process.”
With better tools came greater clarity, confidence, and more free time to focus on what matters most.
Driving Adoption Through Collaboration
While the technical fixes were important, our focus was also on the people behind the systems. We worked to make the process easy to engage with, transparent, and collaborative—so the team felt supported every step of the way.
We introduced a dedicated Client Hub to centralize updates, documentation, task tracking, and communication—giving Rainbow Railroad a clear view of what was happening and what was coming next. This created a single source of truth that made it easy to stay aligned.
“I get a daily digest of updates to the Client Hub in my email, which is nice because I can see what’s new. I don’t need a separate status report—I can just click into the Our Work’ tab and see it all in one place.” - Kathryn Busch, Director of Donor Relations
Weekly Success Meetings and Steering Committee Check-ins gave us consistent space to surface questions, celebrate wins, and make decisions together. These touchpoints helped build trust, keep momentum going, and highlight the value each team member brought to the work.
A Salesforce Health Scan and User Engagement Assessment offered insight into how the system was being used, what was working well, and where additional support could make a difference. Combined with Power User Training and clear, accessible documentation, the team walked away not only with better tools—but with the knowledge and confidence to manage and scale their systems moving forward.
Conclusion
The ripple effects of this work extended far beyond donation processing.
“To be able to partner from a thought leadership point of view with folks who get it brings an energy into our organization,” said Becky McFarlane, COO. “When everything is so dark, it's amazing knowing that there are people who want to help— in tangible ways—not just with funding, but with expertise and support that strengthens us long-term.”
This engagement wasn’t just about fixing a manual process—though that mattered. It was about building capacity, restoring confidence, and giving the team the tools and support to keep doing what they do best: helping LGBTQI+ people live freely and safely.
“We, Rainbow Railroad and TFPG together, are getting more LGBTQI+ people to safety,” said Becky McFarlane.
At the heart of this project was a shared belief: that technology should lift people up. That smart systems and better tools can amplify human compassion, save time, and help nonprofits do what they do best.
This is just the first chapter in our journey together—and we’re proud to play a part. Interested in learning more about our pro bono projects or how we help nonprofits do more with Salesforce? Reach out and say hello!
