“See Further Than You Can on Your Own”: How Domus Kids Unified Its Data with Exponent Case Management
Domus Kids is a nonprofit based in Stamford, Connecticut that helps disconnected and disengaged young people forge their own paths to self-sufficiency. Through individualized support programs spanning school engagement, workforce development, and community re-entry, Domus works closely with local schools and community partners to help youth succeed in the classroom, at work, and beyond.
Highlights
- From Siloed Records to a Single Source of Truth: Fragmented data across disconnected programs and multiple contacts meant duplicated records, conflicting information, and staff working in the dark on families they shared. ECM unified the picture.
- Real-Time Data Replaced the Export-and-Rebuild Cycle: Regular reporting that once required pulling data out of the system, processing it externally in SAS, and re-exporting on the day it was needed now happens live, inside Salesforce, at any moment.
- A Coordinated Approach to Families, Not Just Individuals: Cross-program visibility means multiple staff serving the same family can now coordinate their outreach—including during the holidays.
- A Partnership That Expanded What Was Possible: Alison always knew the system was capable of more. What she needed was a partner who could meet her ambition with the right architecture—cutting through complexity to find the most strategic path forward.
Situation
Data lived in silos, and the silos created errors
Before ECM, Domus Kids was using Apricot, a case management platform that structured data around individual programs. If a young person participated in multiple programs, their emergency contact might be recorded in both—but with different phone numbers, or listed under different roles. There was no unified record. “All of the information was related to just the young person in that program,” Alison explained. “So it was very siloed, and functionally, there was a lot of error in the system.”
When Alison joined, the first thing she did was work within those constraints to understand them. Rather than immediately seeking a replacement, she mapped the gaps and documented the data quality problems. That turned out to be the right instinct. “I would give that advice to someone in the future: if you have a system that’s not so great, work with it first. It’ll be so much easier to build something new because you know where the gaps are.”
Reporting required exporting, rebuilding, and starting over
Regular reporting involved pulling data out of Apricot, processing it in a separate tool, and building reports externally. The problem: the moment data was exported, it was already outdated. Alison’s workaround was to build the reporting framework once, then re-export everything the day a report was actually due. It was inefficient and cumbersome.
Solution
Alison came to the evaluation process well-prepared. Her previous experience at MDRC had given her a window into how the most evaluation-ready nonprofits in the country managed their data. The organizations that impressed her most had all partnered with Exponent Partners—such as the Center for Employment Opportunities and Pace Center for Girls. “These are really smart people. They made a really smart decision. They’re happy with it. If we could afford it, we should do the same thing.”
Beyond peer validation, Alison was drawn to something structural. A product built for human services organizations carries institutional knowledge that no custom build could replicate. When the Center for Employment Opportunities identified a need and Exponent built to support it, every other organization on the platform benefited. “I kept thinking, all these other nonprofits that are further along have more understanding of where the platform needs to improve. I’ll benefit from all those improvements.” With a custom build, the system only evolves if you evolve it.
Results
Real-time data replaced the export-and-rebuild cycle
The shift from external processing to live reporting inside Salesforce changed how Alison and her team relate to data. There is no longer a gap between what’s in the system and what’s in the report. “All of the regular cadence of information that needs to happen during the year is all within the system,” she said. When staff ask her now when the data is ready, the answer is always the same. “Right now. It’s right now.”
Referrals tracked in the system
After-school program staff were managing referrals through a mix of emails, texts, and handwritten notes, always slightly afraid something would fall through the cracks. Alison worked with them to activate the referral tracking already built into Salesforce, moved it to a more visible location, and set up a homepage report showing exactly which young people needed to be enrolled. “This was a real game changer for our staff,” Alison noted. The young people get to the program they were referred to, and her staff member is no longer managing a stack of Post-it notes hoping she hasn’t missed anyone.
Case managers can intervene earlier
ECM’s activity tracking allows supervisors and staff to see at a glance whether a young person is being served at the expected frequency. When a gap appears, it opens the door to a direct conversation about what’s going on in that young person’s life. “It facilitates the conversation,” Alison said. Rather than waiting until something becomes a crisis, staff can ask the question earlier. When they do look at the full record, they can also see the young person’s history across programs, giving the staff member context before walking into that conversation.
Dashboards that tell a story
Prior to using Salesforce, reporting often took an inordinate amount of time. Now, with carefully built dashboards, it takes little time—or the task has become obsolete. One example is the monthly school program report that used to take between four and eight hours to put together. Exponent helped build reports that always show a complete picture of information for all youth enrolled the prior month. These were all loaded onto the dashboard, and that information is now quickly and easily plugged into the report each month, in less than an hour.
A Partner Who Builds Capacity
When Alison was asked whether she wanted to hire someone to replace a departing colleague early in her time at Domus, she said no. She was still learning the platform herself and wasn’t yet sure what skills she needed in a hire. She chose to invest that budget in Exponent services instead. “I need someone to be a thought partner and to be supporting me.” For nearly five years, her primary collaborator wasn’t an internal staff member. It was Exponent.
What she valued most wasn’t technical execution. It was judgment. She described the consultants who worked best with her as people who pushed back when she was wrong, brought knowledge of what other nonprofits were doing, and understood her staff well enough to flag when a proposed solution might not land with the people who had to use it. “They know the way I think, the way I operate, and the way our staff interact with the system. So they can say, ‘Well, that could be a good idea, but I feel like that might be hard for your staff. Here’s another option.’” For Alison, that level of organizational fluency is what separates a vendor from a true partner.
Words of Advice
For organizations walking into a system evaluation without a technical background, Alison’s advice is to resist the pressure to limit your imagination to what you already know. “People are so used to data in a spreadsheet, and so that’s the bandwidth of their brain when they think about data. They end up with what they can see. And if what they conceived wasn’t a little bit bigger, that’s what gets built.”
Which is exactly why who you choose to build with matters as much as what you choose to build on. Alison urges others to “find a partner who can help you see further than you can on your own.”
Key Testimonials
“When I was evaluating options, I liked that Exponent Case Management came preloaded with possibility and best practices. Everything else would have depended entirely on what I could conceive, and I had never built a system before.”
“I need someone who will tell me I’m wrong, offer a better way, and brainstorm with me. I want to think big picture, ideally with someone who’s been in the nonprofit space. That’s exactly what I got from my Exponent consultant. They know the way I think, the way I operate, and the way our staff interact with the system.”
“Now all the regular cadence of information throughout the year is captured within the system, which is a huge time saver. Before, I had to pull out all the data—and the data was only as good as the date that I pulled it.”
“Find a partner who can help you see further than you can on your own.”
