A Nonprofit’s Success with Advanced Delivery Alerts and Tracking

ABOUT MANNA

MANNA, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, uses nutrition to enhance the well-being of individuals facing serious illnesses. Since 1990, they’ve delivered medically tailored meals and provided nutrition education, positively impacting over 47,000 neighbors with 22 million nourishing meals. Originally founded to assist those with HIV/AIDS, MANNA now serves individuals with 85 different illnesses, empowering them to improve their health and quality of life.

CHALLENGE

Engage by Cell sat down with MANNA COO Nicole Laverty to discuss the biggest pain point the organization was facing. The team was discussing an efficient way to communicate the status of food delivery to their clients. Laverty shares the big picture, “We had a tool to route the delivery, so if clients would call, we could tell them approximately when their delivery would come but we wanted all clients to have access to this information.”

Time-sensitive routes can lead to miscommunication and missed meals  for clients who may not be home during  the time of their scheduled delivery,  increasing call volumes and client complaints. Laverty expands on their needs with  three main goals, “better customer service and experience, communication, and to reduce missed deliveries.”

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SOLUTION

MANNA recognized the paramount role of text messaging in modern communication, which led them to  Engage by Cell (EBC). With over 15 years of expertise in providing mobile communication platforms to numerous organizations, EBC integrated two of its popular services—text messaging and GPS mapping—to create a custom solution. This new platform sends customers real-time text message updates, complete with a live delivery tracking map.

The newly implemented Delivery Tracking & Alerts system boasts three interfaces: a client live map, a driver portal, and an administrative dashboard. By seamlessly integrating with MANNA’s existing routing program, administrators upload predetermined driver routes. These routes are then accessible across all three interfaces: one for clients to track their driver’s location, one for drivers to view their routes, and one for administrators to monitor all routes.

As the driver proceeds along the route, they can indicate delivery status, take photos of each successful drop, and make notes.

Laverty explains, “Part of the tool that was built for us allows our drivers to update and manage their deliveries throughout the day. So, they’ll mark a delivery as completed or missed.” As the drivers start their routes and make their deliveries, this triggers automated text alerts to the clients with estimated delivery times and a link to the live map.

IMPLEMENTATION

MANNA launched its services with EBC in May 2023. Laverty recounts, “We did some testing just to make sure it was all working seamlessly, and then it just involved training our drivers and distribution department.” After the staff was trained, the organization reached out to their clients. “We sent out flyers to our clients letting them know that this is a new technology that we will be using”. Manna communicated that there were likely no fees associated with the text updates and they could opt out at any time. Since its launch over 1,700 customers have opted in and only a few have chosen to opt out.