How St Helena Hospice Created a Sustainable Digital Foundation with Dynamics 365

Delivering compassionate care in a changing world

For more than 40 years, St. Helena Hospice has provided specialist hospice care, bereavement support and advice services to people and families across Essex. Every day, its teams support individuals and loved ones through some of life’s most challenging moments.

Like many charities across the UK, St. Helena Hospice is facing increasing demand for its services at a time when financial pressures continue to grow. As more people require specialist care and support, the organisation recognised the need for technology that could help it work more efficiently, make better-informed decisions and maximise the impact of every pound raised.

Working with ForGood.Tech, St. Helena Hospice embarked on a digital transformation journey designed to create a more connected organisation and provide teams with the tools they need to plan, adapt and grow sustainably.

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“There is a financial crisis in the hospice sector. Needs are increasing and will continue to increase. We need our systems to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible so we can deliver as much as we possibly can to as many people as we possibly can.”

Mandy Gowers, Director of Finance and Asset Management, St. Helena Hospice

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Connecting finance, fundraising and operations

Before the transformation, information was held across multiple systems, making it difficult to gain a complete view of financial performance, fundraising activity and organisational data.

This created additional administration for teams and limited the ability to access timely information when making decisions.

To address these challenges, St. Helena Hospice implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dataverse to create a single, connected platform.

By bringing finance, fundraising and supporter data together, the organisation now has greater visibility across its operations and a stronger foundation for future growth.

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“Organisational information was sitting siloed in separate spaces. That gave us extra work and made it much harder to get a clear view of our finances, supporters and opportunities.”

Tim Clifton, Associate Director of Digital and Information, St. Helena Hospice

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Improving financial visibility and control

For charities, having access to accurate financial information is critical. Leaders and budget holders need to understand how resources are being used so they can make confident decisions and plan effectively for the future.

With Dynamics 365 Business Central, teams at St. Helena Hospice can access financial information more quickly and easily than before. Information that previously required manual reporting can now be viewed in real time, giving departments greater accountability and visibility over their budgets.

The finance team has also been able to streamline reporting processes, reducing the amount of time spent gathering and reconciling information.

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“If finances aren’t going as expected, we can act quickly to get things back on budget. And if we’ve saved some money, then we can invest that in providing excellent care to people who are end of life.”

Mandy Gowers

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This improved visibility enables more proactive decision-making across the organisation and ensures resources can be directed where they are needed most.

Supporting stronger fundraising relationships

Fundraising plays a vital role in enabling St. Helena Hospice to continue delivering its services.

With Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, the organisation is creating more personalised experiences for supporters. By bringing together information from multiple touchpoints, the team can develop a better understanding of supporter interests, engagement history and giving behaviour.

This allows communications to be tailored more effectively, helping to build stronger relationships and create more meaningful engagement over time.

The organisation is also gaining access to valuable fundraising insights, allowing teams to monitor campaign performance and identify opportunities to improve outcomes.

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“Our fundraisers don’t want to be stuck typing and working on the system. Dynamics 365 gives them time to do what they’re good at and what they like, talking to people and bringing money in.”

Tim Clifton

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By reducing administration and increasing visibility, teams can spend more time focusing on supporters and less time managing systems.

Reducing administration through automation

One of the biggest benefits of the transformation has been the reduction of manual processes across the organisation.

Tasks such as invoice processing, approvals and financial administration have been streamlined through automation, helping teams work more efficiently while maintaining accuracy and compliance.

The time saved is allowing staff to focus on higher-value activities that support the charity’s wider mission.

Building a sustainable future

Technology is not the reason St. Helena Hospice exists, but it plays an important role in enabling the organisation to deliver on its mission.

By connecting systems, improving financial visibility, strengthening fundraising processes and reducing manual administration, St. Helena Hospice is creating a more sustainable operating model that will help it continue supporting people and families for years to come.

Looking ahead, the organisation plans to explore how data, automation and AI can further enhance supporter engagement, forecasting and organisational planning.

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“We know there will always be more people to serve. We want to get as much out of our systems to do the work technology can do, so we can employ people to do the work only humans can do.”

Mandy Gowers

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A partnership focused on impact

At ForGood.Tech, we work exclusively with charities and non-profits, helping organisations use technology to remove barriers, improve efficiency and maximise impact.

We’re proud to have supported St. Helena Hospice on its transformation journey and look forward to continuing to help the organisation use technology to strengthen its services, support its communities and build for the future.

Because when technology takes care of the administration, people can focus on what matters most: delivering compassionate care when it’s needed most.