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Customer Stories:

From Manual Complexity to Streamlined Stewardship: How CSU Chico Transformed Endowment Reporting with Balance and Impact

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WHO:

Endowment reporting plays an important role in helping donors see the impact and stewardship behind their support.

At California State University, Chico, advancement services and finance teams work closely together to manage complex reporting cycles that bring together financial and constituent data across multiple systems. As reporting needs grew, the process became increasingly manual and resource intensive, creating the need for a more efficient and sustainable approach to producing donor communications at scale.

THE CHALLENGE:

CSU Chico’s endowment reporting process was highly manual, fragmented, and resource intensive, requiring extensive coordination between finance and advancement services.

Key challenges included:

-Financial and constituent data required manual matching

-Heavy reliance on mail merges across reporting groups

-Reports were printed, collated, folded, and stuffed by hand

-Nearly the full advancement services team supported production each cycle

-Reporting season could take up to a month to complete

-The process was stressful, manual, and difficult to scale

The team knew the data was strong, but the process to bring it together was inefficient and hard to manage at scale.

WHY EVERTRUE:

CSU Chico uses Balance and Impact by EverTrue to bring greater efficiency, visibility, and collaboration to endowment reporting. The tools allow the team to work more directly with finance through shared access to fund data, reducing the need for repeated information requests and strengthening day to day alignment across departments.

Stewardship staff can more easily access the information they need to support donor conversations and confirm reporting accuracy before final sign off.

At the same time, the platform has made it easier to build and refine print ready reporting templates over time. CSU Chico has been able to start with a simple reporting structure and gradually expand it, adding more customized pages that include photos, statistics, and storytelling elements.

This flexibility has allowed the team to evolve reporting into a more engaging and donor focused experience while maintaining consistency and control across the process.

The Results:

With Balance and Impact by EverTrue, CSU Chico transformed its endowment reporting process and improved collaboration across departments.

-Reporting reduced from a month long cycle to a two person effort

-Elimination of manual matching and repeated mail merge work

-Stronger collaboration with finance through shared fund visibility

-Greater confidence in data accuracy before final sign off

-Faster access to fund information without repeated requests

-Continued ability to personalize reports with donor specific notes

-More efficient production while maintaining mailed reports

What was once a large scale, high stress production cycle has become a more predictable and manageable process.

The Full Story:

California State University, Chico transformed its endowment reporting process by replacing a highly manual and labor intensive workflow with a more streamlined system powered by Balance and Impact.


Previously, reporting required extensive coordination between finance and advancement services. Financial data and constituent information had to be manually matched, followed by complex mail merge processes for different donor groups. Reports were then physically printed, collated, folded, and stuffed, requiring significant involvement from the full advancement services team and taking nearly a month each year to complete.


With EverTrue, CSU Chico gained direct access to fund data and improved collaboration with finance through shared visibility and clearer alignment before reporting sign off. Stewardship staff were able to work more independently, reducing reliance on repeated data requests and increasing efficiency across the reporting cycle.


Over time, the reporting process became significantly more manageable, ultimately requiring just two people to complete production. While reports are still mailed and include personal touches such as individualized notes, the preparation process is now faster and more streamlined.


The team also evolved its reporting design, moving from a basic financial focus to a more engaging and flexible format that incorporates photos, statistics, and storytelling elements. This shift allowed reporting to move beyond static financial documents into more meaningful donor communications.


Today, CSU Chico continues to refine its approach, building on a more sustainable workflow that supports both operational efficiency and a more thoughtful, personalized donor experience. And the reporting itself is a better reflection of the relationship CSU Chico is working to build — one where donors don’t just see numbers, but see their generosity realized.

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