Canadian Food for the Hungry International (CFHI,
fhcanada.org/) is a nonprofit agency located in British
Columbia, Canada. CFHI sends emergency relief supplies—
food, water, bedding, medical supplies, and other essentials—
to disaster-struck and impoverished areas around the world.
CFHI has been expanding its role. It is also a leader in
sustainable development by working with communities and
teaching them to build the skills and resources they need to
thrive. Like any growing organization, CFHI found that as its
workload increases, so does the need to operate efficiently
and to enhance its ability to reach donors via its Web site.
CFHI’s IT platform could not support the growth and real-time
capabilities that the organization needed to continue its mission,
which is to make the world a little better.
CFHI implemented NetSuite (netsuite.com). According to
CFHI IT manager Mark Petzold, the organization needed
to integrate its disparate systems and improve its ability to
update its Web site immediately to reflect a natural disaster
that had just occurred anywhere in the world. NetSuite was
selected because of its flexibility and features, for example, it
can put up links on the Web site to take donations almost
immediately after a natural disaster. After the 2008 earthquake
in China and cyclone in Myanmar, CFHI was taking and getting
donations the very next day. That lets the organization
get help to those who needed it faster.