Dreams Come True turn dreams into reality with Progress

Dreams Come True Charity has helped lift the spirits of numerous children with very serious or terminal medical conditions all over the UK by giving them that 'once in a life-time' dream experience.

All children have dreams, but how many get the chance to turn their dream into reality? For all children this would be a magical moment, but for those suffering from a life-threatening illness or a long-term debilitating condition, it can have an even greater impact. Each year Dreams Come True Charity brings a smile to the faces of hundreds of children and young adults between 2 and 21 years, who are suffering from a serious or terminal illness. The charity aims to bring some happiness into their lives, the benefits of which are many and varied for both the children and their families.

In Spring 2002 the charity implemented Progress to support both their fundraising activities and a variety of administrative processes.

D'Arcy Myers, Chief Executive explains: "We recognised that our database needs were becoming more and more complex. Before Progress, our staff were maintaining a variety of Excel spreadsheets and Access databases but increasingly these became more of a data entry exercise rather than supportive business tools."

"We wanted to invest in a system that would centralise our data and give us instant access to all the information we needed. The dreams we provide are shaped by each child - limited only by their imagination! So you can imagine the variety of contacts we need to keep in touch with - our generous suppliers, hotels, venues, the children, parents, medical contacts not to mention our donors and volunteers."

As well as saving lots of time by eliminating duplicate data entry, a centralised database ensures the information held by the charity is much more accurate.

"Everyone has access to keep the data up to date and of course we're fully compliant with Data Protection standards," says D'Arcy. "Another benefit is significantly improved management reporting. Now I have statistics to support our funding applications and help us monitor effectiveness - for instance we can more quickly identify geographical bias of our supporters and dream recipients."

"The purchase of a new database was a significant investment for us and we had to be sure that what we got could not only fulfill our current requirements but was capable of growing with us. We chose Progress because of the flexibility it offered and because Fisk Brett understood what we were trying to achieve and our unique requirements."

The charity is now a keen user of Progress and utilises its functionality across all departments and as required strategic use of the system continues to grow as new user configurable tabs and fields are added.

D'Arcy concludes: "We made the right decision"

"My team is now supported by a system that is more sophisticated but easier to use than before. Most importantly with all our information held in one centralised system we are well on our way to realising our own dream of being able to provide a dream a day!"

For more information on Dreams Come True charity, visit www.dctc.org.uk