GPA spoke recently with Adam Roth, the 39-year-old founder of Streamlink Software, a revolutionary new tool for grant professionals. Find out more about the origins and capabilities of this exciting new product below.
What is your background, and how did you come to found Streamlink Software?
I’m not a serial entrepreneur – I was in the nonprofit world, and there were challenges I experienced that needed to be addressed. I worked for nonprofit organizations for 15 years, and most recently served as the CEO of a health and human services agency in Cleveland. That experience with trying to manage 25-30 government contracts plus 15-20 foundation grants (in addition to my responsibilities for the Board) made me realize I needed a new type of grant management tool. In 2006 I did market research, in 2008 I launched Board Max, and in 2009 I launched Amplifund – at the November GPA Annual Conference. Through Gail Vertz and her team, who previewed the product, we became the first endorsed product of GPA. It has been a great relationship for us, because what we do resonates with grant professionals and other nonprofit leaders.
What does your product do, and how is it unique?
Amplifund allows nonprofit staff to manage the three components of the grant process – (1) grant development, meaning the creation of a plan and solicitation strategy, as well as the creation of an organizational plan once a grant is received, with regard to both cash and an accrual budget that overlays with actuals through the year, (2) project management, through communication tools to manage the work flow and task management internally, and (3) performance management.For the all-important performance management part, Amplifund helps nonprofit staff to create the structure for managing the grant process.Through it, they can separate the grant into specific tasks with due datesthat are easily manage. It drives that grant management process byforcing the creation of a baseline for what the grant should achieve. For example, this tool allows you to assign grant-related tasks to subgrantees and staff members, all of whom have their own home page for the grant, allowing them to track their tasks and the data they must laterreport, to create automatic reminders, and to keep an eye on their budgets. We then are able to take all this info and track it through to the general ledger. All the data then rolls into the reporting function, so youhave detailed internal reports on a month-to-month basis. This is incredibly helpful, because if you know where you are, you can fix problems much earlier.We made the webpage interface very intuitive – 90% of users need only about 30 minutes of training to fully utilize the system. Our product is truly unique because it was started from the experience and needs of the nonprofit, and it was created recently. This is not a legacy system – it was built for our current world.
How will your product evolve in the coming year or two?
Every three weeks there are new features! We take a lot of advice from customers and try to incorporate their suggestions into the products. We also have a web-based community to address the needs of customers, and we share issues as appropriate with other customers. Because of this philosophy, the product is constantly evolving and improving. Our priorities are to create more formalized partnerships and to create more examples of ecosystems so that government, nonprofits, and private philanthropic organizations can all work together in a streamlined management process. Plus, we also have a grant consultant version to help consultants with their business and to maximize their efficiency for their clients.”We have a great partnership with GPA that we really value. We even have a special backdoor page for GPA members to access our website and get special offers and training.”
Interested in learning more? Check out Amplifund and Streamlink’s offers for GPA members at http://streamlinksoftware.com/customers/gpa