{"id":15990,"date":"2025-05-06T04:30:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T04:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teamheller.com\/?page_id=15990"},"modified":"2025-05-16T17:18:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:18:51","slug":"greater-chicago-food-depository-heller-consulting-case-study","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/teamheller.com\/case-studies\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository","title":{"rendered":"Greater Chicago Food Depository Heller Consulting Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Greater Chicago Food Depository<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Technology roadmap and Microsoft recommendations case study<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Greater Chicago Food Depository<\/strong><\/a> is part of a united community effort working to bring food, dignity, and hope to Cook County, Illinois. The organization acts as the hub for a network of more than 700 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other programs.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Challenge: Rethinking and reinvesting in technology<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Food Depository recognized it was time to invest in new technology. The organization had historically used individual software products to support each departmental function, without much integration between them.<\/p>

They now wanted a technology strategy and roadmap that would provide a more holistic view of their data, help them increase engagement with their constituents, and take them well into the next 10 years and beyond.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Solution: Long-term technology strategy\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Food Depository turned to the Heller Consulting team for help in developing a technology strategy and roadmap. After assessing the organization\u2019s requirements and technology situation, the Heller team worked with the organization to build a strategic plan.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Redefining technology goals<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The organization\u2019s constituents include donors, volunteers, advocates, and the partners that help deliver food and programs \u2014 and many constituents serve in more than one role. So, instead of focusing on technology needs for each department, the teams redirected the focus toward technology that supports their constituents\u2019 entire experience with the organization.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Approaching the tech stack<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Heller team guided the organization through a variety of approaches to building a technology stack, ultimately selecting a platform approach \u2014 which will allow the organization to connect data and processes from their various functional areas through pre-built applications, API connections, and custom configurations. As part of this effort, the Heller team provided information to help the organization\u2019s entire staff understand the value of a platform-based approach and the opportunities it would present for departments to work more closely together to engage with constituents more effectively.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Selection of Microsoft<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Heller team worked with The Food Depository to assess various platforms, ultimately determining that Microsoft would be the best backbone for the organization\u2019s technology stack. The two teams considered multiple aspects of each platform, including available solutions, each tool’s data model, app and integration options, user experience, org adoption, and maintenance and administration.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Result: A well-defined technology plan\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Food Depository now has strong technology strategy that will give them greater insights into their data, help them engage more effectively with their constituents, and move their technology into the future.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Ready to Get Started?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If you\u2019re a nonprofit organization or education institution and you need help with your technology project, get in touch!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Greater Chicago Food Depository Technology roadmap and Microsoft recommendations case study The Greater Chicago Food Depository is part of a united community effort working to bring food, dignity, and hope to Cook County, Illinois. The organization acts as the hub for a network of more than 700 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15990","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGreater Chicago Food Depository - Case Study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read How Heller Consulting Helped The Food Depository Develop a Long-term Technology Strategy and Roadmap with Microsoft\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/teamheller.com\/case-studies\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Greater Chicago Food Depository Heller Consulting Case Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Greater Chicago Food Depository Technology roadmap and Microsoft recommendations case study The Greater Chicago Food Depository is part of a united\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/teamheller.com\/case-studies\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Heller Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-16T17:18:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/teamheller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gc-case-study-header-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository\",\"name\":\"Greater Chicago Food Depository - Case Study\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/gc-case-study-header-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-06T04:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-16T17:18:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"Read How Heller Consulting Helped The Food Depository Develop a Long-term Technology Strategy and Roadmap with Microsoft\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/teamheller.com\\\/case-studies\\\/the-greater-chicago-food-depository#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/es7hq8rr83h.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/gc-case-study-header-2.jpg?strip=all\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/es7hq8rr83h.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/gc-case-study-header-2.jpg?strip=all\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1500,\"caption\":\"A woman receives a canned food item from another person at a food donation or distribution event. 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