What better time than Giving Tuesday to feature one of our favorite organizations doing good, Camp Kesem?
Camp Kesem is a nationwide community, driven by passionate college student leaders, that supports children through and beyond their parent’s cancer.
Since Camp Kesem was founded in 2000, the organization has grown nationwide into 62 chapters for one purpose – to be a child’s friend through and beyond their parent’s cancer. Along the way, thousands of college students across the country have poured their hearts and souls into this organization to deliver what these children need most – a place where they feel safe, loved and respected, and able to be their whole authentic selves.
Before adopting Expensify, Camp Kesem was looking for a tool that would help 37 chapters around the US organize their receipts. Their organization relies a lot on student volunteers on college campuses worldwide, and so they needed an efficient way for every volunteer and employee to report their expenses easily and efficiently. I sat down with Jim Higley, Chief Development & Marketing Officer at Camp Kesem, for a quick chat on their expense reporting process.
Joanie Wang (JW): Before Camp Kesem started using Expensify, what kind of expense reporting solution were you using?
Jim Higley (JH): We used excel spreadsheets or word doc forms to record expenses and manually emailed them with our receipts to our Accountant. It was a tedious process that we wanted to change, especially with our growing volunteer base.
JW: Did you have any concerns that might have prevented you from adopting Expensify?
JH: We wondered if it would be able to accommodate our 37 chapters at the time and if was easy enough for our student volunteers to use as well. Luckily, we decided to try it out and it’s been great ever since!
JW: After Camp Kesem started using Expensify, did anything surprise you? What specific feature did your team like the most?
JH: Our favorite feature is the receipt upload for our students and the e-receipt feature for our Program Directors who travel so much and have a lot of smaller expenses. It was a pleasant surprise how quickly our students caught on and how hip they thought we were for using it (score one with the millennials!)
JW: What are the top two or three benefits of using Expensify and why?
JH: Ease of use, lack of bugs, ability to assign and change approvers with ease. We have a lot of hands in our organization, so being able to change approvers quickly helps a ton!
JW: Would you recommend Expensify to others?
JH: Absolutely! For employees who travel a lot it’s a lifesaver, and for growing organizations it offers flexibility.
Why Camp Kesem?
After becoming involved with Camp Kesem, parents report a marked increase in their child’s ability to express themselves, their network of friends who understand them, and their self-confidence. Expensify is proud to be supporting the work of a great organization with such an inspiring mission!
Have a favorite non-profit you’re giving back to on Giving Tuesday or want to see featured here? Write to us in the comments below!
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