Free Wheelchair Mission is a faith-based nonprofit with a mission to provide free wheelchairs to individuals living with disabilities in developing countries. Since its founding, the organization has distributed over 1.4 million wheelchairs across 95 countries, offering dignity, independence, and hope to recipients at no cost.
Inspired by a life-changing trip to India, the founder—a biomedical engineer—designed the first wheelchair using a resin lawn chair and bicycle tires to create an affordable mobility solution. With a small but mighty team of 37, Free Wheelchair Mission raises funds globally to address the staggering need: 80 million people worldwide require a wheelchair.
Our team, with their deep expertise and alignment with nonprofit values, was chosen to help the team, which was wonderful; we’ve been working with the team since February 2021 and are proud to have worked with the team at Free Wheelchair Mission.
Free Wheelchair Mission has been using Salesforce since 2017, supported by an in-house admin team, but as their operations grew in scale and complexity, they found themselves limited by their existing capabilities.
The organization needed a specialist Salesforce partner who knew how to help with specific nonprofit tasks, such as a customized solution to track donor impact, a team to advise on automating manual processes, and streamlining workflows—all while remaining within tight nonprofit budgets.
With no in-house developer resources and increasing demands on their systems to support fundraising and donor engagement, it became clear they needed a specialist Salesforce partner who understood the unique challenges of the nonprofit sector.
Mackenzie shared: “We chose Passion Fruit Partners because of their proven expertise in the nonprofit sector and their ability to deliver tailored Salesforce solutions that fit within tight budgets. It was essential to work with a team that aligned with their mission and understood the unique constraints nonprofits face, such as limited resources and the need for transparency with donors. Passion Fruit stood out for their collaborative approach, offering not just technical expertise but also genuine care for the mission.
"Passion Fruit isn’t just a vendor—they’re a true partner. They’ve never tried to sell us solutions that don’t align with our goals. Instead, they focus on helping us find creative, cost-effective ways to achieve our mission while staying true to our values. It’s clear that they’re as invested in our success as we are." This is exactly what we strive for at Passion Fruit Partners, and we are delighted to hear this from Mackenzie.
Free Wheelchair Mission faced several operational challenges that required a tailored solution to support their growth and impact. Although they had Salesforce in place since 2017, their in-house team lacked the developer expertise to customise and optimise the platform. Key pain points included:
Addressing these pain points was crucial to enabling the organisation to focus on its mission of providing life-changing mobility solutions to those in need.
“Sure! One of the standout aspects of working with Passion Fruit Partners has been the way they collaborate with us to brainstorm and refine ideas that directly further our mission.
A prime example is the system they built to track the number of wheelchairs a donor has funded over time. At our current $96 per wheelchair, this feature allows us to transparently show donors the incredible impact they’ve made, recognise their milestones, and encourage them to reach new levels of giving. This has deepened our donor relationships and helped us tell powerful stories of transformation.
Shopify!! Yes, for us another huge game-changer was the launch of Shopify on our website. Previously, we managed a separate e-commerce site, which required manual data entry and significant administrative effort.
Passion Fruit not only integrated Shopify with Salesforce but also automated processes that saved time across the board, allowing us to focus more on scaling our impact and connecting with donors. These solutions exemplify how their partnership has helped us turn ideas into practical, mission-driven results.”
“Working with Passion Fruit Partners feels like collaborating with a team that truly cares about your success. They bring an exceptional level of intelligence and expertise to every interaction, especially in their deep understanding of Salesforce!
The team never make you feel dumb. I’d come to them with half-formed ideas and say, ‘This is kind of what I’m thinking,’ and they’d not only help refine it but also show me what I hadn’t considered. They’re so smart about Salesforce and approach everything with so much compassion that you never feel bad for asking questions or not using the right terminology.
This supportive environment has made Passion Fruit Partners invaluable in brainstorming ideas, exploring tools like apps from the AppExchange, and creating solutions that directly drive Free Wheelchair Mission’s impact.”
“We had an idea to add text messaging and calling capabilities directly from Salesforce to save our fundraisers time and log everything automatically in our system, and Passion Fruit Partners turned that vision into a reality.
By integrating Aircall, they enabled our fundraisers to make calls and send texts seamlessly within Salesforce. This system has saved our team countless hours by automatically logging all interactions in donor records, eliminating the need for manual data entry.”
Since using AirCall starting in September 2023, three development officers have made or received nearly 16,500 calls. Adding texting capabilities in March 2024 enabled these officers to send or receive close to 2,000 messages. All of this communication is seamlessly logged into Salesforce, saving us countless hours of manual data entry while ensuring that no donor outreach is missed.
Mackenzie shared, "This integration has been a game-changer for our team. It not only makes donor outreach more efficient but also ensures that no interactions are missed, helping us build stronger relationships. With the ability to track the number of calls made and texts sent, this solution has allowed us to focus more on connecting with donors and driving our mission forward, rather than getting bogged down by administrative tasks.
“Another example is Shopify. Since launching our Shopify site in September 2022, we’ve processed over 1,150 orders! Previously, every order required manual data entry, but with Passion Fruit’s help, we automated the entire process—from opportunity creation to shipping label generation. This not only saved our team hundreds of hours but also made the donor experience smoother and more efficient.
Automation has been equally transformative for our custom eCard program. Orders placed on Shopify trigger seamless integrations through Zapier and Make.com, ensuring that information is transmitted instantly to Salesforce and Pardot. Donors can now send personalized eCards to friends and family at any time, even in the middle of the night, while our team saves significant time on manual work.”
The Passion Fruit Team struck again when they came up with a solution to streamline in-person donations - Shopify has also revolutionized how it handles in-person donations at events. The team can now accept credit card payments through a simple swipe or tap, with donations syncing automatically to Salesforce. Additionally, check and cash gifts can be tracked seamlessly, distinguishing in-person contributions from online donations. This efficiency allows field teams to spend more time connecting with donors, while the internal team processes gifts faster and with greater accuracy.”
These are just a few examples of how Passion Fruit Partners has helped us innovate and scale. Their solutions have been instrumental in enabling us to deepen donor relationships and drive our mission forward.”
“Yes! Working with Passion Fruit Partners has brought numerous unexpected benefits that go beyond simply delivering solutions. One of the best things about working with them is their flexible approach—they offer to advise, build, or do a mix of both, depending on what we need. This collaborative way of working has been invaluable for our team. It’s been particularly helpful to watch them as they build solutions, allowing us to learn and better understand the systems they implement. Every time we had an issue with Shopify, for example, they not only resolved it but explained what they were doing, empowering us to manage things independently moving forward. This approach has made the relationship truly feel like a partnership. They also come to us with proactive, preventative ideas, often asking, “Have you thought about this?” Their forward-thinking mindset helps us future-proof our organisation and stay ahead of potential challenges.
Without Salesforce as a powerful tool and Passion Fruit as our partner, we wouldn’t be able to do that. This partnership has been instrumental in ensuring our continued growth and success."
