How LiveImpact Empowered West Valley Community Services to Drive Mission-Critical Impact
Organization Overview
About WVCS & Josh Selo
West Valley Community Services (WVCS) is a community-based nonprofit founded in 1973, serving low-income and unhoused individuals in Cupertino and greater Santa Clara County. Josh Selo served as Executive Director from 2016 to 2022, leading the organization through pandemic-era expansion and launching programs like the mobile food pantry. He now serves as CEO of Bill Wilson Center.
Join the Conversation
If you’re in the social impact space and dealing with data complexity or system fragmentation, WVCS’s story shows what the right platform—and true partnership—can unlock. Let’s connect if you’d like to explore how LiveImpact can do the same for your organization.
Core Programs
Trauma-Informed Training: Using the Trust Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) model, FFSC delivers research-backed strategies for caregivers.
Support & Community Building: Through training events and peer support initiatives, FFSC helps families connect, share, and heal together.
Direct Impact Metrics: Over 400 individuals trained, and 134 adoptive families directly supported.
Before: Data Frustration & Limited Support
Josh Selo, former Executive Director of WVCS, recalled the challenges of their prior system vividly:
There were lots of different windows, lots of different levels of information, very, very hard to navigate.
The previous platform made it difficult to access donor data in order to make strategic decisions.
We found it hard to pull reports, difficult to get information about our donors, and difficult to make decisions, because we really couldn’t get at the data. If you can’t get at the data, how do you make decisions that positively impact your business?
Support from the previous vendor was minimal, compounding their frustrations and limiting the team’s ability to adapt the system to fit their needs.
Why They Chose LiveImpact
WVCS conducted a thorough vetting process for a new solution, drawing on the experience of both Josh and the development director:
We really had a good idea of all the different options that are out there in the market.
1
Transparent Q&A
They answered all of our questions, and there was no hesitation. It was very clear: this is the way it works. This is what we offer.
2
True partnership
I felt they were invested in our success coming to LiveImpact.
3
Ease of onboarding for a diverse team
We have many people here who have to get at the data. It had to be something we could quickly train someone on, and train ourselves on, and use very easily with really little downtime.
4
Reliability and readiness to scale
We wanted something reliable that we knew would be there when we needed it. We have really significant plans for growth, so we need to be able to access and share information quickly.
Key Benefits Delivered
We really had a good idea of all the different options that are out there in the market.
1
Saved Hours with Fast, Flexible Reporting
LiveImpact dramatically improved data access and reporting:
The ease at which you can pull reports, slice the data, and compare the data year over year has really cut down on the amount of time I spend looking for the information I need.
Josh was realizing the benefits of the Smart Grid, which makes your data interactive and intuitive. The Smart Grid makes data feel like a living spreadsheet: sortable, editable and filterable right inside the CRM. Rather than exporting everything into Excel to filter or clean up data, WVCS staff could now work directly within the platform.
This eliminated the clunky back-and-forth of downloads and spreadsheets, saving time and reducing the risk of version control issues or errors.
Josh also highlighted how pre-built reports and easy customization replaced a tedious, error-prone process:
…to not have to sort through multiple menus, set up multiple filters, as we were doing in the past
2
Consolidated Event Management Applications
Previously, WVCS juggled multiple systems for donor data, auctions, sponsorships, and communications during their largest annual event.
LiveImpact unified the process:
Our attendees can register, we can do all of our auction items, and we can send out emails. Everything is in one place, saving a lot of time and making it easy to report out.
3
Rejuvenated Trust in the Data
LiveImpact gave the team confidence in their numbers.
On our previous platform I wasn’t 100% sure that the information I was getting was accurate. I feel very confident with LiveImpact that this is good data, this is good information, and we can use it to make decisions.
Results & Outcomes
LiveImpact transformed WVCS from battling clunky systems and fragmented workflows into a confident, data-informed, growth-ready organization that:
