How The Hospital Saturday Fund brought consistency to grants assessment with Issimo AccordTM
Organisation: The Hospital Saturday Fund (HSF)
Funds: Medical projects, capital projects, medical care and research, hospice/respite care,
medical training
Applications assessed: ~1,400 organisation applications per year
Assessment team: 4 people
Time saved: At least 15 minutes per application
Contact: Dee Wright, Charity & Events Manager
About The Hospital Saturday Fund
The Hospital Saturday Fund gives grants towards medical projects, capital projects, medical care and research, hospice and respite care, and medical training. Every year, a team of four, led by Dee Wright, Charity & Events Manager, assesses around 2,265 applications, converting them, checking they meet HSF’s criteria, and preparing paperwork for the Board to consider.
The challenge: a thorough process, but a manual one
Before Accord, assessing an application meant working through a long list of manual checks by hand: confirming whether the organisation was already an existing HSF charity, checking Charity Commission information through Salesforce, reviewing financial information, checking the organisation’s website for consistency, correcting spelling and formatting, and reviewing the project area and project name for accuracy.
It was a thorough process, but a hands-on and time-consuming one, particularly when it came to reviewing accounts.
“One of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts was going through an organisation’s accounts and trying to identify their reserves. Accounts can be presented very differently from one organisation to another, so finding the right information wasn’t always straight forward.”
Dee Wright, Charity & Events Manager, The Hospital Saturday Fund
AI was already part of the team’s routine, just not for assessment
HSF’s team were already familiar with using AI day-to-day, particularly ChatGPT, which they used to help draft and refine emails. But none of that extended to assessing or making decisions on grant applications. Data protection was too important a consideration, especially given that HSF also processes Individual Grant applications containing sensitive personal and medical information. That distinction still holds today. Because of the sensitivity of that data, HSF currently uses Accord for organisational grant applications only, while Individual Grant applications continue to be handled separately, under their existing processes.
Why Accord
Dee had seen a demo of a similar tool from another provider, Plinth, and liked the concept, but she wanted to stay with Salesforce and didn’t want her team to have to learn a completely new system when everyone was already confident using the one they had. She raised the idea directly with Ian at Issimo, asking whether something similar could be built within Salesforce, and learned that Accord was already in development.
“It felt like the perfect fit for us — we could benefit from the technology while continuing to work with a team who already understood HSF and, importantly, keep everything within Salesforce rather than introducing another system.”
Dee Wright
Getting set up
With several years of working relationship already in place, Issimo had a strong understanding of HSF’s processes going in, which made configuration straightforward. Dee describes the whole process, from first conversation to day-to-day use, as taking only a matter of weeks. Importantly, the configuration reflected how HSF already assessed applications, rather than requiring HSF to adapt to fit the system, and the parameters can be adjusted easily whenever criteria change.
“They genuinely reflected the way we assess applications. This is actually one of the things I really like about Accord, we haven’t had to adapt our processes to fit the system.”
Dee Wright
Bringing the team along
One team member was initially a little apprehensive about what Accord might mean for their role. Dee was clear from the outset that Accord was there to support the team, not to replace or reduce staff, freeing up time for the parts of the job where the team’s own knowledge, experience and judgement matter most.
Accord in day-to-day use
Some checks are still done manually for now, confirming existing HSF charities, checking websites for up-to-date information, correcting spelling and formatting, and reviewing project area and project name. As confidence in Accord has grown, HSF is now planning to retire many of these manual checks within the next few weeks, reducing duplication and freeing up further time. Accord itself supports the more detailed part of the assessment, bringing together key information and flagging areas that may need further investigation or clarification, alongside the team’s own judgement.
The impact
● At least 15 minutes saved per application
● Greater confidence in the consistency of assessments across the team
● Far more detailed financial analysis than the team could realistically produce by hand
● Decisions still sit with HSF’s Committee, Accord provides guidance and structure, not the decision itself
What’s surprised Dee most is the sheer level of detail Accord brings to reviewing an organisation’s accounts.
“It picks up and highlights information in far more detail than we would realistically have the time or resources to do as a team. It has also been really positive to see how it brings together the key information from an application and helps highlight areas we may want to look at more closely. We still use our own judgement, but it gives us an additional layer of information and reassurance when assessing applications.”
Dee Wright
Recommending it to other funders
Dee has already shown another funder how HSF uses Accord day-to-day.
“They were very impressed with the system, particularly how it supports our assessment process, and asked for Issimo’s details so they could find out more. I think that speaks for itself, I was more than happy to recommend Accord based on our experience of using it.”
Dee Wright
In Dee’s words
“Accord has really helped us bring consistency to the way we assess grant applications. It gives the team a clear structure to work from, while still allowing us to use our own knowledge and judgement when considering each application. One of the biggest benefits for us is the financial analysis. Accord checks an organisation’s accounts thoroughly and in far more detail than we would realistically be able to as a team, highlighting areas that may need further consideration or clarification. I also really like that we can score different areas of an application, helping us identify strengths, potential concerns and where we may need further information. It doesn’t make the decision for us but gives us another really useful tool to support our assessment process and helps us feel more informed when making our recommendations.”
Dee Wright, Charity & Events Manager, The Hospital Saturday Fund
To find out more about Issimo Accord, get in touch: ian@issimo.co.uk