Global nonprofit Endeavor makes a bigger impact with Dropbox for Business

Several times a year, Endeavor — a global nonprofit that has helped pioneer high-impact entrepreneurship — hosts a series of International Selectional Panels to identify the next set of emerging-market entrepreneurs they’re going to support. During these panels, business leaders from around the world interview and select the next class of Endeavor Entrepreneurs from a pool of thousands of applicants.

But the applicants aren't the only ones with lofty ambitions — hosting these panels is quite the organizational feat in and of itself. As part of each event, Endeavor must assemble an array of information — from entrepreneur profiles, to event logistics, to panelist judge bios — and doing so requires multiple rounds of updates and revisions.

As Brian Chen, Account Manager for the Entrepreneur Selection and Growth team, recalls, “There are so many iterations of the panel documents; there’s always a lot of anxiety about whether or not we’re looking at the correct files.” Endeavor experimented with a range of tools to help them gather all the necessary information, including email, Salesforce libraries, and Google Docs.

But none of these seemed to fit the bill, leaving the Endeavor team searching for a more efficient way to share, update, and distribute documents between the organization’s 20 international offices. Endeavor made the switch to Dropbox for Business, and almost immediately started seeing the benefits. Suddenly all event files could be stored in a central repository, making it easier than ever for the Endeavor team to manage panel documents.

“We used to have everyone download documents onto their respective USB drives, and then email versions to the entire team whenever an update was made,” Chen remembers. “With Dropbox, USBs are unnecessary. Instead of sending emails, all we have to do is save documents — which we would have done anyway.” And with 20 offices around the globe, being able to access important files remotely is invaluable to the Endeavor team.

International collaboration is smoother than ever too, making Dropbox for Business an “indispensable” tool, according to Endeavor President Fernando Fabre. Fabre adds, “Dropbox for Business helps our world-traveling staff do something internal servers can’t do: easily collaborate outside of the office. No matter where employees are, they can stay productive as if they were sitting right next to each other.”

Wondering how Dropbox for Business can make your organization more efficient? Try it free ! (And don't forget to ask about our discounts for nonprofits!)