Executive summary

The Kapor Foundation was struggling with rigid, over-promising legacy systems and manual, email-based grant workflows. By implementing Temelio’s intuitive, adaptable grants management software, they successfully consolidated their operations, automated tedious checklists, and centralized their historical grantee data without needing any internal coding expertise.

• 25+ years of grantmaking data: Smoothly imported vast amounts of historical CRM data, allowing staff to view grantee history dating back over ten years.
• $37.8M in historical giving: Centralized over a decade of complex historical grantee data.
• 100% consolidation: Moved scattered, email-based grant workflows into a single, centralized system.‍
• 0 developer hours: Required no external help to customize workflows, build custom vetting processes, or manage the platform.

Foundation overview

Started by Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor, the Kapor Foundation operates at the critical intersection of racial justice and technology. The organization aims to make the tech industry more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.

Working alongside Kapor Capital and SMASH, the foundation takes a comprehensive approach to closing systemic gaps. Their work includes expanding access to computer science education, conducting research on technology pipeline disparities, supporting nonprofit organizations and initiatives, and investing in gap-closing startups and entrepreneurs.

While they actively engage in advocacy and run direct programs, grantmaking remains a core pillar of their mission. To support their initiatives, the foundation manages a complex grant portfolio, including:

• Operating grants
• Event sponsorships
• Founders’ grants
• Staff-initiated grants

The challenge: Rigid systems and email-driven workflows

Managing a diverse portfolio of grants requires agility. However, the Kapor Foundation found itself bottlenecked by clunky legacy tools.

Alexis Martin, Grants Manager at the Kapor Foundation, noted that previous software providers had a habit of "over-promising and under-delivering." They felt like most software providers weren’t listening to their needs. When the foundation found itself between systems, the team was forced to manage its entire grantmaking process via email and manual checklists.

The friction points were clear:

• Inflexibility: The team needed to continuously evolve their strategies, but existing systems required a developer or vendor intervention to make simple changes.
• Complex UIs: Demos from most providers left the team confused, looking at platforms that required weeks of webinars and training sessions just to understand the basics.
• Administrative burden: Staff wasted valuable hours chasing down paperwork, sending manual reminders, and questioning if critical steps in the grant lifecycle were falling through the cracks.

The solution: An intuitive, no-code grants management system

During their software selection process, the Kapor Foundation prioritized finding a partner who genuinely listened to their needs and a product that didn't require weeks of training to use. Because the foundation manages several different program areas and requires a specific vetting process, they needed a system that could handle complexity without requiring a developer. They chose Temelio.

Temelio serves as an end-to-end grants management system (GMS) and CRM. The Kapor team determined that Temelio was the best choice based on a few critical reasons:

• No-code customization: The system empowered the Kapor team to make structural changes on their own without an IT background or coding skills.
• Automated workflows: Temelio’s automation tools took over the administrative heavy lifting, moving applicants through a predefined, step-by-step pipeline.
• Robust data import: Temelio’s CRM capabilities allowed the foundation to import historical grantee records, preventing the loss of institutional knowledge.

"When I discovered Temelio, I saw very clearly that it had everything we needed and was affordable... I knew I could start to use it without having to spend weeks in webinars and training sessions." – Alexis Martin, Grants Manager at the Kapor Foundation

The results: A "set it and forget it" grant lifecycle

By switching to Temelio, the Kapor Foundation transformed its daily operations. The days of hunting down emails and relying on manual follow-ups are gone, replaced by a centralized and user-friendly hub.

Automated administrative time savings

Staff no longer have to manually verify whether paperwork has been received or if reminders have been sent.

• The impact: "I can input folks into the GMS at the beginning of the process and know that the software is going to take them through every step they need. I no longer have to go through countless checklists... I appreciate that I can just set it and forget it."

A game-changing CRM view

Data continuity is vital for philanthropic impact. Temelio successfully imported the foundation's complex historical records, giving the team instant visibility into $37,859,508 in past giving and creating a single source of truth for grant reporting.

• The impact: "Having our historical data in the system is also a game changer. I can look at a grantee from ten years ago, before Temelio existed, and I can say, 'Here's how much money we've given over the decade'... I don't know that all systems can let you import that much data, but they certainly do not do it as smoothly as [Temelio] did."

Ongoing tech support

Even with a user-friendly platform, the Kapor Foundation found Temelio’s team to be an essential resource for tackling complex tasks and incorporating feedback.

• The impact: "For foundations that are just now joining, I would say to take advantage of the amazing support from your team. The platform is user-friendly from the get-go, but if you want to be able to do something a little more complex, the support from [Temelio’s] team is invaluable."

Responsive, agile partnership

Instead of static software, Kapor Foundation gained an agile tech partner. Feedback from the Kapor team is actively incorporated into Temelio’s product roadmap, yielding near-immediate software enhancements.

• ‍The impact: "I've been able to make suggestions and see them incorporated, which you don't normally find that. Not to mention that the changes happen pretty quickly. So not only are you all receptive to feedback, but you've actually utilized it to make the product better."

About the Author

Maya Kuppermann is the Co-Founder and CEO of Temelio, a modern grants management platform built for small and mid-sized foundations and philanthropic organizations. With experience spanning nonprofit leadership, family philanthropy, and technology, Maya brings a practitioner’s perspective to building software that simplifies and strengthens grantmaking. She has worked closely with over one hundred funders to modernize their operations and improve the grantee experience. Maya is passionate about leveraging technology to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of philanthropy.