Society of the Four Arts
Founded in 1936 in Palm Beach, Florida, The Society of the Four Arts is a nonprofit, cultural organization with a mission to inspire and engage people through outstanding artistic programs. Delivering more than 500 programs per year, The Four Arts believes that the passion of music, the beauty of art, the thrill of drama, and the pleasure of literature bridge the gap from simply existing to truly living.
Members of The Four Arts enjoy concerts, exhibits, films, classes, workshops, and more, while “Four Arts for Everyone” invites all members of the public to participate in a variety of events. Visitors can also explore the 10-acre campus, which includes a performance hall, an art gallery, a modern education center devoted to lifelong learning, a library, a children’s library, and beautiful sculpture gardens.
“With NPact’s help, we have radically changed the organization’s financial processes. We were able to meet our goals and timetable for the transition. Both the internal team and NPact were committed to making this happen without cutting corners. It’s really been an organization-wide internal transformation. We have all grown professionally and have set up the future staff for success.”
Gloria Ortega
REX, CPA Chief Financial Officer, The Society of the Four Arts
Modernizing Raiser's Edge and Financial Edge
The Four Arts has grown steadily since its founding, and by early 2021 it had outgrown its legacy software, posing multiple challenges for the organization. Its leaders had previous experience using Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT, but didn’t have the IT support to help them navigate a transition to the new software.
The existing self-hosted system—which housed their database and financial records—was developed in the 90’s and had become a security and reliability risk for the organization. Another concern was retaining historical data and having access to it in a cloud-based environment; nearly two decades of critical information on revenue, gifts, and endowments needed to be brought over from the legacy system. They also wanted to make the information more accessible so that multiple departments could view and utilize the data, increasing collaboration among team members.
“Because of our growth, we needed to expand our database needs. The many years of data were vast 30 years worth. We knew we wanted to move to the cloud to reduce risk and eliminate an internal server. Considering that we outsource the IT function, it was critical for us to partner with a consultant that
would guide the team through the conversion and implementation processes.”
Gloria Ortega
REX, CPA Chief Financial Officer, The Society of the Four Arts
Migration and Tranisition
To help The Four Arts migrate and transition to their new platform, four NPact consultants supported the project. Through months of virtual sessions, the team completed data conversions, moving the data from an on-premise SQL system to RE NXT and FE NXT. Following the completion of the conversions, the NPact team moved on-site where, over the course of three weeks, they guided The Four Arts through implementing the two new software systems. The implementation was based on their unique needs—focusing on updating their workflows and streamlining processes.
As planned, the new systems were live a month prior to The Four Arts’ fiscal year-end to allow for a period of parallel system checks. NPact also trained The Four Arts team on best practices for working in RE NXT and FE NXT. With the initial project completed, NPact will continue to support The Four Arts over the next three years with ongoing consulting services to further optimize the solutions.
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