How Colorado College Streamlined Event Reporting Across Multiple Systems

Introduction

Colorado College, a private liberal arts institution in Colorado Springs, is known for its innovative approach to education and campus engagement. Like many advancement and alumni relations teams in higher education, their Advancement Services department faced increasing demands while managing complex data systems. As their Advancement team transitioned to new platforms, including Affinaquest for Advancement RM and Blackthorn for event management, they were simultaneously building the technical infrastructure needed to support complex engagement efforts.

With multiple systems in play, the college’s Advancement Services Team, led by Lauri Taylor, Assistant Director of Advancement Services, and Eric Greenwood, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement and System Administrator, sought to streamline processes and unify data views to better support event planning, stewardship, and advancement operations.

Their story highlights how Apsona became a critical bridge between the Salesforce tool platforms like Affinaquest Advancement RM, and Blackthorn (event management), enabling their team to produce accurate, actionable reports with ease.

Challenges Faced

As Colorado College implemented both Affinaquest for Advancement RM and Blackthorn for event management, their Advancement Services team saw an opportunity to enhance how data flowed between systems and how insights were accessed across teams. While each platform provided powerful capabilities, combining their strengths through thoughtful integration offered the potential for even greater efficiencies. In this context, the team set out to address the following operational priorities:

• Data Fragmentation: Key event data like t-shirt sizes, dietary preferences, and guest names were stored in Blackthorn, while giving history, employment info, and bio data lived in Salesforce.
• Reporting Complexity: Stakeholders required comprehensive reports combining fields from multiple systems. Manual compilation was inefficient and error-prone.
• Resource Constraints: Their team needed to support high-profile events such as Homecoming and Family Weekend with limited bandwidth.
• Custom Event Needs: Large-scale events required tailored reports that could adapt to sessions, sub-events, and special requirements like caterer reports or name tags.
• User Accessibility: There was a need to equip non-technical staff (event planners, operations) with tools to generate their own reports without reliance on data experts.

The Solution: Enhancing Interoperability with Apsona

Affinaquest and Blackthorn provided powerful systems for managing advancement and event data. Apsona served as the bridge by pulling data from both tools and enabling unified, real-time reporting directly in Salesforce.

Working closely with consultant Laurie Gardner (Apsona), Colorado College’s team implemented custom Apsona solutions that enabled:

• Cross-Object Reporting: Apsona enabled reports that pulled data from both Salesforce and Blackthorn, including giving information, bio/demographic data, and detailed event registration records.
• Merge Buttons: Custom Apsona buttons were created directly on the Blackthorn landing page, enabling one-click access to:
  • Registrant Reports: Including attendance, giving data, t-shirt sizes, allergies, and guest names.
  • Giving Reports: Detailing contributions tied to specific events, including donor details, fund designations, and amounts.
• Custom Reports for Complex Events: For high-volume weekends like Homecoming and Family Weekend, Apsona-powered reports incorporated detailed tables and formatting to meet catering, session planning, and name badge requirements.
• End-User Empowerment: Staff across departments were granted specialized Apsona licenses with limited access to just the reports they needed, reducing dependencies and increasing turnaround time.

Implementation Snapshot

Lauri and Eric worked collaboratively to roll out Apsona to their advancement team. Their goal was to create streamlined scalable processes that worked in harmony with Affinaquest and Blackthorn. This collaboration resulted in:

1. Needs Assessments: Identified which users needed access to which reports and the level of customization required.
2. Custom Button Development: Created Apsona buttons with embedded logic to produce merged reports drawing from Blackthorn and the Salesforce database.
3. User Onboarding: Licenses were provisioned based on needs (e.g., event planners vs. gift processing staff).
4. Report Refinement: Iteratively improved the reports based on user feedback and event requirements—particularly for complex, multi-session events.
5. Ongoing Support: Apsona’s support team and Colorado College’s internal champions continued to enhance the tool’s capabilities over time.

Results Achieved

The strategic integration of Apsona alongside Affinaquest and Blackthorn brought measurable improvements to Colorado College’s advancement operations. The results of this collaborative effort include:

• Improved Efficiency: Staff now generate comprehensive reports in minutes rather than hours of manual work.
• Better Event Planning: Real-time insights into registration and attendance help teams forecast needs (e.g., food, room capacity, materials).
• Increased Data Accuracy: Combining historical and current data into one view eliminates mismatches and manual errors.
• Enhanced Stewardship: Gift-related reporting supports targeted follow-up and better donor engagement.
• Empowered Teams: More users can run their own reports without bottlenecks, freeing up the advancement services team to focus on strategy.

Client Testimonials/Feedback

“The real value of Apsona for us has been allowing us to have reporting that pulls not just from our CRM and AQ, but also from Blackthorn and event registrations—it’s a total game-changer.”
— Eric, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement and System Administrator, Colorado College

“We’ve dumped hours into some of these reports, and we’re so grateful for the results—especially for events like Homecoming and Family Weekend. Apsona allows us to build comprehensive reports that are actually usable for our teams.”
— Lauri, Assistant Director of Advancement Services, Colorado College

​​”Laurie Gardner was instrumental in getting us up and running. She translated our complex needs into simple, usable tools. I truly couldn’t have done this without her.”
— Eric, Colorado College

Conclusion

Through their collaboration with Apsona, Colorado College has bridged data silos, empowered staff, and dramatically improved the efficiency and accuracy of their event-related reporting. From standard registration lists to complex stewardship reporting, Apsona’s flexibility and power have made it an indispensable part of their advancement ecosystem.