Ensuring access to rich cultural experiences for all of King County
4Culture uses Soapbox Engage to support their cultural initiatives around the arts, heritage, historic preservation, and public art
As the cultural funding agency for King County, Washington, 4Culture works to make a vibrant community where culture is essential and accessible to all. With a focus on racial equity, they fund, support, and advocate for culture to enhance the quality of life in King County through four program areas—arts, heritage, historic preservation, and public art.
Prior to working with Soapbox Engage, 4Culture had a portal that was inaccessible and limited in its capabilities. They knew they wanted an alternative that was more robust in functionality, and one that could be easily maintained by their staff. Luckily, they found what they were looking for with Soapbox Engage and it's unique User Integration (Portal) add-on. Pairing their Soapbox Engage portal with the Soapbox Engage Forms and Directories apps, they're bringing more value and accessibility to their community.
“Soapbox Engage enabled our staff to finally join the modern, paperless world by moving all our grant application, contracting, and reporting processes online in a single system.”
Bart J. Cannon, PhD, Director of Operations, 4Culture
Providing cultural funding and grant support with the Soapbox Engage User Integration app
Included in the many incredible initiatives of 4Culture are their grants and artist calls. They offer opportunities for all kinds of cultural funding and support in King County, with deadlines rolling out throughout the year. Applications for all of their grants are completed and submitted online through their application portal.
When 4Culture first approached Soapbox Engage, they were using an application portal that required contract work with developers to modify even the smallest feature, and the portal could only be used for application management. With Soapbox Engage, they were able to create a flexible, easily customizable portal that can be used to manage not only their applications, but also user profiles, contracts, and grant reports.
“With Soapbox Engage, we were able to create a new portal that can be completely customized by staff internally, on the fly.”
Bart J. Cannon, PhD, Director of Operations, 4Culture
In addition to applicant logins, the portal enables online grant reviewer access. Applicants can have multiple logins in their accounts in the portal that allow staff (grant writers, program coordinators, accounting, etc.) to work in the portal on applications and reports.
Adding ease and value to their community with the Soapbox Engage Forms and Directories apps
In addition to the portal services, 4Culture uses the Soapbox Engage Directories and Forms apps to bring data securely out of the back office and into the hands of their constituents. The Directories app underpins the basic operations of their portal, allow applicants to access their complete application, award, and payment histories.
Soapbox Engage built the Directories app to be mobile-ready, so each directory within the portal can be searched on any device, from any location. This helps 4Culture ensure that applications and applicant data are as accessible as possible to their community and staff.
Like the Directories app, the Forms app allows 4Culture to create an unlimited number of mobile-friendly forms that match the aesthetic of their organization’s website. Customizing the forms is easy and allows for brand consistency.
“Our staff greatly appreciates the ability to customize our application forms themselves, without needing to have support from developers.”
Bart J. Cannon, PhD, Director of Operations, 4Culture
Saving time with Salesforce integration
4Culture uses Salesforce as their organization's database. Before moving to Soapbox Engage, applicants had to mail in printed forms to 4Culture in order to complete their grant reports and request payment of their awards. Now, all of this is done online and directly in Salesforce via the portal.
All Soapbox Engage apps were designed for seamless Salesforce integration, meaning any data submitted via portal or form is instantly recorded in Salesforce. Conversely, staff can access and display Salesforce data security on a website through the Directories app.
“Switching to a virtual solution for applications often saves weeks of processing time.”
Bart J. Cannon, PhD, Director of Operations, 4Culture
The efforts of 4Culture help to ensure access to cultural experiences for all, from museum collections to theater productions to art galleries to individual and organizational funding. 4Culture's values -- including culture is a right for all, culture is multifaceted, connectivity with communities, responsiveness, good stewardship, and racial equity — steer their mission and work within King County.
Soapbox Engage is proud to support such a transformative organization that's creating lasting cultural impact for years to come, and excited to watch it grow using the Soapbox Engage portal solution created by our teams.