Special Olympics New York
Special Olympics New York resolves to reach greater heights with digital transformation.
Ready to step up its game, Special Olympics New York teamed up with a trusted technology partner to better serve stakeholders, increase its fundraising potential, encourage innovation, and offer even more opportunities to athletes across the state.
Special Olympics New York (SONY) involves as many as 67,000 athletes, 35,000 volunteers, and a $10 million budget each year, making it the largest U.S. program of its kind and one of the largest in the world. Yet SONY saw an opportunity to overhaul its technology to make an even greater impact.
Incorporated in 1970 soon after the Special Olympics movement began to provide athletic opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities, SONY came to rely on several different data systems to work with volunteers, athletes, employees, and donors—until staff members made a case to their CEO and board for a digital transformation.
“We realized that all of these disparate data systems made it difficult to impossible to communicate effectively with all of our constituents,” said Vice President of Finance and Administration Raymond Polikoski. “We needed to do better if we wanted to grow the entire organization. So we looked at a number of opportunities and ended on Blackbaud.”
