Everything in one system the foundation owns.
Every door on this site feeds the same place: the foundation's own database, on the foundation's own website. Here's the wiring — what families touch, where data lives, and what the team works in.
The wiring
Solid red edge = live in this mockup today · solid blue = included in an internalized build · dashed = the phase-2 pieces this page is pitching.
Today's flow vs. the internalized flow
Today (Google-based)
- Applying requires a Google sign-in — families without one are blocked at the door, and they're often exactly the families the foundation exists for.
- Submissions land in a form/spreadsheet outside the foundation's website, owned by whoever's Google account created it.
- Status lives in someone's head or a spreadsheet column — families have to call and ask.
- No connection between applications, donors, partners, and email.
Internalized (this system)
- No account needed to apply — the form just works; a portal account is optional, created for them afterward.
- Everything lives in the foundation's own database, on its own site — role-scoped access, exportable any time, no third-party lock-in.
- Status is one shared field: the review board drives it, the portal shows it, the emails announce it.
- One system connects applicants, partners, sponsors, donors, and every email sent.
- Prefer a spreadsheet copy anyway? A one-way Google Sheets sync can mirror entries out — belt and suspenders, not the system of record.
What each piece is (and what it isn't)
| Piece | Role | Honest notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fluent Forms | Intake — all five doors; entries viewable/exportable in the site admin | Live in this mockup. Google Sheets mirror and portal-account creation are Pro-tier add-ons. |
| FluentCRM | Contact profiles, segments, automated email (confirmations, status updates, newsletter) | It's a CRM/comms layer — not a review queue or project tracker. That's what the board is for. |
| FluentBoards | The review pipeline — a card per application, columns matching the status field, assignments and internal notes | The project-management layer, same product family, same database. This is where the org team lives day-to-day. |
| Paymattic + Stripe | Donations — tiers, one-time, receipts, recurring-donor management | Test mode in the mockup; Stripe connects at production. |
| Applicant portal | Families track their own applications — preview | Phase 2: a small custom piece over the same entries + status field. Each family sees only their own. |
Mockup notes — scope and assumptions on this page
Live today on this mockup: the five forms, entry storage, and the donation form (test mode). Included in an internalized build: FluentCRM profiles/automations and the FluentBoards review pipeline (both installable on this same site; some intake conveniences are Pro-tier). Phase 2: the applicant portal (small first-party plugin over the same data) and the ops dashboard. The Google Sheets one-way mirror is optional and deliberately not the system of record. Assumption to verify with the foundation: their current process runs on Google sign-in + Forms/Sheets — confirmed from the application page requiring Google login.