Superior employee care and significant time savings: Why CCS Fundraising trusts Sparrow to manage employee leaves

CCS Fundraising is a strategic fundraising consulting firm that partners with nonprofits for transformational change. Founded in 1947, CCS has over 70 years of experience working with nonprofits determined to expand their reach and drive donations.

The firm provides tailored support with every aspect of fundraising, including campaign strategy, data analytics, audits, systems management, leadership training, and strategic planning and development projects. CCS works with over 700 nonprofit organizations annually across sectors, from advocacy and the environment to higher education and human services.

Serving CCS’s global clients are 600 driven, passionate professionals working from the United States, Canada, Ireland, England, and Australia. To help guide employees through major life transitions, CCS partners with Sparrow for full-service employee leave management.

Creating a compassionate workplace environment

CCS Fundraising values their people above all else. When it comes to workplace culture, the firm is committed to maintaining an environment where each individual employee feels understood, valued, and cared for. CCS has a comprehensive Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) program to guide their recruitment and hiring processes, and to ensure all CCS employees receive equal opportunities and equitable rewards.

As part of their DEIB program, CCS runs five Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to address employees’ diverse needs: Pride, Working Parents and Caregivers Community, People of Color & Multicultural Network, Aspiring Allies, and Diversability.

One of the firm’s mainstays is a monthly fireside chat where they highlight the latest news from different ERGs, spotlight individual employees, and host discussions and learning circles.

“It’s a very collaborative environment,” said Lindsey Fernandez, Director of Leave of Absence and Immigration at CCS Fundraising. “We try to find opportunities for people to interact with and learn from one another outside of the typical work setting.”

Woven into everything CCS does is employee well-being, which Fernandez said is a top priority. “We want to make sure people have time to recharge—and have the resources to meet their personal needs.”

The firm has two primary goals when structuring their employee benefits package: 1) diversity of offerings and 2) flexibility to cater to employees’ changing needs. “For example, we offer travel insurance and pet insurance, and this year we recently introduced Noom,” said Fernandez.

“Every year we look at what we can expand or how we can tap into what our employee base wants now,” she added.

One resource CCS is proud to offer alongside their employee leave benefit is Sparrow’s personalized leave support.

“If our employees have questions about their benefits or need assistance getting paperwork from their doctor’s office, Sparrow is there to reassure them and handle follow-ups.”

The Sparrow advantage: A seamless employee leave experience

With Sparrow as their end-to-end employee leave provider, CCS has been able to guide employees through every step of leave preparation and logistics. “Having a dedicated Leave Specialist has been so helpful,” Fernandez said.

“Our employees have said that Sparrow’s help has made leave, which can often be a challenging or overwhelming experience, so much easier.”

Sparrow Leave Specialists kick off each employee leave case at CCS with a one-on-one introductory phone call, where they’ll go over the employee’s benefits, explain the process of applying for state benefits, and answer questions.

From there, Sparrow fills out and submits state benefits paperwork on behalf of CCS employees, so they don’t have to research their state’s leave guidelines themselves or figure out what to put in each field.

“If our employees have questions about their benefits or if they need assistance getting paperwork from their doctor’s office, Sparrow is there to reassure them and handle follow-ups,” said Fernandez.

“Our employees have said that Sparrow’s help has made leave, which can often be a challenging or overwhelming experience, much easier.”

Sparrow Leave Specialists coordinate with doctor’s offices, insurance providers, and state agency representatives to make sure each employee has what they need to apply for—and receive—their full state benefits.

“Our employees have me as a resource, of course, but knowing Sparrow is working alongside me is invaluable,” Fernandez said.

At every stage, Sparrow Leave Specialists have an open line of communication with CCS employees, filling them in on the status of their applications and updating them on their expected pay amounts.

“Sparrow’s help gives our employees more time and energy to focus on getting ready for leave from a personal and professional standpoint,” she added, “instead of getting bogged down in red tape.”

Sparrow’s support doesn’t end with CCS employees—it also extends to Fernandez and her team.

“Our employees have me as a resource, but knowing Sparrow is working alongside me is invaluable.”

Minimizing the administrative workload

In 2023, when CCS Fundraising needed to reduce their leave management workload without sacrificing compliance or downgrading the employee experience, Sparrow was the obvious solution.

“Prior to joining CCS I was at another Sparrow client, so I have a long tenure of working with Sparrow, and I’ve found them to be excellent partners,” Fernandez said. A key reason, aside from Sparrow’s dedicated employee support, is Sparrow’s leave expertise.

CCS employees are scattered across multiple states and countries, but Sparrow stays up to date on changing leave laws, navigating the nuances of each state’s benefits application process and ensuring CCS stays compliant.

Fernandez is particularly grateful that Sparrow handles all the firm’s Canadian leave cases. “It’s really helpful and impactful to have Sparrow’s help with our Canadian employee population,” she said. “They break everything down and make compliance super easy.”

Along the way, Fernandez can check the Sparrow dashboard for detailed information on CCS’s current and upcoming leaves, including leave types, start and end dates, and employee payment breakdowns.

“If a manager needs to confirm an employee’s return to work date, or the finance team has questions about how much someone is receiving from our disability carrier, the dashboard helps me reply accordingly,” she explained, “and ensure I’m giving timely responses and not scrambling.”

"Sparrow’s help gives our employees more time and energy to focus on getting ready for leave from a personal and professional standpoint, instead of getting bogged down in red tape.”

Fernandez also enjoys the different views the dashboard offers of each person’s leave plan, which makes reporting and sharing information much faster and more straightforward. “I love looking at the visual plan as well as the payroll plan to see the breakdown of dollars and cents,” she said.

Another area of leave management where CCS has saved time is payroll. Sparrow sets up automatic payroll calculations for CCS employees on leave and generates regular custom reports.

“Sparrow’s work means I don’t have to triple-check payroll calculations anymore,” said Fernandez. “I still audit Sparrow’s calculations for due diligence, but I’m confident in their calculations, and it saves me a lot of time and stress.”

Sparrow’s automation tools and hands-on service have freed up Fernandez to focus on other aspects of her day-to-day responsibilities, including immigration guidance for CCS employees.

“Leave is always a priority for me, but there are times when I need to divert my attention to another part of the business,” she explained. “Sparrow helps to ensure that there’s no interruption in terms of the service and care that our employees receive.”

“It’s really helpful and impactful to have Sparrow’s help with our Canadian employee population.They break everything down and make compliance easy.”

More time for the mission

Partnering with Sparrow has helped CCS Fundraising tighten up every aspect of their employee leave management process. With Sparrow on their side, CCS has stronger leave compliance, simpler payroll reporting, less administrative legwork, and—best of all—a smoother employee leave experience.

The result: more time to support CCS employees in and out of the workplace, and to advance their clients’ causes.

Simplify employee leave management from all angles. See what Sparrow offers or book a demo to get started today.