LocalKind: A Digital Strategy for Local Kindness at Scale
Organisation Overview
LocalKind, formerly known as Community Northern Beaches, is a community-based not-for-profit based in Manly, NSW. It provides vital support services across housing and homelessness, domestic and family violence, multicultural support, and more. Deeply embedded in its local area, the organisation exists to ensure that kindness reaches those most in need, close to home.
Challenges
LocalKind recognised that to build a sustainable future and increase its community impact, it needed to undertake a digital transformation. The organisation identified the need to:
- Streamline operations , particularly for managing complex support services.
- Improve community engagement and increase local support.
- Build a supporter database , as previous contact data was limited and unstructured.
- Raise awareness of its work beyond existing service users and connected networks.
- Quantify its impact and communicate it effectively to inspire giving.
- Appeal to a broader base of supporters — volunteers, donors, and local businesses — by making engagement feel personal, meaningful, and impactful.
Solution
Working with Audienceware and its partner Upswing, LocalKind undertook a staged transformation that included strategic consultation, CRM implementation, branding, and capability-building — all underpinned by CiviCRM.
- CRM for Case Management
CiviCRM was first implemented to support frontline teams delivering critical services. It now
underpins:
- Case management across homelessness, domestic violence, and other community
programs. - Secure tracking of client interactions and support outcomes.
- Unified workflows and consistent data capture across service streams.
This provided the operational backbone for service delivery and future impact reporting.
2. Strategic Positioning & Rebranding
Audienceware, in collaboration with Upswing , facilitated stakeholder workshops and persona development sessions to define key audience segments:
- Volunteers (donors of time)
- Financial donors (individuals and local businesses)
- Material goods donors (food, clothing, furniture, supplies)
Together, Audienceware and Upswing developed a communications strategy that aligned messaging to each segment and strengthened LocalKind’s appeal to the wider community.
The insight that unified these groups was the desire to express “local kindness” — the sense of helping others in their own community, and feeling proud about doing so.
This directly informed the organisation’s strategic rebrand from Community Northern Beaches to “LocalKind” — a name and identity that:
- Reinforces a feel-good factor and emotional value for supporters.
- Positions engagement as an extension of the community’s own generosity.
- Has proven effective in increasing supporter conversion and retention .
3. Structured Communications Strategy
Audienceware helped build a comprehensive communications framework:
- A supporter journey was developed for each persona, including tailored content and messaging
- CiviCRM’s automation tools were configured for onboarding, donation follow-up, event registration, and re-engagement.
- Messaging was aligned with the “kindness you can be proud of” positioning, creating a sense of connection between each act of support and its local impact.
4. Internal Capability & Team Growth
To ensure long-term sustainability, Audienceware focused on capacity-building:
- Provided hands-on mentoring in CRM management and supporter communications.
- Enabled the redefinition of internal roles , with key staff promoted into senior strategic positions.
- Supported the recruitment of dedicated community engagement personnel , with LocalKind now leading its own supporter engagement efforts confidently and capably.
- Fostered internal ownership of CRM, communications processes, and digital strategy.
5. Analytics & Impact Foundations
Audienceware is actively engaged in the ongoing development of analytics dashboards and reporting tools using CiviCRM. This work is designed to:
- Support visibility of supporter engagement, donation trends, and communications effectiveness.
- Track service usage across programs, helping inform strategic planning and delivery.
- Establish a framework for impact reporting, enabling the organisation to demonstrate how community contributions are making a difference.
This evolving capability will allow LocalKind to better communicate its value, strengthen relationships with donors and funders, and guide continuous improvement.
Results
- LocalKind’s donation revenue more than doubled, driven by segmentation, strategic messaging, and automation.
- The supporter database grew significantly, allowing for more targeted and effective communications.
- LocalKind’s rebrand strengthened its community identity and gave supporters a clearer reason to give and get involved.
- Internal capability matured, with strategic roles now filled in-house and engagement fully owned by the team.
- CiviCRM is central to both operational delivery and long-term planning, forming the basisfor future reporting and engagement.
Future Plans
- Develop impact dashboards to support storytelling, grant reporting, and donor engagement.
- Further automate supporter journeys to scale its reach.
- Continue using data to personalise engagement and ensure every act of kindness feels truly local.
