Initiate + Align

This phase establishes the critical foundation for your entire implementation. You'll work closely with the Findhelp team to define your program's vision, goals, and scope, ensuring everyone is aligned on the expected outcomes. Our objectives are:

Secure Stakeholder Alignment: Ensure all key stakeholders are prepared to make timely and informed decisions so your organization can fully realize the value of the platform.
Define Team Structure: Confirm your governance structure and clearly define the roles, responsibilities, and expectations for everyone involved. This drives effective communication and streamlines all processes.
Establish the Program Vision: Collaborate with the Findhelp team to create a shared program vision and confirm the specific focus areas that will guide your project.

Support Through Implementation and Evolving Your Program

You won't be navigating this alone. The Findhelp team is committed to supporting you across all implementation phases. Our specialized departments will proactively reach out during key stages of your journey. The chart below shows when you can expect each team to reach out.

Initiate + Align Phase

Ahead of your first Findhelp implementation project call, you will receive a project plan template. We have a few things we need you to fill out that are outlined below. This will let your first call set the pace for your program implementation.

1. Defining Your Key Roles

Define who from your organization should be assigned to each role. The main responsibilities are outlined in the chart below. Add who you think should fill that role in the Charter, Vision, + Key Roles tab in your project plan.

Key Roles	Responsibilities & Time Commitment
Executive Sponsor	Meet bi-weekly or monthly with Findhelp to monitor benchmarks/reports, and surface support needs Identify staff to serve key roles and ensures accountability for engagement Support alignment and establish feedback loops across internal user groups Approve Community Engagement strategy, goals, + success measures Garner executive support for CBO investment Sign off on CBO agreement language Makes key executive decisions and assists with consensus-building and serves as key contact for escalations as needed Time Commitment: During Implementation (.1 FTE) Post Implementation (.05 FTE)
Program Manager	Key administrative point of contact, coordinating with market stakeholders Schedules project team meetings Coordinates notes, action items, and next steps internally Time Commitment: During Implementation (.2 FTE) Post Implementation (.1 FTE)
Operational Leaders	Knows operational (care management, social work, CHWs, etc.) workflows to help tailor platform configuration, and coordinates the role the Findhelp platform plays within the larger organization Identifies staff user groups within project scope Sets staff workflow expectations for addressing social care needs across the organization ensuring that staff send referrals to trusted partner Identifies needs and risks for priority populations and identified users groups providing input and feedback on target CBOs Time Commitment: During Implementation (.6 FTE) Post Implementation (.4 FTE)
Training Lead	Organizational training leader and coordinator Supports development of internal staff training materials (i.e. learning modules, tip sheets, etc.) Coordinates and hosts staff training Serves as internal Trainer for ongoing training needs Point person for adding content to the Learning Management System (if available) Time Commitment: During Implementation (6 FTE) Post Implementation (.4 FTE)
Marketing Lead	Supports internal and external platform branding and messaging. Creates campaigns for both initial launch and ongoing promotion of the platform. Time Commitment: During Implementation (.2 FTE) Post Implementation (.1 FTE)
Community Lead	This is describe the role of a Community Lead under a “self-service” approach to community engagement. Findhelp can provide additional support through our professional service packages. Develop your community partner strategy, goals, and success measures Develop tailored messaging and featured program criteria to support your strategy Champion implementation of your community engagement strategy Build and maintain relationships with partners through outreach to enable network sustainability. Promote Findhelp’s live and on-demand training with community partners Engage with internal and external stakeholders to promote adoption and manage your trusted network Monitor benchmarks and network participation and consult with Findhelp on related questions Manage configurable site functions to promote Trusted Network partners to staff and community users including featured tags and favorite folders Execute internal process to notify staff of new partner availability promotion awareness and utilization Coordinate with or directly manage internal programs listings on the platform as appropriate Time Commitment: During Implementation (.6 FTE) Post Implementation (.4 FTE)

2. Building Your Charter

Your charter will define your social care program vision, objectives, roles and goals to ensure alignment across stakeholders. It will live in your Project Plan.

Social Needs Screening and Referral Integration
Vision Statement	Example: Develop a closed-loop referral ecosystem with professional navigators referring seekers to trusted network partners and measuring outcomes for your seeker population.
Program Objectives
Seeker Engagement	We want to develop a robust and ongoing marketing and promotion plan to spread awareness our public facing platform for seekers to self service, to anonymously search, and connect to resources
Professional Navigators	We want to enable our staff to customize our network to meet their needs including adding and editing the network in real time We want to develop specific staff workflows to follow up on interventions and capture data on outcomes to demonstrate impact
Community Partnerships & Referral Pathways	We want to spread awareness of our platform across community based organizations We want to directly engage with community based organizations in a trusted network partnership to develop closed-loop referrals
Navigator Education & Change Management	We want to educate users across our organization about our platform and their specific roles and responsibilities for addressing SDoH needs through an ongoing education and change management plan
Program Scope
Target Population	Empaneled/Attributed seeker population
Professional Navigators	Community Health Workers Social Work & Care Management Divisions
System of Record Integration	Epic Launch with Assessment Informed Launch and Automated Program Recommendation Summary

3. Defining Your Vision

The Findhelp platform is a dynamic, comprehensive tool built on the nation's largest network of free and low-cost social care services.

It helps you manage every step of the social care process:

Screening and Resource Discovery
Referrals and Progress Tracking
Payment Facilitation and Impact Assessment

Because your Findhelp platform is flexible, you must clearly define how you plan to use it to achieve your desired outcomes. A clear vision acts as a roadmap, ensuring everyone on your team is aligned and focused on the same definition of success.

As your program's complexity and goals increase, the resources and effort needed to realize those goals will increase across four key areas:

User Navigation - User Screening and Referral Workflows - where you will identify core users and required workflows to facilitate efficient acquisition and delivery of services to meet the needs of your population
Seeker Engagement - where you will define the core architecture and features of your tailored solution, while securing stakeholder understanding and enthusiasm for its proposed design and capabilities
Community Partnerships & Referral Pathways - where stakeholders will learn about about network approach, curation pathways, partnership models, and scope community investment strategy to achieve desired outcomes
Education & Change Management - where you will develop a sustainable ongoing training and change management strategy to ensure end user adoption and engagement with your platform
Analytics + ROI- where you will determine which reports are important based on goals and workflows, and develop a strategy to achieve ROI for your organization.

Defining Your Social Care Goals: Two Main Paths

The resources you invest and the outcomes you measure depend entirely on your program's goals. Generally, customers follow one of two paths:

Path 1: Focus on Public Self-Service

In this scenario, your main goal is to help individuals (seekers) find resources on their own by anonymously searching the platform. You do not currently have professional staff, like Community Health Workers, dedicated to navigating social care on behalf of seekers.

Because of this focus, your highest investment will be in Seeker Engagement. This means objectives like developing a robust marketing and promotion campaign to spread platform awareness. Conversely, you won't invest heavily in training specialized staff or establishing formal community partnerships. Your success will be measured using process metrics such as platform users, searches, and interactions—not closed-loop referrals.

Path 2: Focus on Professional Navigation and Closed-Loop Referrals

Alternatively, your goal may be to build a closed-loop referral ecosystem where professional staff (such as Care Managers) actively navigate and refer seekers to trusted community organizations (CBOs). These partnerships allow you to track the referral process through to a successful outcome.

While you'll still focus on seeker engagement, your resource investment will be highest in training professional navigators, establishing formal community partnerships, and providing workforce education. By achieving closed-loop outcomes, you can measure real results and impact on your entire seeker population.

What Comes Next

Scheduling Your Implementation Project Meetings

Weekly Project Meeting: Schedule a recurring 30-minute weekly sync with your Findhelp support team and Customer Program Manager to manage day-to-day activities and tasks.
Monthly Executive Meeting: Schedule a recurring 30-minute monthly sync with your Findhelp support team and your Executive Sponsor to review progress and major upcoming milestones.
Kick off the Scope & Design Phase: Coordinate a kickoff meeting with all identified key stakeholders to officially begin the Scope and Design phase of your project.