Greggs Foundation – Building a Stronger Community with Digital Transformation
Empowering communities through technology: how Greggs Foundation streamlined its operations with mhance and Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 solutions.
Background
The Greggs Foundation has a long-standing commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of communities across the UK. Its roots trace back to 1939, when John Gregg began delivering baked goods door-to-door in the North East. This entrepreneurial spirit eventually led to the first Greggs shop opening in Gosforth in 1951. But just as important as the baked goods was the community spirit that underpinned the business. By 1967, Greggs was already giving back, hosting pie and pea suppers to support the local community in Gateshead.
In 1987, this commitment formalised with the creation of Greggs Trust. The Trust used donations and share income from Greggs to support those experiencing hardship. In 1999, it funded its first breakfast club at West Walker Primary, an initiative that remains active to this day. The Greggs Foundation became an independent charity in 2009 and, by 2024, had reached an incredible milestone: 1,000 breakfast clubs feeding over 75,000 children daily, powered by the backing of Greggs and over 150 commercial partners.
The Greggs Foundation is a grant-giving organisation focused on improving the health and wellbeing of people in the communities where Greggs operates. In 2024 alone, the Foundation distributed over £5 million to tackle three key challenges, reducing poverty and inequality, putting food at the heart of communities and supporting local organisations that drive positive change. Its funding reaches communities, schools, and individuals. From providing core grants that help people return to employment, to running holiday clubs and hardship schemes through local partners, the Foundation ensures vital resources are delivered where they are most needed.
Sally Cooper, Systems & Operations Manager for the Greggs Foundation, joined the team after 20 years at Greggs in finance and retail. She describes her move to the Foundation as “landing the best job I’ve ever had,” stepping in to lead two major objectives. The first was to manage the £1 million Covid-19 grant awarded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), matched by £1 million from the Foundation’s investments. Over the 12-month grant period, the Foundation distributed over 8,000 individual hardship grants, ranging from food and uniform vouchers to essential household goods and support for food banks. But manually managing that scale of support quickly exposed the limitations of using Excel. It became clear that a robust grant management system was essential.
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Rebuilding with Confidence
The Foundation had previously attempted to implement Salesforce but halted the project midway due to unforeseen complications and lack of dedicated resource. Learning from that experience, Sally was brought in to provide focused leadership for the new initiative and to ensure that change was managed effectively and sustainably.
They decided to begin with their most complex programme: the breakfast clubs. This required full clarity on requirements and internal processes, challenging the team to rethink how they worked and commit to a minimum viable product.
With input from Greggs’ IT subject matter experts, the Foundation identified Microsoft’s ecosystem as the best fit for long-term security, integration, and user familiarity. After approaching four potential partners, mhance stood out for their clear vision of how the system could evolve, as well as their commitment to aligning the build with the Foundation’s goals and ROI expectations.
Delivering Impact Through Dynamics
The new solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM using a Fundraising accelerator, was delivered by mhance in three clear stages:
- Discovery began in September 2022
- Development launched in February 2023
- Go-live aligned with the school holidays in August 2023
Within two months, over 95% of schools were registered on the portal. Monitoring report completion rates jumped from 65% to over 85%, with much of the process now automated. Thanks to mhance’s collaborative approach, the Foundation can now make system tweaks in-house, enabling them to scale and adapt with ease.
Integrating Finance with Business Central
Following the CRM success, the next step was replacing the Foundation’s basic Sage accounting system with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This second phase was essential for integrating finance and grant management and reducing reconciliation efforts.
Although some providers offered competitive pricing, mhance again proved the strongest partner. Discovery began in 2023, and with expert guidance from mhance, the Foundation went live with Business Central during 2024, on time and on budget.
The transition unlocked immediate and ongoing benefits across financial management
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Reporting
Budget reports are now far easier to generate, analyse, and update. Standard reports can be created with ease, and any budget updates flow automatically through to all reporting, ensuring a single source of truth across the system.
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Budgets
Updates are quick, intuitive, and allow for multiple budgets to be managed simultaneously. This flexibility enhances financial planning and oversight.
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Reserves Management
Reserves are now efficiently tracked using system dimensions to manage restricted, designated, and unrestricted funds. This replaces previously time-consuming mapping exercises and allows for regular, accurate monitoring.
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Payment Runs
Significant time savings have been achieved through bulk uploads to Bankline. The ability to set vendors with specific payment schedules also means only necessary payments are pulled through.
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Supplier Invoices
Bulk uploads have eliminated much of the manual entry, freeing up staff time and reducing the risk of error.
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Approval Processes
The full end-to-end approval workflow is now captured within the system, covering everything from purchase quotes to payments, ensuring better audit trails and reducing reliance on scattered email chains or external systems.
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Chart of Accounts Simplification
The chart of accounts was streamlined from nearly 300 lines down to 125, significantly reducing complexity and making account selection and reporting much more manageable. Additionally, budget holders can now self-serve using basic licences, further improving transparency and accountability.
The Solution
Looking Ahead
The final stage in the Foundation’s digital journey is to migrate its hardship and community grant processes into the new CRM system. The ultimate goal is a unified, scalable platform with “one version of the truth”, reducing complexity, improving efficiency, and ensuring systems support the charity’s continued growth.
The Greggs Foundation’s digital transformation journey exemplifies how the right technology, combined with strong leadership and aligned partnerships, can significantly enhance the impact of a charitable organisation. By streamlining operations through Microsoft Dynamics 365 and collaborating closely with mhance, the Foundation has not only increased its efficiency but also positioned itself for sustainable growth. As it continues to evolve, the Foundation remains steadfast in its mission to support communities across the UK, now empowered by systems that are as resilient and forward-thinking as its values.