Our Clients: Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC)

The Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC) was an organization ahead of its time when it set up a FileMaker Pro database in 2005… but technology changing the way it does meant that didn’t stay true! Until EVA BC began working with Oak Bay Softrends, their database was really “a glorified spreadsheet,” and while it supported the organization’s work, finding information was slow, cumbersome, and required a lot of copying and pasting. Not anymore!

EVA BC supports the work of community-based anti-violence programs and community coordination initiatives in BC, creating a united provincial voice for systemic provincial change. They train, support and advocate on behalf of anti-violence workers in close to 300 programs in BC, allowing frontline workers to focus on the important work of supporting survivors. It’s crucial work for the workers, their organizations, the community, and everyone in BC.

But with over 100 member organizations, each with their own set of staffers, there’s a lot of information to coordinate! That’s where PEEPS, EVA BC’s FileMaker Pro database, comes in. “Our new executive director came up with the name because ‘these are our people,’” says Kate Rossiter, Director of Provincial Services at EVA BC. “We’re still working on what the acronym stands for!”

On any given day, about a third of EVA BC staff use PEEPS to facilitate networking opportunities, set up training, share resources, track membership, and communicate. Working collaboratively with Oak Bay since 2020, EVA BC has refined and tooled the database to allow them to generate all kinds of reports – people working in specific programs, communities of practice, training attendance, membership renewal, and so much more.

“Without this powerful database, we wouldn’t be able to communicate with our members as often and accurately as we do,” says Kate. “It helps us ensure that our newsletter distribution list is up to date, that people have training and are offered relevant training opportunities, and that we stay up to date with staffing changes. We use this information to build relationships: we can see the full picture of the person, their organization, their community, and their region, which provides context for how we support folks. Most importantly, it’s made our work much more efficient.”

One of the most recent updates to the database was moving from SMTP to the SendGrid API, so that email communication managed by the database is tracked in a single location instead of being buried in email chains. Oak Bay developer Riley Wald also worked with EVA BC to create a communities module that lets staff filter programs and initiatives based on a member’s geographic region.

Kate appreciates the ease of working with Oak Bay. “They really understand our needs; they are very responsive, very on top of things. They know the most effective ways to solve our problems and are able to adapt the database to meet our needs. It all just happens, often overnight, and we can get on with our work.”

“I never expected that we’d be working with Oak Bay for so long, but continuous development is an ongoing process, and our organization really benefits. Whatever we need, we know Oak Bay can build it. ”

In fact, says Kate, the long-term relationship with Oak Bay is crucial for the health of EVA BC and for any organization that relies on a database to do its job. “It’s important to be open to the solutions Oak Bay offers, and it’s really worth the investment in a long-term relationship. We need to do so much, at high capacity, with high output and efficiency. We absolutely rely on the technology partnership with Oak Bay to increase our impact.”