The patients’ advocacy group Association Française de l’Ataxie de Friedreich (AFAF) needed a more efficient way to manage members, donations, and administrative documents, all while operating with limited volunteer resources and strict GDPR requirements.
By implementing Salesforce and using PDF Butler for automated document generation – with support and guidance of Cloud Giraffe – AFAF successfully modernized its operations and significantly reduced manual workload.
About AFAF
Founded and led by families directly impacted by Friedreich’s ataxia, AFAF is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting patients, raising awareness, and funding medical research for this rare genetic neurological disease.
AFAF offers its members a range of free services: psychological support, social assistance, a specialized communication program, meetings and workshops, as well as a printed magazine. The association represents patients to health organizations and funds medical research projects and innovations to facilitate daily life.
Like many nonprofit organizations, AFAF relies mainly on volunteers, some of whom are patients themselves or relatives of patients. Team availability is precious, and time dedicated to the association must be used efficiently. This is why the flexibility of the Cloud Girafe team was a key asset for them.
About Cloud Girafe
Cloud Girafe is a Salesforce-focused integration partner with over a decade of experience, consistently ranked among the top integrators in France. The team has built a strong reputation for stepping into complex or underperforming projects, restoring structure, and delivering practical, value-driven solutions. They bring deep expertise in supporting non-profit organizations and understanding their operational challenges.
The Challenge
Before partnering with Cloud Girafe, AFAF was using a solution originally designed for training centers, which had been customized around ten years earlier to meet the association’s specific needs. Following a major technical migration, however, the software vendor was no longer able to maintain these custom developments. As a result, AFAF was left without a reliable solution to manage its members, donors, and magazine distribution.
At the same time, the association faced increasing operational complexity:
- Managing households with multiple members under a single payment
- Handling combined transactions (memberships, donations, subscriptions)
- Supporting multiple payment methods (checks, online, cash)
- Tracking personal data in compliance with GDPR
AFAF needed a system that was both flexible and compliant without adding administrative burden to volunteers.
The Solution
Working alongside Cloud Girafe, AFAF implemented Salesforce together with integrated solutions for communications and document generation.
Centralized CRM for Association Management
Salesforce enabled AFAF to manage:
- Members and households
- Individual donors and corporate sponsors
- Magazine subscriptions
- Donations and orders
All information is centralized within a single, structured, and compliant system, eliminating duplicate records and simplifying administrative processes.
Generating Critical Documents with PDF Butler
A key part of the project was implementing PDF Butler to generate administrative documents directly from Salesforce.
Previously, generating tax receipts and other documents required significant manual effort. With PDF Butler, these processes are now fully optimized.
What documents PDF Butler automatically generates for AFAF
- Automatic tax receipts (CERFA) generated instantly after validation
- Check deposit slips created for offline payments
- Automatic document storage within Salesforce
PDF Butler enables organizations to generate documents directly from Salesforce with complete accuracy and full traceability. The solution also supports both individual and bulk document generation, allowing organizations to meet a wide range of document management needs.
A Tailored Approach for Non-Profits
Cloud Girafe adapted its approach to AFAF’s specific reality:
- Flexible project management aligned with volunteer availability
- Recorded training sessions for onboarding new volunteers
- Ongoing advisory support beyond technical implementation
“Working with an association like AFAF means realizing that behind every member, there is a family fighting. Our role is to simplify their daily work so they can focus on what matters most.” — David Boukhors, Founder of Cloud Girafe
Results
With this new setup, AFAF has:
- Centralized all member and donor data within a single system
- Simplified the generation of administrative documents
- Launched targeted GDPR-compliant communication campaigns
- Reduced manual data entry through integrated processes
- Improved visibility with real-time Salesforce dashboards
Most importantly, the association estimates saving 1 to 2 days of volunteer work per month, allowing its team to dedicate more time to supporting patients, their families, and the association’s mission.
Conclusion
For associations like AFAF, digital transformation is not just about efficiency; it’s about enabling teams to focus on what truly matters.
By combining Salesforce, Brevo for communication, and PDF Butler for document automation, AFAF has built a scalable, compliant, and future-proof operational foundation.
