Samaritans Connects Fundraising Documents and Data with DocuWare

About Samaritans

Samaritans is a UK and Ireland charity providing confidential emotional support to people experiencing distress or struggling to cope.

Founded in 1953, the charity operates through more than 200 branches, supported by thousands of volunteers. Donations and fundraising help sustain this work.

Behind these activities are supporter records, Gift Aid declarations, direct debit documents and other fundraising information that must be organised and accessible.

The Challenge: Thousands of Supporter Documents

Samaritans receives thousands of documents annually, including PDFs, JPEGs and scanned paper records, alongside associated supporter data.

External fundraising providers process campaign responses and cheques, supplying scanned images and data files. Previously, records were held across SharePoint, secure drives and FTP sites.

The requirement went beyond storage: Samaritans needed automated processing and connections to its fundraising and CRM systems.

03 Connect Direct Debit Documents and Data

Samaritans also uses DocuWare to store supporter direct debit documentation. Each document’s unique reference number is used as its filename.

Through DocuWare’s API, the charity automatically populates the remaining document data, creating complete, indexed records without manual data entry.

04 Access Supporter Documents from the CRM

Staff can use highlight search from Samaritans’ CRM to find and view documents stored in DocuWare. This reduces manual steps and helps staff retrieve Gift Aid declarations and direct debit records from the system they already use.

Samaritans’ internal team uses DocuWare’s API to develop integrations with third-party applications, including its CRM. Once supporter documents have been matched, indexed and stored, they are accessible through connected applications rather than separate storage locations.

This approach also gives the internal team scope to develop further integrations as requirements evolve.

Less Administration, Greater Document Control

Connecting Documents Across Charity Systems

Charities may manage supporter documentation across fundraising platforms, CRMs, finance systems and external providers. Samaritans demonstrates how automated processing, structured audits and API integration can connect these records.

DocTech helps organisations connect document management and workflow automation with the technology they already use.

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