Cover Story
Maximizing value
How Adam Roth filled a void with StreamLink Software
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Cleveland | September 2008
Adam Roth’s moment of innovation
came when he recognized a void
and then realized that he could fill it.
The founder and president of StreamLink
Software came to that conclusion in 2004,
while he was serving as interim CEO of
West Side Ecumenical Ministry. Roth started with the organization in 1998 as the
director of operations, and during his time
there, he discovered that although many
nonprofit organizations already have
exceptional leadership, there was a lack of
low-cost software solutions to address
many different management challenges,
including board member and other leadership volunteer management.
Roth began researching various markets and learned that many other nonprofit executives faced the same challenges and needed similar types of solutions. Unlike the for-profit world, nonprofits have dollars allocated to specific
programs — not basic systems and infrastructure. So these basic systems and the organizations’ infrastructure generally are inadequate.
During his research, Roth learned
about Web-based, software-asa-service models. He found that
this “rented” software model
could be a way to optimize
organizational resources at a
low cost, thereby eliminating
the requirement to purchase
expensive new hardware.
The demand for a system to
assist with managing board and
leadership volunteers coupled with the
option to create a Web-based, rentable
software solution led to Roth’s creation
of StreamLink Software.
Roth’s philosophy is to maximize the
value of every dollar a nonprofit organization has in order to increase its ability to meet its mission. Through managing processes and communication,
StreamLink Software provides live feedback and innovative integrated reporting systems to the executive office in the
areas of the board, government grants
and foundation management.
Roth says the key is to make
sure that the right information
is effectively communicated to
the right people at the right
time — both inside and outside
the organization. StreamLink’s
innovative software provides
organizationwide integration
of dynamic documents and
reports. Prior to StreamLink’s
solution, board management software
only granted board members electronic
access to information. StreamLink
changes the value proposition by allowing staff to manage all of the complex
disparate data that is collected around a
nonprofit board.
HOW TO REACH: StreamLink Software, (216) 346-3902 or
www.streamlinksoftware.com
