Rooted in the spirit of civil rights pioneer Vivian Malone Jones, Vivian’s Door is all about opening up access to education, support, mentorship, and the kind of community connections that help business owners grow. At the center of this work are Janice Malone, founder and executive director, and JaVaughnae Malone, marketing and communications director.
Together, Janice and JaVaughnae have helped countless entrepreneurs across South and Central Alabama build stronger, more resilient businesses. When Janice was honored with the AARP Purpose Prize, their work got a huge spotlight, and with it came a flood of interest from new clients. It was an exciting moment, but also overwhelming. They needed a more reliable, organized way to track each business owner through their programs.
That’s where skills-based volunteers stepped in. With support from Common Impact and a team of skilled volunteers from a leading corporate company, Vivian’s Door was able to choose a new CRM that supported the growing demand for their programs and the increasingly complex needs that accompanied this growth. In this spotlight, Janice and JaVaughnae share more about that experience.
Now, we’ll be able to track a client from the moment they come to us… That makes reporting easier and allows us to clearly show our impact.
– JaVaughnae Malone
Can you speak about the challenge you brought to the skills-based volunteering program?
JaVaughnae Malone:
We support business owners through mentoring and training. Our two main classes are the Business Plan Blueprint and the StreetWise MBA. The Business Plan Blueprint is a 14-week course for new or early-stage entrepreneurs who need to build out a formal business plan. It covers mission, vision, values, and finances, including income statements, balance sheets, and profit and loss. Each participant is paired with a business coach for extra support. The StreetWise MBA is a 6-month program for entrepreneurs earning $75,000 or greater who want to grow their business.
We focus on surrounding business owners with the resources they need to succeed. Many are doing it alone and need someone to talk through financial or business decisions. For example, one client launching a beauty supply store needed help with marketing and vendor outreach, so we set up one-on-one coaching to walk her through it.
Janice Malone:
In addition to the two types of programs, JaVaughnae mentioned, we support businesses through our community wealth-building initiatives. We host bi-monthly “Community Conversations” on relevant topics, like healthcare, that are important to the minority community. We bring in guest speakers and always offer a good meal.
We also run a Black Farmers Initiative. Many of the farmers we work with are transitioning out of the market due to age, so we’re helping them think through their exit strategies. We don’t want the land to go to waste and want to support thoughtful transitions.
Then, there’s our year-round youth initiative that introduces young people to the world of agriculture. From March through May, participants meet weekly to build foundational knowledge and skills. In June, they transition into a full-time internship that offers hands-on experience in agricultural settings. The program is designed not just to teach, but to spark curiosity about STEM careers and encourage youth to envision their futures with confidence and purpose.
Can you speak to the specific challenge you brought to the skills-based volunteering program?
Janice Malone:
We needed help identifying a CRM system that would allow us to streamline some of the steps we were taking when working with and responding to client inquiries. What we had before was an inefficient method of managing inquiries. It really became clear how unsustainable it was when I won the AARP Purpose Prize, and we suddenly had over a hundred inquiries in one month. We just couldn’t keep up and realized we needed a systematic intake process. Something that could help us handle demand and better support our clients. When we saw the opportunity through Common Impact to participate in a virtual skills-based volunteering day, we jumped at it.
The volunteers shared a great deal of information on the different CRM options that could work best for us. Through that process, we ended up identifying the CRM we wanted. Our developer is working on revising the CRM so that it meets our specific needs, so we can serve our clients and improve our efficiency and tracking.
JaVaughnae Malone:
Now, we’ll be able to track a client from the moment they come to us, whether we help them with a business plan, they get funding, or they launch and grow their business. It will all be trackable, which makes reporting easier and allows us to clearly show our impact.
How was your experience working with Common Impact staff to design and support your skills-based volunteering project?
Janice Malone:
From the very first meeting with Common Impact’s senior consultant Erica, I felt understood. She just got it. I explained what we were trying to do, and she translated that into language that made sense for the corporate volunteers. On my end, I knew what I wanted, but I didn’t always know how to articulate it. She did.
I was honestly worried it would take days to get everyone on the same page, but the volunteers were able to quickly grasp our goals and begin working right away. That was thanks to the work Common Impact’s consultants did to frame the project clearly and set everyone up for success.
What makes skills-based volunteering uniquely valuable for Vivian’s Door?
Janice Malone:
They walked us through the pros and cons of each CRM option they presented, helped us understand what questions to ask, and made us more informed so that we were confident in our ability to evaluate vendors and select the right system for our needs. They prepared us well. The skills-based volunteers were incredibly helpful because we were working with professionals who already understood everything that goes into selecting a CRM.
Any final thoughts you’d like to share about your skills-based volunteering experience or your work at Vivian’s Door?
Janice Malone:
Working alongside the other nonprofits in the program helped me realize that while our causes are different, our needs are often the same. Listening to what other organizations needed showed me that we’re all trying to solve similar problems in different ways.
I felt like we were in great company. And of course, I truly enjoyed working with the corporate company and Common Impact. They brought all the right people. From accounting to IT, folks understood how to help us make the best decision.
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