Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) has been pairing adult mentors with kids for more than a century. That remarkable, longstanding history attracts thousands of "Bigs" and "Littles" to the program every year, creating mentoring relationships that blossom into success stories—which BBBS features in its grant applications, fundraisers, and marketing initiatives.
For Russell McBride, rounding up data to craft these stories is no small feat. He has to comb through anywhere from 250-400 active mentorships in the BBBS database, a challenge that's intensified and become more essential as the nonprofit has expanded.
To meet the escalating demand for stories, Russell turned to Zapier. Connecting to tools BBBS already uses, Russell built a system that replaced the time-consuming, manual process of discovering and sharing the nonprofit's most powerful narratives. This is how he did it.
About Big Brothers Big Sisters:
Company size: 51-200
Industry: Nonprofit
Location: Tampa, FL
The challenge: Lost stories, lengthy processes
Finding success stories wasn't as easy as just running a database search. BBBS collects information from Bigs and Littles through forms that feed into "Matchforce"—what the nonprofit internally calls Salesforce. When Russell or another team member needed to pull a story, sorting through the sheer amount of data they had on each mentorship was overwhelming. Piecing together a story took forever. To make matters worse, recency bias caused older stories to get left behind and remain untold.
Plus, much of BBBS is volunteer-run, which often comes with high turnover, making it even more difficult to understand a Little's transformation over time.
Russell wondered: How could he make Matchforce data more accessible, so everyone could more easily pull stories of impact?
The solution: Building an AI-powered storyteller with Zapier
"I started researching all this stuff," said Russell, "and I think I just realized…this is really hard. What if I can start to tell stories through AI?"
Which is exactly what Russell did. He created a solution using Zapier that surfaces mentorship stories without bias and gives the team essential details they can use as a springboard for writing each story.
Here's how Russell's system works:
On match anniversaries, a Zap pulls all the data about a particular mentorship from Matchforce.
An AI by Zapier step processes that data, transforming months or even years of data points and key themes into a cohesive story.
Staff members who use these narratives receive an automated email containing the AI-generated story.
If someone at BBBS has a specific mentorship in mind for a story, Russell's system comes with a built-in solution. They can fill out a form to manually select that mentorship and have stories pulled for them in seconds.
The results: An intelligent workflow that's fast, efficient, and impactful
Through automation and AI-powered storytelling, BBBS has achieved a massive impact that directly benefits the children and relationships they serve.
Russell has helped:
Save BBBS 40 hours per week: This let the nonprofit avoid rehiring a few positions that had been in the recruitment queue.
Generate 280 stories in the past year: To compare, they were only producing around 10 stories every year because of how time-consuming it used to be.
Increase volunteer matches by 30%: Automation sped up and simplified the onboarding process, making it easier to assign matches.
"Every match has a story, but before, we didn't have a way to capture them all. Now, AI ensures every mentorship gets its moment."
Russell McBride, Director of Systems Administration, Big Brothers Big Sisters
What's next for BBBS?
Russell is now exploring how AI and Zapier can help personalize mentorship experiences and further improve volunteer engagement. BBBS continues to turn to Zapier and AI to strengthen human connections—one match at a time.
The nonprofit is always looking for volunteers. If you're interested in becoming a Big and making a measurable, positive difference in a child's life, you can find more information on their website.
Russell McBride is a technology specialist with a passion for streamlining processes and integrating cutting-edge tools. He has a knack for demystifying complex technological concepts, making them accessible to a wider audience. Currently, as Director of Systems Administration for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Chattanooga, East TN, and Middle TN, he drives productivity through automation and AI.
