Team 4 Ukraine is a volunteer humanitarian organization whose current activities have far surpassed its original vision. Under the motto "We take aid and hope to where it is needed", today it transports ambulances, hospital equipment, medical supplies, medicines, power generators and other critically needed equipment throughout Ukraine, including war zones. And this entails high management requirements. After all, each of the individual routes means a separate project. It represents hundreds of sub-tasks performed by dozens of people. Yet the entire operation is completely dependent on these steps being completed, and everything has to run "like clockwork." Individual volunteers in different parts of the country must know which project they are working on, their assigned tasks and their deadlines. Likewise, the volunteer managing a particular operation must have a perfect overview of what parts are being completed, where someone needs help, and which tasks are so-called "leaking" and need to be really worked on so that the entire project is not compromised.
Over time, our humanitarian actions have outgrown our original vision, the demands on their management have increased and they could no longer be managed "over the top" with just phone calls and emails. It became clear that even volunteers had to manage their projects like professionals.
And so it came to a serious meeting. Those of us with experience of project management from our civic jobs mentioned Freelo among the first. There were no shortage of questions from others: "Does Freelo have a mobile phone app?" "Is it in English?" "Does every user have a Dashboard?" "Is Freelo clear for project managers?" "Does Freelo generate reports?" "Does it have a clear calendar?" But when the answer to all the practical questions was "yes," the decision was essentially made. Only one question from our team skeptic, "And what are Freelo's references," was answered more than once. "People in Need, DVTV, CZC.CZ, the city of Ostrava, Frutisimo, BUSHMAN, REMAX,..." we quoted references from the company's website.
The next steps on the Freelo website led logically to the price list. Since we depend purely on donations from our supporters (or on the funds we donate ourselves, our families could tell you about that...) and we want to use as little money as possible for overheads, so that the maximum is actually used for the benefit of the needy, the price was perhaps even more important for us than for any rationally run company. Since the number of volunteers involved in the projects numbers in the dozens, Freelo's pricing policy was a pleasant surprise. But it wouldn't have been our team to try something else. Freelo's response to the query was quick and clear. Yes, they will accommodate Team4Ukraine and support our activities.
And what is our experience from the first months of using Freelo? The system provides all the features we need to manage our operations. The project templates are not infuriating, but they really help in creating projects. The control is clear, transparent. The mobile app, which is mainly in the permanence of our volunteers, is stable, well organized, functional. The whole system is intuitively understandable for the user; we don't encounter questions about how to do what in Freel.
So can we recommend Freelo for project management? On our behalf, a resounding yes. It is a useful tool that guides us through our projects and makes sure they are successful. There is no room for mistakes, hesitations, shortcomings in the areas where we bring help and hope.
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