The following is an excerpt from Microsoft’s article, “Special Olympics International Gets More Athletes on the Field With Microsoft Power Pages,” on furthering the digitalization of the Special Olympics movement.
Made up of 277 state and national Programs, Special Olympics International breaks down stereotypes all over the world. Yet each Program used its own systems and processes to engage with its constituents, leading to siloed data and an incomplete vision of how the organization works together as a whole. The nonprofit needed a uniform way to onboard athletes and volunteers and to gather consistent data that informs how Special Olympics can grow to serve its communities.
“Fundamentally, we’re trying to understand our people and use data to support our athletes, coaches, volunteers, and family,” says Nathan Cook, CITO of Special Olympics International. “We’ve used Power Pages and Power Apps to facilitate highly accessible customer-facing portals that allows people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their supporters to engage with us.”
The nonprofit is working with state Programs in the US to develop, test, and pilot these portals. Special Olympics International aims to make them available to even more Programs and, eventually, the entire global organization.
As Cook says, “These platforms give athletes more opportunity to get on the field and play.”
