The Atlanta Community Food Bank has been fighting hunger for over 40 years, serving families across 29 counties in metro Atlanta and north Georgia, through a network of more than 700 community-based, nonprofit partners. In Fiscal Year 2025, the Food Bank distributed enough food to provide 112 million meals to neighbors in need.
But behind the scenes, data was scattered throughout ERP, CRM, e-commerce, and volunteer systems. Pulling it together for their Board of Directors or donor storytelling was slow and manual. And just as importantly, the Food Bank needed visibility for day-to-day business needs to answer questions faster, spot issues earlier, and make decisions with confidence. It was clear something had to change.
The Food Bank decided to rethink its approach. By moving to the Azure cloud and building a centralized data warehouse, they have access to real-time insights and simplified reporting. In addition, with Power BI dashboards and integrated data, they can make faster decisions, strengthen partner relationships, and focus on getting food to the people who need it. These improvements marked the beginning of a new chapter for the Food Bank’s operations.
The Atlanta Community Food Bank: Four Decades of Fighting Hunger
The Atlanta Community Food Bank has been a cornerstone in the fight against hunger for more than four decades. Serving 29 counties across Georgia, the Food Bank, through a network of more than 700 community-based, nonprofit partners distributed the equivalent of 112 million meals in Fiscal Year 2025. Their mission goes beyond food distribution—they aim to fight hunger by engaging, educating, and empowering the community.
Operating out of a 300,000-square-foot warehouse, the Food Bank functions as a distribution hub for traditional food pantries. With a team of 225 full-time employees, including a dedicated IT department, the organization manages everything from warehousing and compliance to donor engagement and volunteer coordination. As a member of the Feeding America network, the Atlanta Community Food Bank combines community partnerships with technology-driven strategies to ensure that nutritious food reaches families faster and more efficiently.
Obstacles in the Mission: What Was in the Way
The Atlanta Community Food Bank is built to fight hunger on a massive scale—but the systems behind that mission weren’t working together. Instead of one unified view, critical data was scattered across ERP, CRM, e-commerce, and volunteer platforms, making it nearly impossible to see a reliable full picture.
Pulling reports for leadership or donors meant hours of manual work, stitching together spreadsheets and emails from different teams. Even basic definitions like how teams referred to ‘distributed pounds of food’ varied by system, creating confusion and eroding trust in the numbers.
One major pain point was the organizational scorecard. This critical report for leadership had to be assembled manually from multiple sources, relying on emailed figures and spreadsheets instead of real-time data. Ensuring accuracy was always a challenge.
Another challenge: volunteer engagement data. The Food Bank had no easy way of seeing how many hours corporate partners contributed or how those hours rolled up to parent groups. This lack of visibility made it difficult to recognize contributions, strengthen relationships, and share impact stories with those donors.
Finding the Right Partner
The partnership between the Atlanta Community Food Bank and JourneyTeam began with a simple Google search. When the Food Bank first explored options for modernizing its data environment, JourneyTeam stood out as a Microsoft Partner with nonprofit experience and a collaborative approach. That initial engagement led to successful projects around analytics and system integrations—work that built trust and demonstrated JourneyTeam’s ability to deliver.
So, when the Food Bank faced its biggest data challenge yet, the choice was clear. Familiarity and proven results mattered. JourneyTeam already understood the Food Bank’s systems, goals, and unique complexities, making them the ideal partner for a full-scale modernization.
Beyond technical expertise, JourneyTeam offered flexibility for nonprofit budgets and a genuine commitment to the organization’s mission—helping turn data into a powerful tool for impact. “We don’t think of JourneyTeam as a vendor. They are part of our team,” said Sharay Erskine, CIO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. “Their expertise lets us focus on strategy while they handle execution. Together, we’ve been able to move faster and make smarter decisions.”
Building the Backbone to Real-Time Insights
The Atlanta Community Food Bank and JourneyTeam, together, built a modern, integrated data environment, starting with a migration from on-premises SQL Server to Microsoft Azure. It provides the nonprofit with a secure, scalable cloud platform and eliminated hardware limitations and reduced maintenance overhead.
On the Azure foundation, JourneyTeam created a centralized data lakehouse that consolidates and blends current and historical data from multiple systems, including the Food Bank’s ERP (NetSuite), CRM (Dynamics 365), as well as the organization’s e-commerce, and volunteer management systems. Azure Logic Apps keeps the systems connected and automates data flows.
Power BI was deployed for reporting and analytics, drawing information from the lakehouse. With Power BI dashboards, the Food Bank’s leadership and staff now have real-time access to KPIs, volunteer engagement metrics, and operational data in a single window.
By integrating Azure Communication Services with the data platform, the Food Bank has been able to automate text notifications and feedback loops, reducing manual effort and creating a better volunteer experience. As Mrs. Erskine explained, “We’ve streamlined communications in ways we never thought possible. It’s saving time and improving relationships.”
What Happens When Data Starts to Fuel Progress?
Modernizing the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s data environment delivered far more than technical improvements, it changed how the organization operates and tells its story. By reducing manual processes and improving data trust, the Food Bank can focus more energy on getting food to families faster.
With a centralized data warehouse and Power BI dashboards, leadership now has real-time visibility into key metrics like inventory movement, volunteer engagement, and distributed pounds of food.
This means faster decisions, better forecasting, and improved accountability across all departments. The benefits extend beyond internal efficiency. Automated volunteer communications have streamlined scheduling and feedback, creating a more engaging experience for volunteers and strengthening relationships with corporate partners.
The Food Bank can now report back to corporate organizations with accurate data on volunteer hours and impact, something that was nearly impossible before. These improvements have also enhanced collaboration internally, with teams speaking the same language and using consistent data definitions for KPIs.
We can finally see the full picture without chasing spreadsheets. It’s a game-changer for how we make decisions.
– Sharay Erskine, CIO, the Atlanta Community Food Bank
The Road Ahead: What’s Next for the Atlanta Community Food Bank?
With a modern data platform in place, the team is gearing up for even bigger impact. The Food Bank is focused on getting more nutritious food to families, building stronger partnerships with growers and retailers, and making sure their technology keeps pace with their mission.
The leadership team is building out their strategic plan, exploring new ways to use automation and AI, and making their e-commerce platform more user-friendly for partner agencies. With nearly all their systems in the cloud, the Food Bank can adapt quickly, try new ideas, and keep improving how they serve the community.
Through it all, the Atlanta Community Food Bank is committed to making sure every technology investment helps them connect with neighbors, support their partners, and get food to the people who need it faster and more efficiently than ever before.
This isn’t just about technology. It’s about making sure every decision we make helps us serve our community better.
– Sharay Erskine, CIO, the Atlanta Community Food Bank
Are You Inspired to Make a Difference?
JourneyTeam’s collaborative approach meant the Atlanta Community Food Bank always had a trusted advisor at the table, and not just a technical resource. Together, we navigated change, modernized systems, and kept the focus on serving the community.
Our recent recognition as a finalist for the 2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year for Nonprofit is a testament to what’s possible when technology and mission-driven organizations come together.
If you’re ready to amplify your impact and write your own success story, let’s connect.
Learn More
Explore these resources to learn more about modern, cloud-based data platforms and nonprofit technology solutions:
- Unlock Your Data’s Potential with JourneyTeam’s Azure Data Analytics Accelerator
Learn how to accelerate insights and scalability using Azure and Microsoft Fabric. - Enhancing Efficiency with Power Platform: A Success Story for Non-profits
Real-world nonprofit transformation through automation and data integration. - How Microsoft Copilot and Power Platform Enhance Nonprofit Operations
A visual guide to AI-powered nonprofit transformation.