We Are Blood: Serving Central Texas When The Community Needed It Most

How The Bank of Austin Helped We Are Blood Serve the Needs of Central Texas With PPP Loans and Treasury Management Solutions During the Height of the Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Texas in March of 2020, April Cleaver, Controller at We Are Blood, knew just who to call to ensure that the blood donation organization could continue serving the supply needs of Travis County and the surrounding Central Texas area. The organization has been providing and protecting the Central Texas blood supply since 1951, and with The Bank of Austin’s help to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and implement treasury management solutions to remain open and operating efficiently during the pandemic, they were able to deliver uninterrupted service to the community during a trying time when donations were needed most.

Partners In Service

April attributes this accomplishment to her relationship with Bobbie Bishop, Treasury Management Sales Manager at The Bank of Austin, and the rest of the treasury management team at the Bank:

"The Bank of Austin is more than a bank to us. They’re our partners. During COVID last year, The Bank of Austin was the first call we made to talk about a PPP loan, to communicate with them about how to get through this pandemic. They're always the first ones to step up with whatever we need, whether it's a new mobile [donation] site or opening a new donor center in Cedar Park next year... I'm not sure that another bank would give us the level of service that The Bank of Austin does."

We Are Blood saves lives at over 40 medical facilities in their 10-county region. If a loved one needs blood products at a local medical facility, they are covered, thanks to the We Are Blood family of donors. The donations go to Ascension Seton and St. David’s hospital systems, both of which save lives every single day in Central Texas.

As We Are Blood’s Controller for 24 years, April considers herself a “long-hauler” at the organization, and continues to be inspired by its mission, as well as the impact she is able to make on life-saving services for her Central Texas community. “It’s not that often in accounting that you can say we save lives,” says April, “but I'm as integral to that as our phlebotomist and our hospital drivers and our lab techs, because it takes all of us to be a team to service all of the needs of this community.”

Powering The Possible

"When the information came out about nonprofits being able to apply for PPP Loans, several of the organizations in our area mentioned that they couldn't get appointments with their banks," April recounts. "Nobody would answer their calls, and their banks didn't have any information."

At that point, We Are Blood had already applied for their PPP loan with The Bank of Austin. "We were one of the first groups I know to get PPP approved at a time where most bank portals weren't even open and their relationship bankers didn't even know when they would open. We would have never been able to do all of that without our partnership with The Bank of Austin."

April’s relationship with Bobbie and Angela Yancey, Assistant Relationship Manager at The Bank of Austin, assured a timely PPP loan application for We Are Blood to remain open during 2020. However, in order to operate the most efficiently, April leaned on Bobbie and Angela to help her implement the Treasury Management solutions that kept the organization a well-oiled machine, with systems such as Lockbox and Remote Deposit Capture.

Lockbox

Lockbox acts as a processing house for receivables — speeding collection, processing and clearing customer payments. These solutions reduce mail time and speed processing, so that business funds are available for earlier investment or debt reduction.

“Lockbox is huge for us," says April. "Aside from the fact that it provides a major security benefit for any organization, it has allowed us to be able to see our deposits and in real time. We download all of our reports and can capture all of that information. It saves us a ton of time, because those are all the checks that we don't have to process.”

Remote Deposit Capture

Remote Deposit Capture allows for the scanning of checks and deposits for electronic delivery. Fast, easy and convenient, scanned items enter the collection stream faster, reducing cost and risk, as well as improving funds availability, record keeping and consolidation — which was beneficial for April.

“I love remote capture because it doesn't require me to make a trip to the bank. I can get everything done that I need throughout the day. My staff can get done what they need to, and we get those deposits made as quickly as we possibly can because money in the bank, in the accounting world, is what we have to focus on.”

"At We Are Blood, we serve our community, and The Bank of Austin serves us."

—April Cleaver