Since its founding in 1978, Mercy Ships has been pursuing one mission – bringing hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor. Utilizing hospital ships filled with volunteer professionals, the global nonprofit organization provides life-changing surgeries to people in impoverished countries.
Since over 50% of the world’s population lives near a coast, this unique sea-based approach to providing state-of-the-art medical care allows Mercy Ships to transcend borders and provide much-needed medical help to many vulnerable populations. The organization provides a range of medical services that the impoverished countries they serve can’t provide – including tumor removal, cataracts, cleft palates, orthopedics for kids, women’s surgeries, and more.
More than 1,200 volunteers from over 60 nations serve with Mercy Ships, including families and teachers who make a two-year commitment to the cause. As such, the ships need to provide full-time education for the children of volunteers. This led to the creation of Mercy Ships Academy. Accredited as an international Christian school with students from ten different countries, this school has partnered with FACTS for over ten years to manage an education system with unique and unconventional needs.
When the organization expanded from one ship (the Africa Mercy), to two ships (with the addition of the Global Mercy), they needed help scaling their education solution to a larger, more complex operation. That’s when FACTS Regional Business Development representative Scott Smith saw an opportunity to waive Mercy Ships’ implementation fees – and help advance Nelnet’s commitment to service.
FACTS National Sales Manager Jim Owens and Director of Inside Sales Bo Abresch agreed with Scott and made the decision to implement the services free of charge. FACTS worked closely with Mercy Ships’ Education Data & Systems team to help the organization successfully transition from a one-ship education system to a more district-based model.
From managing data migration and implementation to providing redesigned student reports and remote access from the organization’s headquarters in Texas, FACTS’ partnership has helped Mercy Ships adapt their educational system to serve a new, larger wave of students and teachers.
In addition, the intuitive design of the FACTS solution makes it easy for teachers to quickly learn and utilize it in a way to better serve students. Meanwhile, for system administrators, the versatility of the FACTS solution and the service-driven focus of FACTS customer support team makes the constant optimization of school processes efficient and hassle-free.
