Future-Proofing Global Mission Through Salesforce

MAF’s Mission

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is the world’s largest humanitarian airline. For 80 years, MAF has brought help, hope and healing to isolated communities across 24 countries. From flying doctors and teachers into remote villages to delivering medical supplies and evacuations, MAF’s aircraft are lifelines for communities otherwise cut off from essential services.

“For people living in isolated places, they see the MAF plane not just as transport but as transformation. It brings hope, help and healing.”
— Nickolas, Executive Assistant, MAF Papua New Guinea

MAF’s supporters and donors make this mission possible. But by 2018, the systems underpinning supporter engagement were ageing, fragmented, and at end-of-life. To continue serving communities worldwide, MAF needed future-ready digital foundations.

“Being a pilot is being at the forefront of what MAF does. Flying doctors and teachers into remote communities and seeing firsthand the impact their work has on the people.”
— Arjan Pass, Chief Pilot, MAF Papua New Guinea

Challenge

Outdated CRM: Legacy systems were reaching end of life, hindering engagement with donors and supporters
Failed migration: An initial attempt with another partner to move to Salesforce faltered, jeopardising timelines and data integrity
Global ambitions: Beyond MAF Australia, the organisation needed a platform capable of unifying supporter engagement across the worldwide fellowship

The Vision: Systems That Scale With Mission

MAF recognised that to sustain and grow their impact, they needed digital systems that:

Future-proofed operations for decades to come.
Empowered personalised supporter engagement at scale.
Provided a world-class, unified platform to support collaboration across MAF globally.

“Systems are actually a critical part of the work that we do here… we needed systems that will grow with us. We looked to future-proof the mission.”
— Chris Barnes, CEO, MAF Australia

The Solution: Partnership with AlphaSys

AlphaSys stepped in to rescue the struggling migration project and deliver a successful Salesforce implementation. This was the very first Salesforce project for AlphaSys. The partnership has since evolved into a long-term collaboration spanning strategy, delivery, and continuous improvement.

Technologies Harnessed

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud – supporter CRM and donor management.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud – marketing automation enabling personalised supporter journeys.

Integrated Website – core platform for supporter interactions, donations, and communications.

Alongside implementation, AlphaSys provided governance, ongoing support, and enhancements to ensure systems remained aligned to MAF’s evolving mission.

Key Outcomes

🔹 Future-Proofed Systems

MAF now has a modern, scalable CRM that can grow with the mission, enabling unified global collaboration and digital transformation

🔹 Improved Supporter Engagement

With Marketing Cloud, communications are no longer one-size-fits-all. Supporters receive personalised, targeted messages, strengthening relationships and driving engagement

“It’s not just with a blanket email, but we can now get down to individualising the emails that we send to people. So that makes a massive difference for us.”
— Chris Barnes, CEO, MAF Australia

🔹 Rescued Implementation & Ongoing Partnership

AlphaSys successfully turned around a failing migration, establishing trust and setting the stage for a long-term strategic partnership. Over the years, AlphaSys has provided both “break-fix” support and strategic guidance, becoming a true digital partner

🔹 Global Transformation

Building on the Australian foundation, MAF is now pursuing global unification projects by integrating CRM, marketing, and web platforms across the worldwide fellowship. These initiatives are only possible because of the solid systems base established in partnership with AlphaSys.

Results & Impact

Mission resilience: Future-proofed systems underpin the next generation of MAF’s global operations.

Enhanced donor relationships: Personalised communication strengthens supporter trust and engagement.

Strategic alignment: Governance and guidance ensure digital tools align with mission needs.

Global scalability: Foundations in place to unify MAF worldwide on one digital platform.

“AlphaSys has given us that governance and that direction. That’s an example of the collegiality of what we are doing.”
— Alison Franklin, Systems Lead, MAF Australia

AlphaSys’ Approach: Strategy-First, Mission-Always

From rescuing a failing CRM migration to shaping global digital strategy, AlphaSys has acted as more than an implementation partner and as a long-term ally in mission impact.

“The only way we’re gonna do that right is with a systems foundation that is world class — and our partner in that is AlphaSys.”
— Chris Barnes, CEO, MAF Australia

Looking Ahead

MAF is expanding digital transformation across its global network, with projects focused on:

Unified supporter engagement worldwide.

Deeper integration between CRM, website, and marketing platforms.