Katy Thomassie - Giving Care the Structure It Deserves
Katy Thomassie didn't learn Salesforce to change careers – she learned it to protect the social work she already deeply cared about. Working in the nonprofit sector where time is scarce and the stakes are real, she saw how disconnected systems were draining energy from the people doing meaningful work. The Admin Academy gave her the practical training, patient teaching, and supportive community she needed to transform Salesforce from an underused platform into a tool that strengthens both service delivery and fundraising.
When Katy Thomassie talks about Salesforce, she does not talk about it as just a piece of technology. She talks about it as a tool to enhance impact and help her scale her responsibility as a Social Worker.
Katy works in the nonprofit sector, in organisations where social work, fundraising, and service delivery are deeply intertwined. In those environments, time is scarce, needs are complex, and the consequences of missed information are real. For her, Salesforce became a way to strengthen the work she already cared deeply about, not change it.
Katy’s work has always sat close to the realities of social need. She has spent her career supporting programmes that address poverty, food insecurity, and access to essential services. In those roles, she saw first-hand how much effort goes into care, and how much additional pressure comes from managing information across disconnected systems.
Social workers and programme teams were doing meaningful work, but too much of their time was taken up by admin. Outcomes were being achieved, but not always captured clearly. Fundraising depended on great data being in one place, as the team share this responsibility.
“It was never that people didn’t care about putting data in Salesforce,” Katy reflected. “It was that the systems weren’t helping them do their best work.”
Salesforce was already in place within her organisation, but hadn’t been tailored to their needs. What stood out to Katy was not its potential but the fact that no one had the time or capacity to truly own it. The platform existed, but it was underused, simply because everyone was stretched.
Rather than seeing this as a limitation, Katy saw an opportunity. But, she knew she needed support, training, and expertise to meet her goals.
Katy’s motivation to learn Salesforce did not come from career ambition. It came from wanting to better support her colleagues and the people they served.
She believed that better systems could:
- Free up social workers’ time
- Reduce duplication and manual effort
- Ensure people did not fall through the cracks
- Create clearer visibility of need, risk, and progress
For Katy, technology was not about replacing human work. It was about protecting it.
“When systems work well, we can focus on people,” she said. “That’s what matters.”
As Katy began thinking more seriously about how Salesforce could support social work and fundraising together, she realised that intention alone was not enough. The platform was powerful, but without the right structure, it was hard to use it in a way that truly reflected the work being done.
This was the point at which she decided she needed to learn Salesforce properly, not just use it.
That search led her to Get Force Certified.
What Katy was trying to solve was not abstract. She had seen how difficult it could be to articulate impact when data lived in different places, or when outcomes were recorded inconsistently. This mattered not just for reporting, but for sustainability. Funding decisions rely on evidence. Evidence relies on good data.
“Fundraising and data isn’t separate from the work,” she said. “It’s how the work continues.”
When she met Dave Massey of Get Force Certified, Salesforce started to feel like a practical way to connect service delivery and fundraising more honestly.
“The way Dave shared how he could train me on Salesforce made me think, he offered a way to track outcomes more clearly, understand what interventions were working, and show funders the real story behind the numbers, without separating fundraising from care, via his training and this would be game changing for me.
This intersection between impact and income is where Katy feels most strongly about Salesforce’s role in the nonprofit sector, but knew she needed Dave and Get Force Certified’s teaching to bring her vision to life.
Although Salesforce was already available to her organisation, Katy quickly realised that learning it properly would require more than self study. Trailhead provided access, but not always context. Without guidance, it was difficult to know where to focus or how to prioritise learning in a live nonprofit environment.
Get Force Certified changed that.
“From the outset, the experience felt grounded and practical. The learning was hands on, rooted in real scenarios that mirrored the complexity of nonprofit work. Concepts were explained in multiple ways, allowing people to engage with the material in the way that worked best for them.” Shared Katy.
However, what stood out to Katy most was the teaching.
“Dave Massey’s approach was practical, patient, and deeply considered. He took time to explain not just how something worked, but why it mattered, and how it could be applied across different organisational contexts. No one was rushed. No one was left behind.
It felt like someone finally understood how overwhelming this can feel,” Katy said. “And how to make it manageable.”
Just as important as the teaching was the community that formed around it.
The cohort quickly became a supportive space where people studied together, shared perspectives, and helped each other through challenges. Slack channels became places of encouragement as much as problem-solving. Learning was collective, not competitive.
That environment mattered to Katy.
It reinforced the idea that Salesforce is not something you master alone. It is something you learn in conversation, shaped by different experiences and perspectives.
The course created a sense of shared responsibility for progress, which mirrored the values Katy already held in her work
What Katy remembers most are the small, thoughtful details that changed how the learning felt. Dave would play upbeat music during quizzes or exams, breaking the tension and making moments that could feel awkward or stressful feel lighter and more human.
Questions were welcomed, pauses were normal, and no one was made to feel behind for needing something explained again. The pace was calm without being slow, structured without feeling rigid. Those choices mattered. They created an environment where people could focus, think clearly, and learn without fear of getting things wrong. For Katy, it made the difference between feeling intimidated by the platform and feeling genuinely supported while learning it.
By the time Katy completed the Admin Academy and passed her certification, the shift was clear.
Salesforce no longer felt intimidating or abstract. It felt usable. Purposeful. Aligned with the work she wanted to do.
She felt confident making changes, asking the right questions, and thinking more strategically about how systems could support both frontline teams and fundraisers. More importantly, she felt equipped to help her organisation build long-term capacity from the inside.
Get Force Certified did not just teach her Salesforce. It gave her the confidence to step into ownership, knowing that great technology, when understood and used well, raises standards across the organisation.
Since passing her Salesforce Admin certification, Katy has already begun putting what she learned into practice. She has taken ownership of her organisation’s existing Salesforce environment, making changes rather than letting it sit underused.
This has included customising objects to better reflect how their services actually operate and launching Salesforce Campaigns for the first time.
Through this, she has started to understand which fundraising approaches are working, where engagement is stalling, and how impact and income can be viewed together rather than separately.
Rather than treating Salesforce as something she has finished learning, Katy continues to build confidence through small, hands-on projects, gradually strengthening internal capability and ensuring the platform works harder for the people it ultimately supports.
Katy continues to see her future firmly rooted in the social work she loves within the nonprofit sector. She is motivated by strengthening organisations from within, supporting social workers, volunteers, and fundraisers with systems that reflect the care they bring to their roles.
For her, Salesforce is not a destination. It is a tool that grows alongside her career, helping her build clarity, resilience, and sustainability into the work that matters most.
Katy believes that nonprofits deserve the same quality of systems as any other sector. Not because it is fashionable, but because the people they serve deserve nothing less.
If you’re capable, motivated, and tired of fragmented learning, the Admin Academy was built for people exactly like you.Salesforce isn’t about memorising features – it’s about understanding how businesses actually work and taking responsibility for the systems you build.
If Katy's story resonates and you want to learn Salesforce with clarity, structure, and purpose, the Admin Academy can help you build that foundation.
