Celeste Orr has 18+ years of experience in grants management and has managed and trained foundation staff in SmartSimple grants management systems since 2014.

Specializing in system optimization and development, custom process builds, user interface design, system administrator support, training, and thought partnership, Celeste serves as a senior consultant and advisor for organizations such as Intuitive Foundation, The Home Depot Foundation, Spencer Foundation, California Access to Justice Commission, Georgia Health Initiative, and Georgia Family Connection Partnership, among others.

Celeste is currently working as an independent senior consultant and software advisor specializing in SmartSimple software solutions with the Philanthropy.io team, providing advisory services in the following areas:

• System optimization & management support — configuration of applications and reviews/reports/assessments based on business processes, workflows, versioning, and data management

• System Administrator thought partnership, support & training — search filter & list view configuration, portal configuration, UTA optimization, versioning, maintenance, data management and recovery, system broadcasts, generating reports, SmartFolders, Help Centers, workflows, etc.

• Custom builds and User interface design — data visualization, list view optimization, dashboard and portal creation, permissions, and visibility, etc.

• System development — user testing, business process optimization, operations manual/succession plan creation, instruction video production, etc.

Personable, empathetic, and detail-oriented in nature, Celeste uses a client-centered approach to her work and takes pride in helping foundation and nonprofit leaders improve internal and external relationships with better database management practices.

Celeste holds a Master of Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit leadership and spends her free time living and volunteering in Maine as a writer, author, and community leader.

Celeste’s proudest professional moments have been receiving client feedback such as:

“She is fast, efficient, always cheerful, and truly a pleasure to work with“,

“I wholeheartedly recommend her to any organization seeking assistance with their platform, as her dedication and proficiency are unmatched”

“Celeste is a pleasure to work with and a huge asset to anyone looking to truly leverage SmartSimple and all its capabilities to achieve successful outcomes”.

Celeste has worked in grants administration since 2008 and has been a System Administrator for SmartSimple grants management systems since 2014, currently working with 20+ SmartSimple System Administrator teams across the US and Canada.

Celeste’s work has been featured on the Foundant/SmartSimple blog in an article entitled “Tips for Grantmakers Turned Systems Administrators”.

Current and Past Clients include:

• Aubrey & Marla Dan Foundation

• California Access to Justice Commission

• Cannon Foundation

• Georgia Family Connection Partnership

• Georgia Health Initiative

• Global Foodbanking Network

• Harvest Foundation

• Health Resources in Action

• Intuitive Foundation

• Mother Cabrini Health Foundation

• Neubauer Family Foundation

• Regional Foundation

• Reinvestment Fund

• Rural India Supporting Trust

• Schiewetz Foundation

• Spencer Foundation

• The Home Depot Foundation

• The Home Depot Foundation Canada

• Wallace Foundation

• Weston Family Foundation

• And others

“I wholeheartedly recommend her to any organization seeking assistance with their platform, as her dedication and proficiency are unmatched.”

— John Ellington, Director, The Home Depot Foundation

“Celeste is a pleasure to work with and a huge asset to anyone looking to truly leverage SmartSimple and all its capabilities to achieve successful outcomes.”

— Amy Bilodeau, Manager, Community Investment: The Home Depot Canada

“It’s rare to find someone who can see the big picture while paying attention to the smallest detail. We would not have had such a smooth transition to SmartSimple or a robust system without her.”

— Sherry Witherington, Director of Community Support, Georgia Family Connection Partnership

“Her extensive knowledge of both the program as well as the SmartSimple company allowed us to feel confident when making long-term decisions concerning support agreements and additional implementation services. She stepped right into our process and immediately made an impact.”

— Troy Johnson, Chief Financial Officer,  Healthcare Georgia Foundation

“She is fast, efficient, always cheerful, and truly a pleasure to work with.”

— Stephanie Choy, Choy Consulting for California Access to Justice Commission

“ Celeste was an exceptional asset to our organization during our post-implementation journey with Smartsimple. Her extensive knowledge and expertise in the platform proved invaluable in ensuring our users were well-informed and supported, while also providing us with the confidence to adapt and enhance our system as new requirements emerged. I wholeheartedly recommend her to any organization seeking assistance with their platform, as her dedication and proficiency are unmatched.”

— John Ellington, Director, The Home Depot Foundation

“The Home Depot Canada Foundation has had the pleasure of benefiting from Celeste’s consulting services over the past year and the positive improvements on our SmartSimple system – for our users, our Foundation team, and our overall effectiveness have been incredible. Celeste is not only a subject matter expert on the system – she knows how to speak the language and make it digestible for any audience. From start to finish Celeste does an excellent job at understanding our system needs and wants and building our entire team’s capacity according to each individual’s scope of work, helping us to execute in a timely manner to meet our stakeholders’ expectations and ensure a flawless execution for all of our users. Celeste is a pleasure to work with and a huge asset to anyone looking to truly leverage SmartSimple and all its capabilities to achieve successful outcomes.”

— Amy Bilodeau, Manager, Community Investment: The Home Depot Canada

“Celeste Orr has been instrumental in our successful installation and utilization of SmartSimple’s platform. Celeste has the ability to support you in the visioning process and throughout the configuration, launch, implementation, maintenance, upgrade, and staff development phases. She’s a great communicator and really listens and responds to the client’s needs, as well as being proactive in suggesting applications that will improve your grants management system. It’s rare to find someone who can see the big picture while paying attention to the smallest detail. We would not have had such a smooth transition to SmartSimple or a robust system without her.”

— Sherry Witherington, Director of Community Support, Georgia Family Connection Partnership

”Here at Healthcare Georgia Foundation, we have found Celeste’s consulting services over the past year to be instrumental in the successful implementation of the SmartSimple system. Her extensive knowledge of both the program as well as the SmartSimple company allowed us to feel confident when making long-term decisions concerning support agreements and additional implementation services. She stepped right into our process and immediately made an impact.  Celeste was also very patient and empowering when training our staff. Finally, Celeste has developed a client engagement approach that accesses the internal user’s needs while also considering our stakeholder interaction. We will continue to work with Celeste as our requirements change and her schedule permits.”

— Troy Johnson, Chief Financial Officer,  Healthcare Georgia Foundation

“I am an independent consultant responsible for a client grant program built on SmartSimple, and being able to rely on Celeste to administer SmartSimple has been life-saving. She is adept at getting the most out of SmartSimple features, but also brings a wealth of experience designing a user interface that is intuitive for both grantor and grantees. Her existing relationships with the SmartSimple team are an asset as she is able to get results when issues arise. She brings practical creative problem solving, is flexible to meet specific (and sometimes idiosyncratic) needs. She is fast, efficient, always cheerful, and truly a pleasure to work with.”

— Stephanie Choy, Choy Consulting for California Access to Justice Commission