Cognito Forms to Charity Tracker: Zapier Flow Streamlined 850+ Applications
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Every year during Ramadan, the Zakat Fund of New York City opens its application cycle to support Muslim families in need. But behind the scenes of this charitable mission was a massive operational challenge: over 850 individual applications needed to be reviewed, processed, and manually transferred between two disconnected systems — Cognito Forms and Charity Tracker.
It was an overwhelming task for a small, dedicated team of volunteers.
The team at the Zakat Fund was facing an overwhelming, time-consuming task. Without a technical team, they were relying on a group of about 30 volunteers to input data — one form at a time. Each application could take over an hour to transcribe, validate, and enter manually. The cost wasn’t just in time. It was in stress, delayed response to community needs, and missed opportunities to streamline their impact.
That’s when they reached out to us.
We stepped in to diagnose the problem and realized quickly: this wasn’t just about automation. It was about building a bridge between two systems that weren’t designed to talk to each other. Charity Tracker had limited API access, Cognito didn’t allow bulk exports easily, and Zapier couldn’t connect the dots, unless we pushed it to its limits.
So we did, and the solution saved over 1,200 hours of manual work. Here’s how it worked:
- Built a custom Zapier-based workflow using code and logic tailored to the client’s needs.
- Pulled applicant data from CSV files exported from Cognito Forms.
- Structured and processed the data within Zapier Tables.
- Used custom JavaScript to send the data into Charity Tracker’s API, which had limited endpoints.
- Managed API rate limits by inserting strategic execution delays.
- Resolved challenges related to file uploads and system constraints.
- Successfully automated the intake process despite technical limitations on both platforms.
Zakat Fund can now spend on what really matters: helping people.
Even better, the system is reusable. Next year, during Ramadan, the process won’t start from scratch. With minor tweaks, the automation can run in real time, providing faster support for applicants and clearer reporting for donors.
This isn’t just a case of technical integration — it’s a story of how operational pain can be transformed into process clarity. And it’s a reminder: if your nonprofit is drowning in manual work, there’s a better way.
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