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CASA Manager

CASA Manager, Susanne Waher

www.casamanager.com
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My successes.

Waher wrote and copyrighted her initial software in 1993 and started selling it part-time to other CASA agencies in 1995. After a break to work overseas for a for a few years, Waher restarted the business full time in 2007 with a completely reworked product. The software is now used by agencies in 35 states to manage the caseloads of thousands of dependent children and the volunteers who aid them.

As a result of growing sales, Waher has been able to add development, tech support and sales staff to the CasaManager team.

What inspired you to start your business?

Susanne Waher is the business owner of CASA Manager.  CASA Manager™ is a case management program designed specifically for Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) agencies. CASA agencies are independent non-profits that train volunteers to work with abused and neglected children who have been removed from their homes and are now dependents of the court. There are more than 1000 CASA agencies nationwide with over 75,000 trained volunteers serving dependent children. CASA Volunteers act as a friend and support person to these children. They also are the ‘eyes and the ears’ of the court and make recommendations to the Judge on what they think is in the child’s best interest.

CASA Manager software was designed to track everything from volunteer training through supervision of CASA cases, and child referrals.  In addition to producing lists, labels, and form letters, it also produces a wide variety of statistical reports used by the agencies to receive the funding they need to run the CASA program.   

"CASA Manager has proven itself as a valuable tool for understanding and analyzing our caseload and volunteer population. We have successfully used this information in all of our fundraising efforts. The ease with which we are able to pull statistics and generate reports from CASA Manager has had a huge impact on the financial health of our program." -  Karen L Burns, Executive Director, Essex County CASA, NJ 

Susanne Waher graduated with a BA in History from UCLA. She was employed with Child Advocates of Santa Clara & San Mateo counties from 1989-2005. During that time the agency grew from a 3-person office to a 30-person office serving approximately 970 children in two counties.  

Susanne wrote and copyrighted the initial software in 1993. She started selling the software part-time to other CASA agencies in 1995. In 2005 she left the CASA agency to make a career change and moved to the UK for 2.5 years on contract for FileMaker International. While she worked overseas her business was put on hold. In October of 2007, she decided to return to the US to restart the business full-time with a completely reworked product. Susanne now operates as CASA Manager full time from her office in Campbell, California.  CASA Manager is currently used by CASA agencies in 28 states to manage the caseloads of approximately 50,000 dependent children and 17,000 volunteers. 

How SCORE helped.

She learned about SCORE from a business school professor who suggested she needed to write a business plan. With no experience in writing business plans or running a business full time, she contacted SCORE through the website and found SCORE counselor Mike Gilbert. Mike’s qualifications were a perfect match! He was located close by, had a Ph.D. in Computer Science, an MBA in Financial Planning, and technical expertise in computer system design, network hardware & software.  

 “Mike helped me with the writing of the initial business plan as well as all other aspects of running a small business - everything from taking out a business license to creating consultancy contracts, letters of agreement, negotiating big deals, business strategy, and marketing.” 

The business revenue has doubled each year for the past five years. CASA Manager has also been in the top 20 FileMaker Software Bundle resellers nationwide for the last three consecutive quarters. As a result, Susanne has been able to add two part-time developers and one full-time salesperson to her staff.  

Her plan is to continue to grow the business. The company has an opportunity in the next year to dramatically increase its market share as well as create alliances with the National CASA agency and other related non-profit agencies working with dependent children.  

“SCORE has been invaluable to me. I don’t know what I would have done without Mike. I do know running a small business wouldn’t have been as much fun! ”

My mentors
Headshot of Mike Gilbert
Mike Gilbert

I use my experience with media communications systems to help clients in many ways. The development...

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