Case Study: INKA (formerly NANDA-I)
How an International Nonprofit Streamlined Operations with a Fractional Team
When INKA, the International Nursing Knowledge Association (formerly known as NANDA-I) found itself struggling with consistent communications, timely member engagement, and a lack of time for strategic initiatives, its leadership team turned to Melissa Swink & Co. for support. Starting with just a few hours per week in March 2022, the partnership has quadrupled to encompass comprehensive administrative and communications support, resulting in dramatically improved member engagement and allowing INKA's leadership to focus on bigger projects.
INKA’s Global Mission
INKA, the International Nursing Knowledge Association (formerly known as NANDA-I) is the global leader in standardized nursing diagnostic terminology, playing a crucial role in defining and developing the language that nurses use to communicate their clinical judgments. INKA’s members include academic nursing professionals from across the world.
Together with its members, INKA works to improve consistent documentation and nursing language, ultimately contributing to patient safety through evidence-based care. INKA also maintains the world's leading evidence-based nursing diagnoses for clinical practice and decision-making and publishes periodicals and books. Through the NANDA Foundation, the organization also funds research projects.
The Challenge: Unfocused Administrative Functions
Before investing in a fractional team, INKA struggled with consistent member communications and timely updates. Newsletter distribution was sporadic, deadlines were missed, and the overall social media presence needed attention. This limited INKA's ability to engage effectively with its global community, especially its own members.
INKA’s CEO, Heather Herdman, RN, PhD, FNI, FAAN, found that the specialized nature of INKA's work presented an additional challenge in finding suitable support. She needed to find a virtual team that could maintain absolute accuracy in communications. Previous attempts to piece together individual contractors for various tasks proved inefficient and created coordination headaches, leading her to search for a more comprehensive solution.
Our Solution: Creating Systems and Managing Details
Heather met our team through a referral, and decided to try out a fractional team approach instead of individual contractors. After an efficient onboarding process, we jumped right in to implement our proven approach, starting with a dedicated Lead VA who serves as the project manager. This model provides INKA with a single point of contact while still giving it access to the diverse skills of the larger team.
The Lead VA quickly established systematic processes for segmenting newsletter subscribers, expense reimbursement approvals, webinar certificate distribution, inbox management, and content creation (blogs and social media).
As the partnership evolved, our support team for INKA expanded to four members, each bringing specialized expertise to different aspects of INKA's operations. Our team now manages the organization's Microsoft 365 account, coordinates webinars, maintains the website, and handles member communications. They work directly with Heather and other board members to keep operations running smoothly.
“You’re like magic!” shared Heather, citing the team’s remarkable response times and ability to take ownership of tasks without oversight.
Real Results for Organizational Stability
The impact of this partnership has been transformative. Newsletter open rates have jumped from 30% to nearly 60%, and educational programs have seen much higher registration rates, which reflects significantly improved member engagement.
Our proactive approach and ability to work independently have also transformed INKA's operational efficiency. INKA now has reliable systems in place that can handle routine responsibilities and last-minute requests from inside and outside of the organization.
New projects have been launched thanks to our backend support. For example, our Lead VA played an instrumental role in bringing INKA's rebranding and new website project across the finish line, and our podcast manager manages the new NANDAcast podcast.
Heather reports that an “immense amount of stress” has been lifted from her shoulders, allowing her to refocus on strategic initiatives, committee participation, and the intellectually stimulating parts of her role that had been neglected.
"I didn't think it would save me time," Heather reflected. "I just thought it would pick up those tasks that weren't even getting done. But it's taken an immense amount of stress off of me and has made us more responsive. People can count on INKA, now!"
Future Expansion
As INKA continues expanding its educational offerings globally, Heather plans to rely on our team for additional support. Our strong operational foundation positions the nonprofit for continued success and impact in the healthcare field.
"Our partnership with INKA proves how virtual support can be a cost-effective and efficient solution for nonprofit organizations. Thanks to strong systems and flexibility, our team can help nonprofits like INKA focus on their missions while we keep operations humming along in the background!" - Melissa Swink, Owner