Shine Charity

Shine is a national charity that supports individuals and families affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus. With a legacy of nearly 60 years, Shine provides essential guidance, resources and advocacy across England, Wales and Northern Ireland—delivering services that make a meaningful difference to thousands.

Although small in size, the charity operates with a complex funding model that includes donations, grants and national fundraising campaigns. One such initiative is its popular online balloon race programme, which generates high-volume invoicing and receipting activity throughout the year.

With a lean finance team and limited in-house IT resources, Shine needed a modern, scalable finance system that would simplify processes, improve visibility and support the charity’s long-term goal of fully cloud-based operations.

The Challenge: Time-Consuming Processes and Manual Workarounds

Before moving to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Shine’s finance team was burdened by repetitive, manual processes that drained valuable time.

A standout example was the receipting and reconciling of income from Shine’s popular balloon race fundraising programme, which generates around 8,000 invoices per year. While payments were received electronically, staff had to manually match each transaction to the correct invoice, using information already available in digital format. This single task alone was consuming an hour per day.

That’s not just a daily inconvenience—it equated to five hours per week, or over 250 hours across the year. Put another way, Shine was spending the equivalent of a full working month each year just manually processing balloon race payments, which they halved!

Additionally, Shine's team relied on external tools and manual mail merges to send invoice reminders, and importing bank statements into the previous system wasn't possible. As a result, simple financial workflows became unnecessarily labour-intensive and slow.

For a small, resource-conscious charity, this wasn’t sustainable and it was time for a smarter, automated solution.

The Solution: A Streamlined, Cloud-Based Finance Platform

Having worked with The HBP Group for many years, Shine trusted the team to guide them through a modernisation journey. The recommendation was Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central—a cloud-based system designed to bring automation, visibility and flexibility to every corner of the finance function.

Key capabilities now include:

• Automated bank statement imports, enabling fast, accurate reconciliation
• Built-in reminder processes, eliminating manual mail merges
• Improved receipting for online donations and fundraising, saving hours each week
• Jet reporting for accessible, professional management accounts
• Cloud capabilities, completing Shine’s full transition away from server-based infrastructure

“We’ve probably saved around five hours a week just on payment matching alone. And we’re doing so much more from within Dynamics now - there’s far less jumping between tools.”

– Steve Ellen, Director of Finance, Shine

The Impact: Efficiency Gains, Cost Savings and a Foundation for Growth

Two Full Weeks in Time Saved Every Year

One of the most transformative gains came from automating the receipting and matching of balloon race income - previously a one-hour-per-day task, which they halved. With Business Central, importing bank statements and streamlining allocations, Shine now saves the equivalent of half an entire month. This time returned to the finance team allows them to focus on analysis, insight and value-added activity rather.

Professional, Consistent Management Reporting

Using Jet reporting, Shine now produces clear, consistent and highly reliable management accounts directly from the system. Trustees immediately recognised the improvement and the finance team now works with information that is both trusted and presentation‑ready every month.

20% Reduction in Finance System Costs

By moving to a fully cloud‑based finance platform, Shine has removed the need for server infrastructure, manual upgrades and on‑premise maintenance - delivering a net 20% reduction in finance system costs. The shift also ensures the charity benefits automatically from every new update and enhancement.

Fully Cloud-Based Infrastructure

With the move to Business Central, Shine has now completed its transition to a fully cloud-based operating model. This not only reduces IT overheads but supports flexibility, security and long-term sustainability.

“This was the final piece of the puzzle - we’re now fully cloud-based. It’s a benefit that may go unnoticed day-to-day, but from an IT and continuity point of view, it’s huge.”

Conclusion: A Smarter, Leaner, More Connected Finance Function

For Shine, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has delivered more than a system upgrade; it’s totally changed the way the charity manages its finances. From automated bank reconciliation to faster reporting, the finance team now operates with greater agility, clarity and control.

With The HBP Group as a trusted partner, Shine is better equipped to support its community, manage its funding streams and plan for the future, secure in the knowledge that its finance systems are every bit as resilient and forward-thinking as its mission.