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From Excel Bottleneck to Real-Time Insight: How Special Olympics Maryland Modernized Its Budget Process

Picture of Megan Alba Megan Alba July 17, 2026

Case Study Nonprofit/Charity Sage
From Excel Bottleneck to Real-Time Insight: How Special Olympics Maryland Modernized Its Budget Process

Special Olympics Maryland moved its budget process off Excel and onto Martus, with departmental worksheets tied directly to the GL.

Organization

Special Olympics Maryland

Year-round sports training and competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities across Maryland.

Challenge

Budgeting ran entirely on Excel, with manual workflows that were hard to coordinate across departments.

Solution

Martus with filterable departmental worksheets, direct General Ledger integration and forecasting.

In their words

"Martus Solutions has allowed the budget process to be more user friendly, take less time, and integrates with our GL seamlessly. No more Excel worksheets."

Joanne Engler, VP Finance

About Special Olympics Maryland

Special Olympics Maryland provides year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities across the state, with a mission of building a world where opportunity isn't limited by disability. Before adopting Martus, the organization's finance team relied entirely on Excel spreadsheets to manage its budget, a manual process that was labor-intensive, difficult to coordinate across departments, and prone to errors. Since implementing Martus, the budget process has become more user-friendly and far less time-consuming, freeing program staff to focus more fully on delivering the organization's mission.

Challenge

Special Olympics Maryland's budgeting process had long been built entirely around Excel spreadsheets. For Joanne Engler, VP Finance, and her team, this meant labor-intensive manual workflows that were difficult to coordinate across departments and left room for error. As the organization looked to strengthen its financial management, it became clear that a more efficient, cost-effective solution was needed — one that could keep pace with the demands of a growing, mission-driven organization without straining its budget.

Solution

Martus replaced Special Olympics Maryland's Excel-based budgeting with an integrated, department-friendly platform.

  • Individual, filterable worksheets let departments budget by specific activities, with a Clear Filter button the team specifically called out as helpful
  • Direct integration with the General Ledger eliminated manual entry and the risk of errors that came with it
  • Forecasting capabilities within Martus gave the finance team a more accurate, adaptable view of the organization's financial position

Results

With Martus in place, Special Olympics Maryland's budget process became less arduous, freeing program staff to spend more time on mission delivery rather than administrative tasks. The shift also strengthened decision-making: forecasting models built in Martus and connected to the GL gave the team faster, more accurate financial analysis to support its athletes and programs.

  • Eliminated manual Excel-based budgeting in favor of a GL-integrated platform
  • Simplified departmental budgeting through filterable, activity-level worksheets
  • Improved forecasting accuracy, supporting more timely, adaptable decision-making

Continuing the Mission

Since budgeting in Martus, Special Olympics Maryland has:

  • Expanded onto college campuses
  • Launched a new Unified Topgolf competition
  • Expanded into 24 Maryland school districts
  • Increased program-service spending from approximately $6.99 million in 2024 to $7.18 million in 2025
  • Continued providing year-round sports training and competition across the state

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