Ascent Mentors pairs high school students with adult mentors. Base Camp runs its whole season, from the first application to the day each pair is matched, and beyond.
The challenge
Each mentor’s onboarding, from application to background check to training, was tracked by hand. All three chapters shared one Google Sheet, and each leader filtered it down to find their own people. Nobody could easily see who was stuck, and nearly everyone doing the tracking was a volunteer.
Thinking differently
In the first season, we volunteered a fix: scripts that pulled form answers into the shared sheet. They broke all the time, and keeping them running took more time than they saved. That settled it. Better spreadsheets wouldn’t fix this. For the next season, we moved Ascent off the patchwork entirely and onto one operations platform, built around how the season actually runs.
Every application, background check, course and match lives in one record.
Staff, leaders, mentors and students see only what is theirs.
Every dashboard opens on what is due now.
Sign in with Google, an email link or a texted code.
An extraordinary result
By the summer of 2026, mentors were moving through onboarding smoothly. Last season, 39% of mentors finished every onboarding step. This season, 71% have, and the season isn’t over yet. That’s 467 mentors, up from 158.
Onboarding and its status, their match, the calendar and updates, all in one place.
Their mentor’s details at any time, plus the calendar, updates and a place to ask questions.
Where every mentor and student stands, and a way to reach students, mentors and parents when needed.
Every chapter’s progress at a glance, with statuses and reminders that update themselves.
How it scaled
Base Camp was built when three chapters had outgrown the spreadsheets. The same platform now runs 14 chapters across two countries, and each new chapter starts on it from day one.
Figures as of October 2026. Screens are shown with sample data.
Your next step
We can design and build one system around the way your organization works, with the right screen for each person, and keep improving it with you as you grow.
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