IBEW Local 26 + Jotform Enterprise: Results at a glance
Application completion time reduced by
92%
# of applications processed in 2025
3,000+
Increase in the # of applications processed annually since 2018
77%
If you’re leading a labor union or other nonprofit right now, you’re likely juggling recruitment, onboarding, compliance, reporting, and a hundred moving pieces in between. You care deeply about your mission — but too often, paperwork and manual processes steal time and energy away from the impact you’re trying to make.
That’s exactly where IBEW Local 26 found itself just a few years ago.
Founded in 1892, IBEW Local 26 is a chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers labor union that represents electricians across Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The organization advocates for fair wages, strong benefits, and safe working conditions while training the next generation of skilled electricians. Its mission is clear: Empower members with top-tier training, protect their rights, and deliver excellence to every job site.
But even mission-driven organizations with more than a century of history can find themselves relying on outdated processes.
Turning paper piles into digital efficiency
Before adopting Jotform, membership recruitment and onboarding at IBEW Local 26 were paper-based processes. Candidates would attend in-person sessions and sit for nearly an hour filling out six or seven pages of paperwork — often duplicating information across forms.
As organizer Mark Pontello explains, the process was time-intensive and inefficient. Organizers were managing a “hodgepodge of Dropbox and Outlook templates” to keep things moving. Tracking what had been submitted — and what was still missing — required manual follow-up.
Pontello discovered Jotform through an online form his wife was filling out. He says he immediately realized: This was the solution the organization needed to digitize their workflows and keep serving members without interruption.
“Once I found it and figured out how to do it for our applications, we just took off running,” says Pontello.
The union went directly from paper membership forms to fully digital applications.
The impact was dramatic. Paperwork that once took an hour to complete became a single online form that can be filled out in five minutes — a 92 percent reduction in application time.
In 2018, IBEW Local 26 processed around 700 membership applications annually. By 2025, that number exceeded 3,000 — a 77 percent increase.
It’s a game changer.
Mark Pontello, Organizer, IBEW Local 26
Digitizing not just forms, but entire workflows
Many nonprofit leaders worry that digital transformation will require complex IT projects or expensive consultants. Pontello’s experience suggests otherwise.
He began with a single-user plan to manage membership applications. Seeing the value the platform provides, the organization upgraded to Jotform Enterprise to expand access across departments.
Today, its membership application process — including document collection and approvals — runs through Jotform. “It helps us to keep track of what we’ve gotten and what we need from our applicants,” explains Pontello.
Because the trade experience required to become a member must be verified with documentation, Jotform’s file upload feature became essential. Instead of chasing attachments through email threads, applicants could securely upload everything, allowing IBEW Local 26 staff to access it all in one place.
Pontello even built a sophisticated multistep approval workflow himself. He laughs that it came together through “trial and error,” but the results are powerful. Applications move through approvals without endless back-and-forth emails, and the right stakeholders are notified automatically.
“Automated email sends were a big help for our team members,” says Pontello.
They’re now in what Pontello calls version 2.0 of their application process — continually refining and improving as new Jotform features roll out.
Empowering team members
As nonprofits grow, coordination becomes harder. Multiple staff members need access to the same information, but permission blockages and siloed systems can create confusion.
With Jotform Enterprise, IBEW Local 26 operates from a centralized database. Everyone works from the same source of truth.
“It just makes it much, much easier and smoother to be all on the same page,” says Pontello.
For nonprofit leaders managing staff, volunteers, and administrations, that level of clarity can be transformative. Instead of spending meetings reconciling spreadsheets, teams can focus on strategy and service delivery.
Pontello believes the benefits extend far beyond labor unions.
“It transcends not just the trades — any recruitment or onboarding office would benefit from it,” says Pontello.
Looking to the future
As IBEW Local 26 expands its Jotform Enterprise use into what Pontello calls a “complete Enterprise rollout,” staff are working toward the goal of implementing the platform across the rest of their departments — providing every staff member with their own permissions and the ability to manage their own digital processes.
“I think we’re going to really be spreading our wings with the platform in the coming months,” says Pontello.
His advice to peers is straightforward: Organizations — especially in the trades — must keep pace with technology. The right platform doesn’t replace your mission. It strengthens it.
Or, as Pontello put it: “It’s a game changer.”
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