Build It Yourself? Part 1: A Proportionate Architecture

I like the focus on keeping the architecture proportionate to the organisation’s actual size and capacity. For smaller nonprofits, centralising data is only useful if the people maintaining it can also manage permissions, security, and future changes without creating another layer of complexity. The point about siloed spreadsheets is especially important. Sometimes the “simple” setup is actually the harder system to govern. Where an external service or API is needed, something like the Nonprofit Check Plus API could sit at the edge of the architecture rather than becoming another system to maintain. That kind of approach keeps the core setup relatively simple while still allowing for automation where it makes sense

I like the idea of keeping the architecture proportionate to the organisation’s actual needs rather than building for complexity that may never arrive. For smaller nonprofits, the biggest challenge is often creating something flexible enough to grow without requiring a dedicated IT team. The real test will be whether self-taught IT champions can maintain it securely and consistently as the organisation evolves.

I think the key is building for flexibility rather than trying to predict every future role or department. A shared data structure can provide a useful foundation as the organisation grows. Keeping permissions role-based should also make future changes much easier to manage.

I think starting simple makes more sense, especially for a small team. I made the same mistake on my own https://chronoagecalculator.com/ by trying to plan for too many things at the start. In the end, keeping it simplee made updates much easyer. You can always add more later if you neeed it.