Forum Discussion
Question for small nonprofits
As a small nonprofit, we rely primarily on Excel spreadsheets and, occasionally, paper forms to manage key information, including volunteer records, donor details, program participant data, attendance, grant deadlines, reporting requirements, asset inventories, and basic monitoring and evaluation data. Working in low-connectivity and conflict-affected areas, spreadsheets are the most practical way to capture and share information, even though they can lead to duplication, inconsistent data, and extra work when preparing reports.
We have explored off-the-shelf nonprofit data-management systems, but most are either beyond our budget or require technical capacity that our small team cannot yet support. For now, Excel remains our most flexible and practical tool, despite its limitations.