Automate the Busywork: How Nonprofits Can Use Power Automate to Extract and Process Form Data

Didn't read the first blog? Check it out here ➡️ Streamlining Non-Profit Operations with Power Automate Templates (Video Tutorial Included) | Microsoft Community Hub

You’ve scanned the forms. You’ve saved the PDFs. Now what? 

For many nonprofits, getting data from documents into a system—whether it’s SharePoint, Excel, or your CRM—is a time-consuming, manual process. But it doesn’t have to be. With Power Automate, you can automatically trigger a workflow every time a form is uploaded, extract key data, and send it exactly where it needs to go. 

Whether you’re using Azure Document Intelligence to read the forms or just need to automate your document workflow, Power Automate is your nonprofit’s new best friend. 

🧩 What Is Power Automate? 

Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow) is Microsoft’s automation tool that lets you create workflows between your apps and services—without writing code. 

For nonprofits, that might mean: 

• Creating a task every time a form is submitted 
• Saving form responses to SharePoint 
• Sending an automatic email to a volunteer when their application is received 
• Extracting data from a PDF and sending it to Excel or Dataverse 

You can do all of that—and more—with just a few clicks. 

🔄 Scenario: Process Volunteer Application Forms Automatically 

Let’s walk through an example: a nonprofit receives scanned PDFs of volunteer forms in a shared folder. They want to extract the name, email, and interests from each form and add it to a SharePoint list. 

We’ll assume they’ve already trained a custom model in Azure Document Intelligence. Here’s how to build the flow in Power Automate. 

🛠️ Step-by-Step: Automate Your Form Workflow with Power Automate 

Step 1: Set Up Your SharePoint List 

1. Go to SharePoint and create a new Custom List. 
2. Add the following columns: 

• • Name (Single line of text) 
  • Email (Single line of text) 
  • ProgramInterest (Choice or text) 

This is where your extracted form data will land. 

Step 2: Create a New Flow in Power Automate 

1. Go to Power Automate. 
2. Click Create > Automated cloud flow. 
3. Give it a name like Process Volunteer Forms. 
4. Choose the trigger: When a file is created in a folder (OneDrive or SharePoint). 

Step 3: Add the Azure Document Intelligence Connector 

1. Click + New Step > Search for Form Recognizer or Document Intelligence. 
2. Choose Analyze form (or Analyze with custom model if you trained one). 
3. Paste in your endpoint and API key (from the Azure portal). 
4. Choose: 

• • The model ID you trained (e.g., VolunteerForms) 
  • The URL of the uploaded file 

 Step 4: Parse the Response 

1. Add a Parse JSON step. 
2. Use the sample output from your Document Intelligence model to generate the schema. 
3. Pull out fields like Name, Email, ProgramInterest. 

Step 5: Create the SharePoint Item 

1. Add a step: Create item in SharePoint. 
2. Point to your list and map the extracted fields to the appropriate columns. 

Check out this blog for more ideas on creating a flow Automate Your External Data Collection: Power Automate and Microsoft Forms | Microsoft Community Hub

take a look at the video below for a visual walkthrough on a similar example

Optional: Send a Confirmation Email 

1. Add an Outlook step: Send an email (V2). 
2. Address it to the email you extracted. 
3. Add a friendly message confirming the application was received. 

✅ Bonus Scenarios for Nonprofits 

• 🧾 Invoice Processing: Upload scanned invoices, extract amounts and vendors, and add to a tracking system. Check out this blog to see how Streamlining Invoice Processing for Nonprofits with Power Automate | Microsoft Community Hub
• 📝 Intake Forms: Convert handwritten client intake forms into CRM entries. 
• 📥 Survey Collection: Process paper-based surveys and feed results into Power BI. 

💵 Is It Free? 

Power Automate has a free tier and many flows work with the services nonprofits already use (like SharePoint, Outlook, OneDrive). More advanced features (like premium connectors) can be covered using your Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit credits or licensing grants. 

📊 Connect the Dots with Power Platform 

Power Automate is even more powerful when combined with: 

• Power Apps (to build simple apps for your team) 
• Power BI (to visualize the data you're collecting) 
• Azure AI (for intelligent document reading, translation, and more)

Final Thoughts 

If your nonprofit is still manually entering data from forms, you’re leaving time and resources on the table. Power Automate empowers anyone—regardless of tech background—to build workflows that save time, reduce errors, and let your team focus on what really matters: your mission. 

Let the machines do the busywork. You’ve got better things to do.