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To audit your nonprofit technology stack, list every tool your team uses, including free apps, shared spreadsheets and paper forms. For each one, write down what job it does and what information it holds, then trace where the same information is typed into more than one place. Add up what each tool costs in subscriptions and staff time, check who can log in to it, and decide for each tool whether to keep, combine, replace or retire it. Fix the most expensive overlap first, one change at a time.
A first pass takes an afternoon. You do not need an IT background, just access to the people who use the tools.
Step 1: List every tool
Ask everyone who does administrative work, including volunteer leads, what they log in to or keep updated. Look at the card statement and the shared drive too, since subscriptions and spreadsheets are easy to forget. Include:
- Paid software: donor database, accounting, email marketing, volunteer management, event registration.
- Free tools and free tiers: form builders, sign-up sites, file sharing, scheduling links.
- Shared spreadsheets that act as a database, such as a volunteer roster or an hours log.
- Paper: sign-in sheets, intake forms, waivers. Paper counts, because someone types it up later.
- Accounts on a personal email address that the organization depends on.
| Tool | Job it does | Data it holds | Owner | Cost per year | Who logs in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: shared roster sheet | Volunteer contact list | Names, phones, emails, skills | Volunteer coordinator | 0 | 3 staff, 2 leads |
| Example: online form tool | Volunteer applications | Application answers | Volunteer coordinator | Plan price | 1 staff |
Step 2: Map each workflow to its tools
Now turn the list around. Write down the jobs your organization does, and next to each one, every tool it touches. For the volunteer program that usually means recruiting, applications, onboarding and training, scheduling, reminders, check-in, hours, recognition and reporting. Do the same for donations, events and communications if they are in scope.
A job that touches four tools is a candidate for simplifying. A tool that does only one small job, already covered somewhere else, is a candidate for retiring.
Step 3: Find where data is typed twice
The best way to see duplicate data entry is to follow one person through your systems. Take a volunteer who joined last month and count how many times their name, email and phone number were typed by someone on your team:
- They fill in an application form.
- Someone copies them into the roster spreadsheet.
- Someone adds them to the email list.
- They sign up for a shift on a separate sign-up site.
- They sign a paper sign-in sheet on the day, which someone types into the hours log.
Every copy is time spent and a chance for the records to disagree. Mark each handoff on your workflow map. The handoffs that happen most often, such as every shift or every new volunteer, are where combining tools saves the most time. If your volunteer records are the main offender, the guide to replacing volunteer management spreadsheets walks through the move step by step.
Step 4: Add up the real cost
A tool's cost is its subscription plus the staff time it takes to use and work around. For each tool, write down:
- The subscription for a full year, including add-ons, extra seats and any price increase after an introductory period.
- Hours a week spent on it, including copying data in and out and fixing mistakes.
- What that time is worth, using a rough hourly cost for the person who does it.
Say a coordinator spends three hours a week copying sign-ups into a roster and hours into a report. That is about 150 hours a year, before any subscription. Numbers like that are often the strongest case for change, and they are easy to explain to a board. The free software cost calculator does this arithmetic for you and shows every assumption.
Step 5: Check access and risk
An audit is also the moment to find accounts that would hurt if they went wrong. For each tool, check:
- The account belongs to an organization email address, not a person's personal one.
- At least two people can administer it, so nobody is locked out when someone leaves.
- Former staff and volunteers no longer have access.
- Passwords are not shared in a document or on a sticky note.
- Multifactor authentication is on wherever the tool offers it, starting with email and anything financial.
- You know what personal information it holds, such as birth dates, addresses or background check results, and who can see it.
- You can export your data if you ever need to leave.
Multifactor authentication is one of the cheapest protections available. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says that users who enable it are significantly less likely to get hacked (opens in a new tab), because a stolen password alone is no longer enough to get in.
Step 6: Decide what to keep, combine or retire
| Decision | When it fits | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Keep | It does its job well, people use it and it does not duplicate another tool | Note the owner and the renewal date |
| Combine | Two or more tools hold the same people or do parts of the same workflow | Choose the one that should hold the record, and move the rest into it |
| Replace | It is the cause of most copying or errors, or it no longer fits your size | List the jobs it must cover and compare options against them |
| Retire | Nobody uses it, or its job is already done elsewhere | Export its data, cancel it and remove access |
Make one change at a time, starting with the one that removes the most copying for the least disruption. Repeat the audit once a year, before your largest renewals come due. If the volunteer program turns out to be the most scattered part of your stack, the guide to volunteer management software for small nonprofits covers what a single system should do.