It’s happened to the best of us. We start down a rabbit hole of Google searches for things like “how do I make payroll processing faster” or “how do I resize images all at once,” and before we know it, hours have gone by, and our to-do list isn’t any shorter. 

While the right tech tools (and templates, for that matter) make our lives easier, it’s sometimes overwhelming to narrow down the list and identify the right tools to streamline operations. While these decisions might seem non-urgent compared to raising money or recruiting board members, the longer you wait to fix some of these operational issues, the harder they are to resolve. 

Let’s look at a few key areas where streamlining operations with tech tools make the most sense. 

Automating financial systems

While most nonprofits focus on handling money coming in, they also spend a fair amount of time pushing money out the door, whether that’s to vendors, employees, contractors, or other local businesses. 

And, since all nonprofits should be completing comprehensive audits annually, this is an area where the right tech tools can help create efficiencies now and make reporting and audits a smoother process down the road. 

Depending on the size of your organization, the tools available range from the very simple (think Excel spreadsheets) to more robust options like OnPay Solutions, which offers automation for accounts receivables, accounts payable, and other financial processes. 

Responding to opportunities

Do you have a plan for how to handle the rogue board member who suggests the organization suddenly participates in an obscure local contest to “get brand awareness?” Sadly, many board members bring these spontaneous ideas to board meetings, and Executive Directors are unprepared to respond strategically and intentionally. 

Streamlining your content marketing plans can help eliminate these distractions and ensure that your team stays on track to meet your goals and key objectives. A digital marketing strategy can help keep everyone organized and focused on the larger goals and provide a streamlined approach to moving your mission forward. 

Creating reports or proposals

How much time do you spend creating the same reports every month? If it’s more than an hour or two, there are plenty of ways to streamline your processes so you can focus that time on other activities with a greater return on your investment. 

For instance, an executive director board report is one of those reports that virtually every nonprofit director needs to create, either monthly or bi-monthly. Using a board report template streamlines the process and makes it much more efficient instead of recreating the wheel every month and wondering what to say this time. 

The same goes for proposals. If you’re going to hold the XYZ Golf event every year, you’ll need to solicit corporate sponsors every year. So spend the time once to create a sponsorship proposal template and then reuse it for every event. 

(Or, save a ton of time and use my corporate sponsorship template right here!)

Any task you do more than two or three times a year deserves a second glance and an evaluation of how to streamline it to increase efficiencies. Then, you can devote all of that extra time to talking to your donors and cultivating that next major gift. 

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