Earlier this week a programme director told me, kindly and plainly, that her organisation did not need a digital system. "We are fine with our spreadsheets." What made it interesting was what she had said a few minutes before: she had been asked, more than once, to find a digital tool. She could see how it would help. She still did not want it.
I hear a version of this often, from NPO leaders and from the consultants who advise them. It is rarely ignorance. Most people I speak with see the value within minutes of opening a platform. Something else holds them back, and I think it is worth naming honestly.
The car that still runs well
Picture an older car in excellent condition. You service it with the manufacturer. You rarely drive far, and the roads you use are good. Someone offers you the latest model, full of features you have never needed. Why would you change? That is how many NPOs see their spreadsheets. The last grant came in. The last report went out. The system, such as it is, worked.
Three reasons, none of them foolish
When I listen closely, the hesitation usually comes down to three things. The first is change management: moving a team from manual habits to a shared system feels like a project nobody has time for. The second is complexity: the fear that a new tool will make simple work harder. The third is comfort: what we do now is known, and the known feels safe. Each of these is reasonable. None of them is a reason to stand still.
One honest caveat. Not every organisation can afford to make the move, and I wrote recently about the capability threshold that keeps many of them below the line. This piece is about the organisations that could move and still hesitate.
The competition nobody mentions
Here is where the car analogy breaks down. In the NPO world we like to say we are not competing the way companies do. But we are. We compete for the same funding, often from the same funders, against organisations doing comparable work. When a funder asks what changed, the organisation that can answer in an afternoon looks more fundable than the one that needs three weeks. Our CEO, Robert Okine, put it to me simply: someone else is doing it and you are not, and that is why the funding is not chasing you.
The grant you won last year with spreadsheets was won on last year's terms. Funders are asking more about evidence every year. Across the more than 430 organisations that have taken our free NGO Readiness Assessment, mission scores highest, while evidence and positioning with stakeholders score lowest. The work is strong. Showing it is where most fall short. The roads are changing, even if your car is not.
What actually puts people off
The same director told me what had put her off before. You sign up for a platform and then you are left on your own. Then onboarding begins, and it means uploading documents upon documents, alone, on top of the day job. That is not resistance to technology. It is a sensible reaction to being handed more work. If a system adds a second job before it removes the first, people are right to say no.
What good onboarding should look like
Whatever tool you consider, ask how it gets you started. These are the answers I would want. Someone sets it up with you rather than leaving you to struggle. The heavy lifting, the forms and the document uploads, is done for you, and you review it. You start with one programme rather than everything at once. And there is a real person you can reach on the channel you already use.
At Alleviate this is how we work. Over the first ninety days we set up your first programme from a single form you complete, we upload your documents, and you check that everything is right. You can reach me on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or email, and our assistant, Kay, is there inside the platform whenever you are stuck. The aim is not that you use a tool. It is that you understand what it is doing for you.
Where to start
If you are comfortable with your spreadsheets, I am not asking you to throw them away today. I am asking one question. If a funder asked tomorrow what changed because of your work, how long would it take you to show them? If the answer is weeks, the free NGO Readiness Assessment at readiness.alleviate.org will show you which of the five pillars to strengthen first. It takes one sitting.
Over to you
I would genuinely like to learn from you. What has held your organisation back from moving off manual systems, or what finally made you switch? Tell me in the comments on LinkedIn, or write to me at lisa at alleviate.org. Your answers will shape how we make the move easier for the next organisation.
Lisa Attoh is Regional Director, Africa at Alleviate Technologies. She works with NPO leaders, and with the accountants and advisors who serve them, across Southern Africa.
