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Part two of my October series for leaders and stakeholders at non-profits and associations.
Three funders. Three reporting templates. One quarter-end.
If you lead a multi-program organization, you probably know the week I’m describing. The municipal funder wants participant counts by neighbourhood. The provincial funder wants outcomes by program stream. The federal funder wants something close to both, in a portal that times out if you take too long.
So the same information gets pulled, reshaped, and re-entered, three different ways, by the same small team.
A pattern I keep noticing
Each program tends to grow its own way of tracking things. One uses a spreadsheet that has been refined for years. Another uses the database a funder provided. A third keeps careful notes that live mostly with the coordinator who set them up.
Each approach made sense when it started. Together, they mean there’s no single view of how the organization is performing, and every report becomes its own small project.
This isn’t a sign of a disorganized team. It’s what naturally happens when an organization grows program by program, funder by funder.
“We just need better software.”
This is usually where the conversation goes, and it’s a reasonable place to land. The tools are often part of the strain.
But I’d gently suggest a different starting point. A new platform, or a new AI automation, will do exactly what you set it up to do, at speed. If two programs define “completed the program” differently, the new system will carry both definitions forward, and your reports will disagree faster than before.
That’s why, before anything gets automated, I use what I call the Multiplier Method: Stop. Read. Ask. Stop before automating. Read through how the process works (which means it must be documented). Ask: is this process ready to be multiplied?
What standardizing looks like in practice
Start with the information every funder asks for in some form: who you served, what you delivered, and what changed. Agree on one definition for each of those across every program, and write it down.
Then decide where each piece of information lives. One place, entered once, by the person closest to the work.
From there, each funder report becomes a view of the same core data rather than a fresh assembly. The municipal report and the federal report may look very different on the page, but they draw from the same source, so they tell the same story.
Only then does it make sense to bring in the builders. A good web or technology partner can do remarkable things with a clean foundation: connected systems, secure automations, reporting that assembles itself. What they can’t do is decide, on your behalf, what your organization means by its own numbers.
Guest perspective
Most organizations arrive with a solution already in mind: a platform a vendor promised could be “tweaked to fit,” or a list of features they’ve seen elsewhere. What they usually need is a clear picture of the problem they’re trying to solve, and how it fits with the workflows, data and systems they already have. Technology is rarely in short supply for non-profits; clarity is. When we start with the problem rather than the product, the right solution tends to be simpler and far easier to live with.
Before my team writes a line of code, there are certain things I ask for from our clients:
1. What is the goal of the site: To inform? To showcase? To sell? Or to serve members?
2. Who will be using the site, and how will they move through it: Some simple user stories can add great clarity to the architecture?
3. What are the systems that the site needs to connect to: Your CRM, payment gateway, or perhaps a member database?
Ask: How will our team manage content day to day?
A good answer should cover training, clearly defined content types, and editor roles that match how your team actually works, not how the developer assumes it does.
A parting thought: As web developers, we can help shape and organize your web structure, but the content itself comes from the organization. It is so important that your team knows who owns the content and who has a final say on decisions around changes or additions. Governance is key!
– Tim Cropley, Founder, Red Rabbit Web Solutions Inc.
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
Picture the next quarter-end
The core numbers are already in one place, confirmed by the programs that own them. Each funder report comes together in hours instead of weeks. Program managers spend reporting week with participants, not spreadsheets. And for the first time, leadership can see how the whole organization is performing on a single page.
That’s what I mean when I say processes empower people. Standardizing doesn’t box your programs in. It gives them their time back.
I’ll leave you with a question to sit with:
If you added a fourth funder tomorrow, how much new work would their report create for your team?
If this sounds familiar, I’d welcome a conversation. Our team can set one up at info@kaosgroup.com.
Next week: “When the Numbers Don’t Tell Your Community’s Story.”
What tends to go missing when reporting is shaped for funders first.
The gap between where you are and where you want to be is rarely about effort. It’s about having the right systems and the right support to get there.
If continuous improvement feels like a priority but nobody owns it yet, that’s a great place to start a conversation.
Recover time. Recapture revenue. Build systems that scale.
About KAOS Group
There comes a point in every growing organization where operations can’t quite keep up with ambition. Work gets done – but not always consistently. Knowledge lives in people rather than systems. And growth starts to feel harder than it should because everything still runs through the same handful of people.
That’s the work we do at KAOS Group.
Through our Organize. Optimize. Profit. methodology, we work with owners, leaders, and stakeholders to build the behind-the-scenes systems that let businesses scale, sell, or run without depending on any one person.
This is where you come in.
The best working relationships start with a real conversation. Let’s connect over a complimentary 25-minute call – get to know each other and explore whether working together makes sense.
No agenda. Simply a conversation.
The most valuable businesses run, grow, and sell on the strength of their systems — not the memory of their people.
Deanne Kelleher, Founder and Principal of KAOS Group, builds and implements the behind-the-scenes systems that turn operational complexity into scalable, transferable operations – recovering time, recapturing revenue, and freeing businesses to grow, scale, or sell on their own terms.
Organize. Optimize. Profit.