If Your Nonprofit Runs on Sticky Notes, You’re Not Alone (But We Should Talk)

Let’s start with a little honesty.

If I walked into your office and saw sticky notes on monitors, notebooks stacked next to laptops, a spreadsheet titled FINAL_final_v3_USE_THIS_ONE, and at least one staff member who “just knows how things work,” I would not be alarmed.

I would feel right at home.

You should have seen my desk when I was an Executive Director. Sticky notes everywhere. Three different planners, each for a slightly different purpose. Notes tucked into folders because I was afraid I’d forget something important if I didn’t write it down immediately.

It wasn’t pretty. It was functional. And most nonprofits run exactly this way.

The nonprofit sticky note ecosystem

Most nonprofits don’t run on systems. They run on people. Smart, resourceful, deeply committed people who figure things out because the work matters.

Sticky notes are not a failure. They’re a sign of care.

There’s the sticky note with the password reminder that absolutely should not be on a sticky note.

The sticky note that exists only because the system takes too long to log into. The sticky note that replaced a workflow because “it’s just faster this way.”

Then there’s the spreadsheet. You know the one. It lives on someone’s desktop. Only two people are allowed to edit it. Everyone else is afraid to open it. It is somehow both essential and fragile at the same time.

And let’s not forget the human system. The person everyone goes to with questions. The keeper of institutional memory. The one who can translate between five tools that don’t talk to each other. The unofficial operating system.

This setup works. Until it doesn’t.

Why this isn’t a judgment post

I want to be very clear about something. None of this means your organization is messy, careless, or behind. In fact, it usually means the opposite. It means your team has been adaptable. It means people have taken ownership. It means problems were solved in real time instead of waiting for perfect conditions.

That desk of sticky notes and planners I mentioned earlier? It existed because I cared deeply and didn’t want anything to fall through the cracks. Sticky notes are survival tools. The problem isn’t that they exist. The problem is when the organization starts depending on them.

The moment that turns into strain

There’s usually a moment when leaders start to feel it. Reporting takes longer than it used to. Board packets require more manual work. Onboarding a new staff member feels overwhelming because so much knowledge lives in people’s heads. Security questions come up, and no one feels fully confident in the answers.

Nothing has gone wrong. The organization has simply grown. What once felt scrappy and efficient now feels fragile. What used to live comfortably in memory now needs structure.

This is often the same moment leaders start saying things like, “It’s faster if I just do it myself,” or “We’ll clean this up later,” or “Let’s just get through this season first.”

If that sounds familiar, you’re in good company. I talk more about why this shows up in Burnout Is a Signal: What Nonprofit Leaders Need Instead of More Resilience, because this is rarely about effort or commitment.

When sticky notes become risk

Here’s where it stops being funny.

When critical processes depend on memory, individual comfort with technology, or informal workarounds, organizations become vulnerable without realizing it.

Not because anyone did something wrong, but because the systems never caught up with reality.

This is where things like security gaps, inconsistent data, and decision-making fatigue start to appear. Leaders carry more context. Staff rely more heavily on each other. Boards ask more questions because information isn’t easy to see.

The sticky notes didn’t fail you. They just weren’t meant to scale.

The good news no one tells you

Here’s the part I actually love.

When organizations reach this point, they don’t need a dramatic overhaul. They don’t need to throw everything out. They don’t need to shame the systems that got them here. They need clarity.

They need to understand what’s working, what’s quietly creating friction, and where a little structure would give a lot of relief. Most of the time, the answer isn’t “stop using sticky notes.” It’s “stop making sticky notes do the job of systems.”

A calmer way forward

There is a version of nonprofit operations where information is easier to find, processes are less fragile, and fewer things live only in someone’s head. That version doesn’t eliminate humanity or flexibility. It protects it. It gives teams room to focus on the work instead of holding everything together with memory and goodwill.

And yes, you can still keep a sticky note or two. Just not as your backup plan.

A gentle reality check

If your nonprofit could not function if one specific person took a week off, got sick, or decided to finally use all their PTO, that’s not a character flaw. It’s a systems signal. And it’s a solvable one.

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A simple next step...

If this made you laugh and nod a little too hard, it’s usually a sign your organization has outgrown survival mode.

The Clarity Diagnostic helps nonprofit leaders step back, assess where systems are helping and where they’re quietly creating strain, and identify practical next steps without overwhelming staff or leadership.

It’s not about ripping everything out. It’s about understanding what’s actually happening.

Learn more here.