Uh-Oh…7 IT Mistakes Arkansas Nonprofits Make (With Interactive Quiz)

Hey nonprofit leader, can you spot the IT and technology facts from the myths?

Let’s find out, shall we?

You know, whether you did A+ work on the quiz, or you missed several questions, nonprofit leaders are rarely in their comfort zone with IT, technology, and cybersecurity. We've worked with NWA-based nonprofits for two decades, and we know nonprofit leaders live to serve their cause and community — not to install and manage IT infrastructures. Infrastructures? Yuck. 

Tony Doye, writing for NonProfitPRO, rightly points out that nonprofits are often highly mission-focused. Which, of course, is a good thing. But with such a passion for and focus on the mission, crucial operational considerations like IT and technology can become overlooked — which, yes, in turn endangers the mission.

"When you focus on feeding people or helping them find meaningful work, it’s easy to get consumed with the mission," wrote Doye. "IT often comes with a price tag that can be hard to justify..."

The simple truth is: Your cause won't advance like it could without a solid foundation of IT and technology to make it all work: to communicate with stakeholders; to recruit volunteers; to collect donations; to spread you mission and message. 

So, let's do a little more myth-busting — to make sure your nonprofit isn't being slowed down by these 7 common mistakes/misconceptions made by nonprofits of the Natural State and beyond.  

7 IT & Technology Mistakes Made by Arkansas Nonprofits

Mistake #1: Using Personal Email Accounts Instead of a Domain Email

At first, it feels harmless. A volunteer signs up with their personal Gmail. A team member uses their Yahoo account. Maybe even the executive director forwards everything to their own inbox just to stay organized.

It works, doesn't it? Well, until it doesn't. 

When your nonprofit relies on personal email accounts, a few problems quickly emerge:

• There’s no clear ownership of communication

• Important conversations get lost in personal inboxes

• Access can’t be easily transferred when someone leaves

• Your organization looks less credible to donors and partners

And perhaps most importantly: there’s little-to-no control and accountability.

If a volunteer steps away or an employee moves on, their email history, contacts, and access often go with them. There’s no clean way to manage it, secure it, or recover what’s been lost.

How to avoid it

Move your organization to domain-based email accounts (e.g., yourname@yournonprofit.org) so the nonprofit — not individuals — owns communication.

This gives you:

• Consistent, professional communication across your team

• Central control over accounts

• The ability to add, remove, and manage users as roles change

General rule: Any communication tied to your mission should live within systems your organization owns, not personal inboxes.

Mistake #2: Using One Shared Login for Everything

One login. One password. Everyone who needs access just uses the same credentials. No confusion, no setup time, no back-and-forth.

Simple. Efficient. Done.

Or so it seems. 

When a nonprofit relies on shared logins, things can get messy quickly:

• No one knows who actually did what

• Passwords get passed around and rarely updated

• Access can’t be easily revoked when someone leaves

• Sensitive information becomes harder to protect

• Small mistakes become difficult to trace/fix

And over time, what once felt “easy” starts to create friction: Someone changes the password and forgets to tell the team. A volunteer logs in from an unsecured device. A former staff member still has access — and no one realizes it.

It’s not just inconvenient; it introduces real risk into the organization.

How to avoid it

Shift away from shared logins and give each staff member or volunteer their own individual account.

Then, assign access based on what each person actually needs — no more, no less.

This creates:

• Clear accountability for actions taken

• Better visibility into who has access to what

• The ability to quickly adjust or remove access when roles change

It may take a bit more setup upfront, but it brings structure and control to your organization as it grows.

Mistake #3: No Onboarding or Offboarding Process

It’s rarely intentional.

A new employee or volunteer joins, and someone says, “Hey, can you get them set up?”

So accounts are created, access is granted, and they’re off and running.

When someone leaves, things are less clear. Maybe access is removed…maybe it isn’t. Maybe someone remembers…maybe they don’t.

There’s no consistent process—just good intentions and a bit of guesswork.

Over time, this lack of structure starts to create real issues:

• New team members don’t get everything they need—or get too much

• Access builds up over time, with no clear record of who has what

• Former staff or volunteers may still have access to systems and data

• Important steps fall through the cracks during busy transitions

Individually, these moments feel small. But collectively, they create confusion, inefficiency, and unnecessary risk.

And as your organization grows, those gaps only widen.

How to avoid it

Create a simple, repeatable onboarding and offboarding checklist for your organization.

For onboarding, that might include:

• Setting up email and key system access

• Assigning the appropriate tools and permissions

• Sharing basic technology guidelines

For offboarding, it should include:

• Removing or disabling access across all systems

• Transferring ownership of files, accounts, and responsibilities

• Changing any shared credentials that may have been used

It doesn’t have to be complicated—but it does need to be consistent.

A basic process like this brings clarity to your team, reduces risk, and ensures nothing important gets overlooked during transitions.

Mistake #4: Buying Hardware Without a Plan

It usually happens in moments of urgency.

The WiFi is slow. A computer crashes. Someone needs a new laptop—quickly.

So a decision gets made:
“Let’s just grab something that works.”

A router from a big-box store. A laptop on sale. A printer someone recommended.

Problem solved…for now.

But over time, these one-off decisions start to add up:

• Devices don’t work well together

• Performance is inconsistent across the team

• Equipment ages at different rates with no clear replacement plan

• Troubleshooting becomes harder because nothing is standardized

• Money gets spent reactively instead of intentionally

What started as quick fixes turns into a patchwork of hardware that’s difficult to manage and even harder to scale.

And when something breaks—or needs to be upgraded—you’re right back in the same cycle.

How to avoid it

Before purchasing new hardware, take a step back and define a simple plan for your organization.

That might include:

• Standardizing on a small set of approved devices (e.g., preferred laptop models)

• Choosing networking equipment that can support your current team—and near-term growth

• Thinking about how new purchases will fit with what you already have

You don’t need an overly complex strategy. But having a clear direction helps ensure your technology works together, performs consistently, and supports your team over time—instead of creating more problems down the road.

Also from TekTrendz: A Cybersecurity Guide for Arkansas Nonprofits

Mistake #5: Letting the “Tech-Savvy Volunteer” Run Everything

Every nonprofit has one.

That person who’s “good with computers.”
That volunteer who set up the WiFi.
That board member who “knows a little IT.”

And for a while, it works.

They help get things off the ground. They solve problems as they come up. They become the go-to person whenever something breaks or needs to be set up.

It’s helpful at first. Then, it becomes a liability. Over time, a few challenges start to emerge:

• Knowledge lives in one person’s head

• Documentation is minimal or nonexistent

• Decisions are made without a broader plan

• Systems evolve inconsistently over time

• The organization becomes reliant on someone who may not always be available

And eventually, one of two things happens:

That person steps away, or the organization outgrows what one person can reasonably manage.

Either way, the nonprofit is left trying to piece together how everything works.

Often under pressure.

How to avoid it

It’s okay — and often necessary — to lean on internal or volunteer help early on. But it’s important to avoid building your entire approach to technology around a single individual.

Instead:

• Document key systems, logins, and processes

• Make sure more than one person understands how things are set up

• Aim for consistency in how decisions are made — not just quick fixes

As your organization grows, your technology should become less dependent on any one person and more supported by clear processes and shared understanding.

That shift helps ensure continuity, stability, and fewer surprises down the road.

Mistake #6: Overbuilding Too Early

It often comes from a good place.

A nonprofit wants to “do it right” from the start. They want to be professional, prepared, and built for growth.

So they invest early:
A server.
Enterprise-level software.
Complex systems designed for organizations much larger than their own.

On paper, it sounds smart. In practice, it often creates more problems than it solves.

Overbuilt environments tend to:

• Cost more than necessary — both upfront and ongoing

• Require more time and expertise to manage

• Add complexity that the team doesn’t fully use or understand

• Slow down day-to-day operations instead of supporting them

Instead of enabling the mission, the technology becomes something the team has to work around. And in some cases, those systems sit underutilized — while still demanding attention, maintenance, and budget.

Here's a tip I borrowed from Wayne Elsey/NonProfitPro: Every technology in your nonprofit should have an unambiguous, direct link to the mission. If your team members can't express the purpose of a solution or platform in one cogent sentence, you may be putting the proverbial cart before the horse. That is, you may be buying solutions before identifying clear, mission-critical needs.

Clear mission-critical need first, solution second. 

Not the other way around. 

How to avoid it

Match your technology to where your organization is today. Not where you hope it might be years from now.

That means:

• Prioritizing tools that are simple, flexible, and easy to manage

• Avoiding unnecessary infrastructure that adds complexity without clear benefit

• Choosing solutions that can grow with you, rather than forcing you to grow into them

You can always expand and mature your systems over time.

It’s much harder –– and more costly –– to scale back something that was too complex to begin with.

Mistake #7: Underbuilding for Too Long

On the flip side of overbuilding is a mistake that’s just as common — and often more gradual.

Things start simple enough.

A few free tools. A shared drive. Maybe a mix of personal devices and accounts. It works well enough, so there’s no immediate pressure to change anything.

And for a while, that’s perfectly fine. But as the organization grows, the cracks start to show...

• Systems don’t integrate or communicate well

• Processes become manual and time-consuming

• Information lives in too many places

• Access and permissions become harder to manage

• Small inefficiencies start adding up across the team

What once felt scrappy and efficient begins to feel scattered and limiting.

The challenge is, this shift happens slowly. There’s no single breaking point — just a steady buildup of friction that makes it harder for the team to do their work effectively.

And because everything kind of still works, it’s easy to delay making a change.

How to avoid it

Pay attention to the signs that your current setup is starting to hold you back. If your team is spending more time working around systems than benefiting from them, it’s likely time to reassess.

That might mean:

• Consolidating tools and systems where possible

• Replacing manual processes with more streamlined solutions

• Introducing more structure around how information is stored and accessed.

You can always expand and mature your systems over time. You don’t need to overhaul everything at once.

But making incremental improvements — at the right time — can prevent small inefficiencies from turning into larger operational challenges.

Make No Mistake: You've Got an IT Partner

We get it.

Domains. Cybersecurity. Servers. Access. User accounts. Onboarding and offboarding. Yikes, it can all be a little too much to handle for a nonprofit leader who already has a lot on their plate. 

Good news: That's exactly why we're here. TekTrendz exists to serve the IT needs of those who serve our community — and we've been doing it since 2007. 

So whether you just have some questions about your IT or you're looking for someone to manage your technology altogether, we're here to help.

Click below to talk with a friendly member of our team.