Stop Chasing Tools. Start With the Human Need.

Whenever a nonprofit reaches out, the opening line is almost predictable:

“Akshay, we need a CRM.”

“Akshay, can you build us an MIS?”

“Do you have a ready-made community platform we can plug in?”

Early in my EdZola journey, I’d jump straight to demo links and feature lists. It felt helpful—until I watched brilliant teams add shiny software and still wrestle with the same problems. I eventually learned (the hard way) what I once taught my own students: technology only amplifies behaviour that already exists. A tool cannot create a habit you don’t practise offline.

The Fundraising-CRM Illusion

A CRM won’t magically conjure new donors. What it actually excels at is nurturing relationships you already value—remembering birthdays, surfacing past conversations, nudging timely follow-ups. If your team isn’t already diligent with basic outreach—be it handwritten notes or a humble spreadsheet—a CRM simply becomes an expensive, under-used address book.

Community platforms follow the same logic. Without an intrinsic pull to connect, the slickest forum will gather digital dust.

So how do we know what to build first? I lean on a Maslow-inspired map I call the Tech Hierarchy of Needs.

The Tech Hierarchy of Needs

Layer	Human Need	Guiding Questions
Foundational	Connect • Coordinate • Transact	Can our people talk to the right person at the right moment?  Are approvals, payments, and hand-offs seamless, or do they disappear into email limbo?
Functional	Know • Decide • Remember	Do we capture data once and reuse it many times?  Do teams act on trusted, live numbers—or argue over stale spreadsheets?  Is knowledge locked in heads, or findable when someone new joins?
Relational	Nurture • Learn • Belong	How are we deepening relationships over time?  Are we deliberately up-skilling staff and volunteers, or hoping they self-teach?  Do people feel part of a shared story that extends beyond their job description?
Ethical / Secure	Protect	Are we true guardians of privacy and consent?  Would we feel proud explaining our data practices to the very communities we serve, or would we hesitate?

Four layers, each only as strong as the one beneath it.

Using the Hierarchy Tomorrow

1. Audit behaviour, not software. List the actions your team already performs—or avoids—and map them to the hierarchy.

2. Solve from the bottom up. If coordination is chaos, fix that before dreaming of predictive analytics.

3. Prototype with what you have. A shared spreadsheet can validate a data need; a WhatsApp group can test community appetite.

4. Let tech amplify, not originate. If a behaviour is absent offline, technology alone won’t spark it.

5. Revisit the ethical layer every sprint. Security and consent are guard-rails, not afterthoughts.

A Question Before You Buy That Tool

When was the last time your team practised the behaviour you want software to scale?

If the honest answer is “rarely,” pause the purchase order. Build the muscle manually first. Then—and only then—let technology amplify the magic you already make.

That realisation changed how we design solutions, how our partners experience impact, and frankly, how I sleep at night. It might just change your next tech decision too.