Workflow Automation For Nonprofit Operations

We’re looking for a skilled volunteer to help us design and implement automation solutions that improve the efficiency and reliability of our internal financial and administrative workflows at Townspeople, a nonprofit providing affordable housing and supportive services in San Diego.

Our primary focus is on automating processes related to grants and compliance workflows, check requests, invoice reviews, and approval routing—areas where manual tasks are currently time-consuming and prone to delays. We’d like to build simple, scalable solutions using Microsoft 365 tools (e.g., Power Automate, SharePoint, and Forms) that:

Allow staff to easily submit check requests or invoices through a digital form

Automatically route those requests to the appropriate approvers based on defined rules

Notify team members of approvals or outstanding actions

Track request status and organize submissions for easy review and audit readiness

We anticipate starting with one or two high-impact workflows (such as check requests or contract approvals) and documenting the process so we can replicate the approach for other tasks later.

We’ll provide a dedicated point of contact, mapped workflows, and clear goals for each phase of the project. Our hope is to meet weekly with the volunteer (2–5 hours per week) and work collaboratively toward launching practical solutions that free up staff time and reduce errors in our finance, grants, and operations teams.

At Townspeople, our mission is to serve individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness—particularly those living with HIV/AIDS and other medical vulnerabilities—by providing housing and supportive services that promote stability, dignity, and independence.

This project will directly support our mission by freeing up valuable staff time currently spent on manual administrative tasks like processing check requests and reviewing invoices. With more efficient, automated systems in place, our team can focus less on paperwork and more on what truly matters: housing people, supporting residents, and responding quickly to urgent needs in the community.

Your skills will have a direct ripple effect, improving how we work behind the scenes so we can show up better and faster for the people we serve. Volunteers help make our mission sustainable—and scalable.

We’re committed to setting this project up for success by ensuring clear communication, internal alignment, and readiness to implement the outcomes. We’ve already secured full internal buy-in from leadership—everyone understands the importance of automating key administrative workflows and is eager to participate in the process.

In preparation for this project, we’ve:

Identified and prioritized high-impact workflows that are ready for automation, starting with our check request and invoice review processes

Mapped out current procedures and documented pain points and inefficiencies to give our volunteer a head start

Designated a project lead who will serve as the primary point of contact to coordinate meetings, provide access to tools (e.g., Microsoft 365), and ensure timely feedback and decisions

Developed a simple rollout plan so that completed workflows will be immediately tested and adopted by our team, with clear ownership for maintaining and scaling them across other departments

While this is our first Taproot project of this kind, we have a strong track record of engaging effectively with pro bono professionals and turning ideas into action. We value our volunteer’s time and expertise and are ready to partner in a focused, collaborative, and organized way.