We don’t just serve nonprofits. We come from them. Today, Meg is a Senior Sales Executive at Sparkrock. Previously, Meg was a Director of Finance at a nationally affiliated community development nonprofit, managing over 100 cost centers across diverse programs. Her responsibilities included financial statements, budgeting, business process design, audit readiness, and leadership of the finance team.
When the organization decided to overhaul its IT systems, Meg took the lead. She paused her day-to-day finance role to manage the entire transformation project; replacing servers, software, and processes from the ground up. She negotiated contracts, led data migration, ran testing, and delivered training. It wasn’t just a technology shift; It was a way to build better reporting, stronger controls, and more efficient operations.
Meg wasn’t a “technical” person. But she knew how to solve problems, rally people, and ask the right questions. That’s what made her the right person to lead. And it's why today, she helps Sparkrock customers do the same.
“Many nonprofit leaders evaluating ERP have never done it before. That’s why we built this guide; to help you ask the right questions and avoid common pitfalls.” – Meg
READ: See Sparkrock in Action | Day in Meg’s Life
Whether you're replacing a system like Microsoft Great Plains or exploring Cloud ERP software for the first time, this guide will help you build a clear, confident evaluation process based on real nonprofit experience.
Most nonprofits don’t go through ERP selection more than once every decade. But when they do, the process takes real commitment. Here's what that can look like:
A structured framework keeps the process focused. It helps your team stay aligned, ask the right questions, and evaluate based on what matters most to your organization.
Strong ERP decisions come from cross-functional input. The most successful projects start with a small evaluation group, usually three to six people. This team should represent both strategy and day-to-day operations.
Include:
Limiting the group to six or fewer people helps maintain engagement and clarity. Once the group grows larger, roles often overlap and decision-making slows.
Outside of the core team, share progress with other staff early and often. A five-minute update in an all-staff meeting or a quick note in Teams or Slack can go a long way in keeping people informed and engaged.
Also, think about who might resist the system change. Invite them into the process early. When skeptics feel heard, they often become strong advocates—and help others get on board.
Before you talk to vendors, get aligned as a team. Hold a short workshop with your evaluation group to identify what's not working, what better looks like, and what it will take to get there.
This step sets the foundation for how you’ll compare platforms later—and helps you avoid one of the most common mistakes: expecting a perfect fit.
ERP software is built to support common patterns in finance, HR, and operations—not every unique process at every organization. A system might offer strong flexibility, but it won’t replicate how your team works today down to the last approval step or spreadsheet. That’s not a flaw. That’s part of the shift.
ERP implementation always brings change. The goal isn't to preserve every process, but to replace workarounds with smarter tools. Organizations that try to force a perfect match often end up customizing heavily, which adds cost, complexity, and risk over time.
Use the workshop to define your business case and surface the issues that impact your operations.
Use this time to:
Help the team move from general frustration to specific, fixable problems. Use these prompts to start the conversation:
You can also ask: What challenges might we face in the next year? Will our current systems support growth, new compliance rules, or changing funder needs?
To guide brainstorming, list common issues:
Shift the conversation to future-state thinking:
Encourage each department to share what would make their work simpler, faster, or more accurate.
Gauge the team’s ability to support the project:
Identifying these individuals early helps build internal champions who can drive momentum throughout the evaluation and implementation. This discussion gives you a clear picture of what your organization actually needs before you start comparing systems or scheduling demos.
Use this session, or a follow-up, to begin building your ERP Fit Assessment Grid. That’s next.
Once your team has outlined what’s not working and what success looks like, organize that input into a clear evaluation tool: the ERP Fit Assessment Grid.
This simple framework helps your team move from general discussion to a shared, documented list of what your next ERP must support.
Start with Two Lists
Create a list of all the functions your ERP needs to support. Then, split the list into two categories:
Use the examples below to guide the conversation:
Need to have
Nice to have
Use the grid below to connect real operational needs to ERP functionality. This helps your team compare vendors based on fit—not flash.
| Core Requirement (What We Need Our ERP to Do) | Feature |
| Track spending by funder and program | Multi-funder and project tracking |
| Handle union payroll with variable pay types | Payroll complexity support (e.g. unions, stipends, grants) |
| Provide secure remote access to staff | Remote and self-service capabilities |
| Simplify budget forecasting and planning | Forecasting tools |
| Reduce audit prep time and manual logs | Built-in audit-readiness features |
| Use a structure that reflects our program model | Dimensional chart of accounts |
| Support nonprofit compliance and fund tracking | Fund accounting features |
| Data must be hosted in our country | Local data residency with verified in-country data centers |
| Support data sovereignty requirements | Compliance with regional data protection laws (e.g., PIPEDA in Canada), vendor guarantees on storage jurisdiction, and contract terms specifying in-country data control. |
| Core Requirement | Feature | Team Score | Your Score |
| Track spending by funder and program | Manage union payroll complexities | ||
| Simplify budget forecasting | Forecasting tools | ||
| Provide remote access for managers | Self-service capabilities | ||
| Manage union payroll complexities | Payroll flexibility tools |
Finalize this list together after input from all key stakeholders. This grid becomes your anchor throughout the evaluation process. It keeps the team focused on what matters most to your organization, not just what looks impressive in a demo.
After you've built your ERP Fit Assessment Grid, use it to guide your vendor shortlist. Too many demos make it harder to compare systems. After the third or fourth, features start to blur. Teams lose focus. Decisions shift from evaluating fit to reacting to slick presentations.
To stay focused, follow these steps:
Narrow your list to two or three strong contenders. Any more than that, and it's hard to compare systems meaningfully. Look for vendors with:
Before you schedule anything, get clear what matters most. Vendors will offer a polished overview but it’s your job to steer the conversation toward the parts that matter.
Provide sample scenarios or workflows. For example:
Ask role-specific follow-ups for finance, HR, or other key users so they can dig deeper into their areas.
Generic questions like “Can it do this?” often lead to surface-level answers. Instead, ask:
These questions push vendors to show their system in context, not just in theory.
Ask each vendor for:
Use your Fit Assessment Grid as a live reference during each session. Score what you see against the criteria that matter.
Once the demos are complete, don’t jump straight to a decision. Block time for the team to reflect and compare. Return to your Fit Assessment Grid and document how each system measured up. You might score each core requirement individually, or have each department weigh in on their priorities.
Remember, the best system isn’t the one with the most features; it’s the one that fits your organization’s real needs, capacity, and goals.
If this is your first time evaluating ERP software, you're not alone. Most nonprofit teams go through this process only once every decade or more. Here’s how it typically works with Sparkrock:
This process is flexible and based on your team’s needs. The goal is to focus on what matters most to your organization, not overwhelm you with features you won’t use.
Sparkrock is purpose-built for nonprofits. Our team includes former finance and operations leaders who understand the realities you face. That experience shapes everything from how the software works to how we support your implementation.
Sparkrock 365 includes built-in tools for: fund accounting, grant tracking, multi-funder and program-level reporting, dimensional budgeting, and payroll and workforce management.
Reach out for a personalized demo to see how integrated nonprofit payroll and finance software can help your organization thrive.