Lilac CreativeMay 28, 2026

Nonprofits don't have a tech problem, they have a confidence problem 💡

Nonprofits don't have a tech problem, they have a confidence problem 💡

Lilac Creative

Nonprofits often struggle with technology not because of a skills gap, but a confidence gap. Learn why mission-driven leaders are fully qualified to make tech decisions and why the 'I'm not tech-savvy' mindset is costing your organization.

Nonprofits don't have a tech problem, they have a confidence problem 💡

Lilac Creative

Nonprofits often struggle with technology not because of a skills gap, but a confidence gap. Learn why mission-driven leaders are fully qualified to make tech decisions and why the 'I'm not tech-savvy' mindset is costing your organization.

Chapters

00:00

Introduction

An overview of the nonprofit sector's relationship with technology and leadership.

00:36

The Confidence Problem

01:01

The Permission Gap

01:49

Real World Examples

02:51

The Too Small Myth

03:33

Reframing Tech Leadership

Transcript

00:00

All right.

00:00

This video is for the non profit leader who has been quietly wondering if you should know more about technology than you do.

00:10

Short answer.

00:10

You probably know more than you think.

00:12

The parts you don't know are smaller than they feel.

00:15

And whatever is missing, you can absolutely learn.

00:19

Let me say the bigger thing more clearly.

00:22

Your sector needs you in the technology conversation.

00:26

Not because you have to become technical or not because you're interested in it.

00:32

It's because you already have what the conversation is missing.

00:35

So here's something I think we get wrong about confidence with technology.

00:39

We treat it like it requires expert expertise.

00:42

It does not.

00:43

I can vouch for that.

00:44

I don't have a computer science degree.

00:46

I was never good at math.

00:47

I don't know how to properly code.

00:50

My bachelor's degree is in sociology.

00:53

I.

00:53

I could keep going.

00:54

But the point is, confidence with technology is not knowing how every tool works or being super smart, nerdy, techy.

01:03

It's knowing your work well enough to know what your tools should do.

01:07

That's completely different skill, right?

01:10

And you already have it.

01:11

You know what your donors actually respond to.

01:14

You know what your staff quietly struggles with.

01:16

You know which workflows make people miserable and which moments in your programs matter most.

01:21

That knowledge is the foundation.

01:23

And technology is just really a set of decisions made downstream of it.

01:28

The person closest to the work is the one most qualified to make those decisions, not the person most fluent in software.

01:35

This is becoming a lot more apparent, I think, to people now that AI has become so accessible.

01:42

You're seeing people who are turning into creative strategists, and kind of blending their skill set with technology because it's more accessible.

01:51

It's easier to learn and adopt.

01:53

So take a second to think about what you've already learned to do in your career.

01:56

You've learned how nonprofit finance works without going to business school.

02:00

You've learned how grant cycles work without being a grant writer.

02:04

You've learned how board dynamics work, how to talk to media, how to read a990, how to manage hard conversations across power and difference.

02:14

You did all of that by paying attention, asking questions, and refusing to let your discomfort make the decision for you.

02:22

Technology is the same shape of learning.

02:24

There is nothing in this domain that's harder than the things you've already taught yourself.

02:28

The only difference is the story that you've been told, that this part belongs to someone else.

02:34

It doesn't.

02:35

It belongs to anyone willing to show up to the conversation.

02:39

So here is the posture I want for you.

02:43

You don't need to walk into a meeting knowing what a CRM is.

02:46

You don't need to know all the AI jargon that's floating around right now.

02:50

You need to walk in knowing what you're trying to accomplish.

02:53

The questions you ask from that place are the right questions, even if they sound basic to you.

02:59

Ask the basic, Ask the basic question anyway.

03:02

Almost always the basic question is the one nobody else thought to ask, and the answer tells you whether the person across from you actually knows what they're talking about.

03:10

Confidence isn't certainty.

03:11

Confidence is being willing to stay in the conversation when you do not have all the answers yet.

03:17

That's the whole thing.

03:18

I want to say this part directly your mission deserves good technology, and it is out there and it is accessible.

03:27

You should not be afraid of it.

03:29

You should embrace it.

03:30

You should experiment.

03:31

You should make it fun.

03:33

Your team deserves tools that work, and your community that you're serving deserves an organization that takes its own infrastructure seriously.

03:42

That doesn't happen if leaders stay out of the room, out of the tech conversation.

03:48

So start staying in the room.

03:49

Ask the questions that feel too basic.

03:51

Push back on the vendor who's moving too fast.

03:54

Hire people who can translate and learn from them in front of your team, out loud, without apology.

04:02

Make learning fun.

04:03

When it comes to technology, you don't need to become someone different.

04:08

You just need to bring the same confidence to this technology domain that you've already brought to every other one.

04:16

You can do this, and you're already doing harder things.

04:19

This is the kind of thing I talk about and I keep working through Inside the Lilac Collective, a working notebook of short videos, guides, and tools from average people like me, using AI.

04:28

Link below.

04:29

See next one.

Nonprofits don't have a tech problem, they have a confidence problem 💡 — Tella