How it started ?
Kipawa is a non-profit organization that provides an intensive and inclusive French learning training program for refugees in Marseille. Each program is completed by volunteering in French non-profit organization. https://www.kipawa.fr/. I joined the organization in 2023 as a freelancer to help them improve their processes and productivity using no code tools.
Context & Challenges.
When I joined Kipawa, the organization was operating as an old-school non-profit, relying heavily on Excel sheets to manage their operations. However, as the organization is growing on a tight budget, it has become urgent to rethink its approach. It was clear to me that utilizing the accessibility of no-code tools such as Airtable or SoftR could greatly improve their productivity and enable them to focus more on their core mission of social impact.
1st step : Challenging their process flow and selection of the Stack.
The first step of the mission was to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how the organization manages its operation flows. I conducted some workshops to unveil the processes, and we created an operations flow on Whimsical that can be updated anytime by the team. After discussing with the team about budget, competencies, and resources, we decided to use the following stack to conduct the operations: Slack, Notion, Loom, Whimsical, Excalidraw, Airtable and SoftR.
2nd Step: Mapping the data and increase productivity with automations.
After confirming our stack and processes, we designed the data architecture and relations. We then transferred all our data to Airtable. I conducted some micro-bootcamps to help the organization increase autonomy with this tool. For now, we decided to avoid using external automations tools like Zapier or Make to keep things simple. We’ve focused on automating the most time-consuming tasks within Airtable and we created simple automation flows like sending emails automatically, notifications on Slack or update or create records.
3rd Step: Interfacing the data on SoftR.
SoftR is an excellent tool for interfacing Airtable data without getting lost in numerous design functionalities. To create the site map and architecture, I conducted a simple design sprint on Excalidraw. Now, candidates and the Kipawa team can log into the platform, access their calendar, access the class directory, subscribe to volunteering projects, and access plenty of resources.
Learnings.
This is a great use-case that demonstrates the accessibility and impact of no-code tools for a small non-profit organization. We can clearly see that the stack we chose is improving the team's productivity and efficiency while enabling them to focus on their social mission of onboarding refugees in France. Personally, I improved my skills on Airtable and I now use it daily for my internal processes!
