Fundraisers are at the mercy of their systems. And when the technology doesn’t work, most nonprofit teams do the same thing: they buy more of it. Tim Lockie, founder of The Human Stack, says that almost never works, because the real problem lives in the human stack, not the tech stack.

In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke sits down with Tim Lockie, who built a seven-figure Salesforce consulting firm before turning his focus to the part of technology everyone overlooks: the people. Tim explains why your CRM struggles are usually culture problems in disguise, walks through his orchestra analogy for understanding tech adoption, and shares a simple framework for figuring out whether your tech is ahead of your culture or your culture is ahead of your tech.

You’ll learn why “digital voluntolds” are quietly holding your fundraising team together, why new software keeps becoming expensive shelfware, and how to think about letting AI into your work without amplifying the problems you already have.

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Intro: doing more vs. focusing on what matters

01:01 – Tim’s path: 20 years in nonprofits and a seven-figure Salesforce firm

03:01 – Why no software solves the people problem

05:47 – Signs your team has thrown in the towel on its database

05:59 – The orchestra analogy: instruments, sheet music, and musicians

08:56 – Adoption vs. orchestration: playing well together

09:53 – The conductor and the “first chairs” who actually drive change

12:58 – The techie by necessity, and what they should stop doing

15:00 – The power differential and the rise of “digital voluntolds”

16:14 – Is your culture ahead of your tech, or your tech ahead of your culture?

17:57 – Why tech rollouts die and become expensive shelfware

20:28 – Adoption comes down to ownership

21:13 – AI, ethics, and fundraising.ai

22:00 – Three rules for letting AI into your fundraising work

24:54 – Tactical takeaway: the six-question digital health quiz

25:43 – Where to connect with Tim

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Tech problems almost always have human roots. You can’t solve a people problem by buying more software.
• Your organization is an orchestra: software is the instruments, data is the sheet music, and your people are the musicians. Buying new instruments won’t fix a musician problem.
• Real change doesn’t come from the whole team at once. It comes from “first chairs,” the champions on each team who others look to when something breaks.
• Fundraising teams are often one job description away from solving their own tech problems, if leadership carves out real, budgeted time for the person already doing the work.
• Tech rollouts die when engagement and accountability stop. Maintaining your systems is like reconciling your books: you never actually stop.

LINKS

• The Human Stack: https://thehumanstack.com
• Take the Nonprofit Digital Health Quiz: https://thehumanstack.com/quiz
• Connect with Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlockie/
• Email Tim: [email protected]
• Learn how DonorDock helps you build retention through Smart Stewardship: https://donordock.com