Nonprofit: Intake forms → PDF packs + lightweight CRM

Context

High application volume twice a year; small team; strict need for consistent applicant packets and follow‑up dates.

Challenge

• Each applicant needed a merged PDF packet from a template plus a record in a tracking sheet.
• Follow‑ups were tracked in personal inboxes; some applicants slipped through.
• Budget did not allow a dedicated CRM subscription for a seasonal program.

Approach

1. Form → on‑submit trigger to create/merge Docs from a template, save PDF to a Drive folder structure by cohort.
2. Append a row to a “Pipeline” sheet with stage, owner, and next‑touch date.
3. Daily trigger to email reminders for rows where next‑touch date is today or overdue (with throttle and unsubscribe‑safe wording).

Solution

Everything stayed in Workspace: Forms for capture, Sheets for pipeline truth, Gmail for templated outreach. Coordinators spent time on decisions, not copy‑paste.

Outcome

• Packet generation time collapsed from many minutes per applicant to seconds after submission.
• Pipeline visibility improved board reporting (counts by stage, bottleneck visibility).
• Playbook documented so seasonal volunteers could ramp faster next cycle.

Related on this site

• Form → PDF patterns →
• CRM in Google Sheets →