tendry vs a shared spreadsheet
Almost every small nonprofit starts here: a tab called "Logins" or "Systems," built by someone who cared, and slowly going out of date. It's free and everyone knows how to use it. That's a real advantage, and it's worth being honest about.
The question isn't whether a spreadsheet can hold the information. It's whether it tells you what's at risk when a person leaves.
Side by side
- Keeping a list of the tools you use
tendry: Keeps a list, and knows what each tool is for in plain language.
A shared spreadsheet: Does this well, as long as someone keeps typing.
- Knowing who owns what — and who backs them up
tendry: Every system has an owner and a backup owner. Missing backups are flagged as gaps, not left for you to notice.
A shared spreadsheet: An owner column, if someone added one. Nothing tells you a backup is missing.
- Seeing how things connect
tendry: Shows the connections between systems — how donations move from the donation page to the accounting software to the newsletter — including the manual handoffs.
A shared spreadsheet: Rows don't connect to each other. The connections stay in someone's head.
- When a key person leaves
tendry: Mark someone as transitioning out and see everything they own, every flow they touch, and what has no backup yet.
A shared spreadsheet: You reconstruct it from memory, email and guesswork.
- Knowing what to fix next
tendry: Suggests a short list of next steps based on what's actually missing, and remembers what you planned or dismissed.
A shared spreadsheet: No suggestions. The spreadsheet can't tell you what's wrong with it.
- Staying current
tendry: Asks about what's unclear over time, and treats “I'm not sure” as useful information rather than a blank cell.
A shared spreadsheet: Goes stale quietly. Usually nobody notices until it matters.
- Cost
tendry: $59 a month for the whole organization, or $599 a year. Cancel any time.
A shared spreadsheet: Free.
When to choose tendry
- More than one person keeps things running, and nobody has the whole picture.
- You've had a handover go badly, or you can see one coming.
- You need something to show a board or a funder that isn't a folder and a phone call.
- Your spreadsheet already exists but nobody trusts that it's current.
When A shared spreadsheet is the better fit
- One person runs everything and that isn't changing soon.
- You have three or four tools in total and no handovers on the horizon.
- Your budget genuinely has no room, in which case keep the spreadsheet and revisit later.
tendry is $59 a month for your whole organization, or $599 a year. Cancel any time. See what's included.