From Personal Planning to Nonprofit Team Harmony

When your days toggle between coordinating marketing campaigns, managing multi-site programming, and overseeing a museum membership drive, you need a system that actually works.

For Sarah Carr, Director of Advancement and Public Engagement at the Rhode Island Historical Society, Todoist started as a personal system to manage work and life.

Over time, it evolved into the quiet operating system powering her department's success. "I've been a Todoist user for over a decade. I started using it just for myself – like remembering to buy lightbulbs. Now, it's how my whole department runs."

From scattered to structured

Before introducing Todoist to her team of four, Sarah was already a devoted user. Her projects lived in color-coded lists. Her ideas had a home. But team collaboration lived in a tangle of emails, verbal reminders, and hope.

"I realized I had a system that worked for me, but not for anyone else. And I couldn't keep being the system."

Her department needed a central way to track what was happening, who was responsible, and what was coming next. So she did what any organized person would do: she built it herself.

"I created a shared workspace and started by replicating projects that I owned personally. Things like our fundraising appeals or membership magazine. Then I began inviting all my teammates."

As smooth as things feel now, the shift wasn't instant. "People had to get used to it.”, she says. But by using a clear structure that reduced anxiety rather than adding it, the team began to trust the system. “And once we started assigning tasks and using it to manage recurring workflows like our regular appeal letters, the shift was undeniable."

Team coordination without the chaos

Sarah's department now runs nearly all its recurring workflows in Todoist. From planning a quarterly print magazine to coordinating exhibition openings, the structure is shared and visible.

"We have a quarterly project called 'Membership Magazine' and it's a beast of editorial, layout, approvals, and mailing lists. We built out a recurring workflow for it in Todoist. Everyone knows their part."

Sarah's favorite part of Todoist is the clarity assigning work and the dedicated comments sections for each task.

"Before Todoist, we had a lot of 'Did you get to that yet?' conversations. Now, it's a task. You comment, tag the person, and keep going. It's clear and accountable."

Her team often works asynchronously, across sites and shifting schedules. That makes visibility crucial. "Even if someone's OOO or sick, you can open the project and know exactly what's in motion.”

Templates, boards, and idea parking lots

Todoist isn't just for structured projects. Sarah also uses it for creative work and long-term planning.

"We have a 'Parking Lot' project where I drop every good idea we don't have time for yet. Grant proposals, collaboration ideas, stuff for next year – it's all there." The team regularly revisits this collection during planning meetings or when capacity opens up to elevate an idea when the time is right.

Her team uses the board view for visual workflows and saved templates for recurring campaigns.

"Every time we do a member appeal or exhibition promo, we use a template. Why reinvent the wheel when we already have a good rhythm?" The structure allows her team to move fast without scrambling.

Fewer meetings, more momentum

One of the biggest changes since moving to Todoist as a team is that meetings are no longer an elaborate game of who's doing what. “Now, we meet to actually move things forward. Todoist is our shared source of truth."

Even Sarah's boss has started checking Todoist before asking for updates. "She'll ask, 'Did you update the timeline in Todoist?' It's become how we report progress." That transparency has had ripple effects across the organization. When Sarah took time off recently, she felt confident leaving.

"Everything was documented. I knew my team could run with it. I actually relaxed. That's new."

Calm, not hustle

While many productivity tools push speed and hustle, Sarah values how Todoist supports clarity and calm.

"It helps me be a more respectful leader. I'm not nagging. I just assign the task, add a comment, and trust that it’ll get done." This isn't just good for work – it's good for people.

"We're all juggling a lot. Todoist takes some weight off our brains.”

Three takeaways from Sarah's system

1. Assign everything - If it doesn't have an assignee and a deadline, it doesn't get done.

2. Use templates - For repeat projects, standardizing the process saves time and reduces stress.

3. Keep it visible - Board views and recurring tasks make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Looking ahead

Sarah still is hopeful that more departments at RHIS will adopt Todoist. For now though, her focus is on making her own team's life a little bit easier. “Having this kind of tool and infrastructure around the work that you're doing not only makes you able to be more productive, but it also just makes you a better colleague.”

For Sarah, productivity isn't about doing more. It's about enabling her team to do their best work. Calmly, clearly, and together.

Want to bring the same kind of calm, clear structure to your small team? Learn more about Todoist for Teams