NGO Project Management Starter · free course

Free course · Lesson 5 of 5

Using Trello, Asana, Google Forms & Excel

In this lesson you will

  • Use a task board
  • Build an indicator tracker

A small set of accessible digital tools covers most day-to-day project management and M&E needs without requiring specialized (and expensive) software.

  • Trello / Asana: Visual task boards for tracking who's doing what and by when — useful for small to medium teams.
  • Google Forms: Free, mobile-friendly data collection that automatically compiles responses into a spreadsheet.
  • Microsoft Excel: Budget tracking, indicator tracking tables, and basic data analysis for reports.
  • Choose tools based on your team's actual connectivity and device access — a well-used paper form beats an unreliable digital one in low-connectivity areas.

Practical Skill: Set up a free Trello or Asana board for a sample project with at least 3 task columns, and build a Google Form matching the data collection form from Module 3.

TemplateTool Setup Checklist
Worksheet
=== NGO PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL SETUP === [ ] Trello or Asana board created with To Do / In Progress /    Done columns for your project[ ] Google Form created matching your data collection needs[ ] Google Form responses linked to a Google Sheet automatically[ ] Excel budget tracker set up with Planned/Actual/Variance[ ] Team briefed on which tool to use for which purpose[ ] Backup plan in place for low-connectivity field locations    (e.g. paper forms, entered digitally later)

Practice exercise

Set up a task board with five project tasks and a spreadsheet tracker with baseline, target and progress for two indicators.

Key takeaways

  • One board per project
  • Trackers show progress against targets
  • Fewer, well-used tools work best
In the full program Module 5: Project Management Tools See how this topic is taught in depth, with practical activities and an assessment.

Free self-study lesson — no certificate. For the full instructor-led program, see registration options.