The Ps and Qs Framework: How Your Grantmaking Organization Can Manage Change with Intention and Drive Deeper Alignment

Change is inevitable—whether it’s upgrading systems, realigning strategies, or reimagining how your organization operates, makes decisions and performs. Change is also hard. It takes more than just selecting a new tool or publishing a new policy. There are no silver bullets, short cuts or magic pills. It takes intention, strategy, and the right set of guiding questions. Or, as I like to tell folks, you must “mind your Ps and Qs.”

Successful change isn’t about technology alone—it’s about empowering people to work better, smarter, and more collaboratively. Whether you’re rolling out a new CRM or rethinking your grantmaking system or processes, the “Ps and Qs Framework” helps you manage change with intention and drive a deeper alignment between people, purpose, and process. Philanthropy technology, aka PhilTech, applications can ease and facilitate connections across the various participants in the philanthropic ecosystem, including donors, nonprofits and advisors.

To help grantmaking organizations prepare for change, we have created a simple framework to help them better understand their organizational context. When we reflect, align and plan before diving into technology implementation, we position ourselves for a better return on the investment of time and money and open the door for greater impact. Here’s how it works:

Start with the Ps: 5 Key Pillars of Change
Each “P” represents a core element of your change management strategy:

• Purpose – Why are you making this change? What is your vision for success?
• Problem – What specific issue or challenge are you solving for?
• People – Who will be impacted? Who needs to be engaged, heard, and supported?
• P-Essentials – What current workflows, rules, or routines will be affected? What tools, functions or technologies will enable the change?
• Partners – Who can you rely on to champion, implement, or support this change?

Now Ask the Qs: Clarifying Questions to Guide the Journey
Each “Q” aligns with a corresponding “P” to help you think through the change more intentionally:

1. What is your purpose?
   Define the “why” behind your change. It is important to anchor your change strategy in your mission, your values, and the outcomes you hope to achieve. This is your guiding north star. Stay focused on it.
2. What is the problem you want to solve?
   Avoid vague goals: knowing what you want to do and why will ensure your team is fully aligned. It is essential to articulate the challenge clearly and connect it to a specific pain point or new opportunity. If you’re looking to create new functionality, add services or address a need, consider completing the following sentence: “I need/want to [achieve something].” Connecting the challenge to the outcome will help you stay focused on what is important for the change to be impactful. This is also how you will “make the case” for change clear and compelling.
3. Who are the people involved, and what are their needs?
   Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Successful philanthropy involves collaboration across multiple people: givers, their advisors, nonprofits, their advisors, and so on. At the heart of it, your “change strategy” is essentially a “people strategy.” Map your stakeholders—internal and external—and consider how the change will affect them. Understanding their motivations and needs and knowing how they like to receive information will be key to your success.
4. What processes, policies, or procedures will be impacted? What functions do you need?
   Look at what needs to evolve. Start with mapping your current-state operational workflows and procedures. A shared awareness of where you are starting from and where you’re going will help you identify gaps.
   If there are policies related to the impacted processes, now is the time to review them. If you don’t have a policy but need one, TAG has numerous examples in its Knowledge Center from peers and other grantmaking organizations.
   Identify functional requirements tied to the problem you’re solving. Hint: when collecting your requirements, if you do so with the user and the function in mind you will have a head start on drafting your user stories: “As a [role], I want to [do something].”
5. Who will be your partners in supporting the change?
   In order for your change to stick, you need to consider how to support and reinforce that change. Identify internal champions, external experts, and trusted collaborators who can partner with you to build the conditions for success: the awareness, the desire and the ability to change.

The challenges and pitfalls organizations encounter when adopting new tech are rarely about the technology itself. Without creating a shared vision for success that addresses the needs of all the humans involved and what they need to understand to adapt to the change, grantmaking organizations will not and cannot be successful.

You can find additional resources from TAG’s website by visiting tagtech.org.

Want to contribute to our Outside Perspectives Series and share your philanthropic insights?
Write to us at  for a chance to be featured in an upcoming blog!

Want to learn more about the ways we support donors, nonprofits and advisors?
Our philanthropic specialists are here to help! To learn more, schedule a call with us or reach us at 800-839-0054. Together, let’s #begiving.

The Technology Association of Grantmakers is a nonprofit member organization that promotes the power of technology to advance the goals of the philanthropic sector.

About The Author
Jean Westrick is the Executive Director of the Technology Association of Grantmakers, a nonprofit organization that cultivates the strategic, equitable, and innovative use of technology in philanthropy. Westrick brings two decades of experience building communities, leveraging technology, and leading innovative and programmatic strategies. Prior to being named Executive Director of TAG, Westrick was the Director of IT Strategy and Communications at The Chicago Community Trust where she led change management efforts for the foundation’s $6M digital transformation initiative. Also, while at The Trust, Westrick directed On the Table, an award-winning engagement model designed to inspire resident action that was replicated in 30 cities nationwide. A longtime advocate for equity in STEM education, expanding technology access and increasing science literacy, Westrick holds a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University and a Master of Science from DePaul University.