How Lisbon Project replaced spreadsheets with a self-serve portal

Lisbon Project is a nonprofit supporting migrants and refugees in Portugal through programs spanning social care, education, employability, and community life.

“If our goal is integration, we couldn’t keep operating like this. John was five different Johns in five different spreadsheets. We couldn’t tell a cohesive story - to ourselves or to donors.”

The Challenge

Lisbon Project plays a vital role in supporting migrants and refugees as they build new lives in Portugal. But with demand for services surging and programs expanding, the organization’s operations were becoming increasingly fragmented.

Despite its expanding impact, the Lisbon Project was held back by disconnected systems and manual processes. The team cycled through tools like Pipedrive, Aidhound, and Airtable - none of which provided the flexibility or scalability needed.

With different Excel sheets across programs and no central view of a person’s journey, even basic reporting became a challenge. The key challenges they faced included:

• Disconnected data and duplicate records
• Outdated community member information
• No visibility across programs
• Inconsistent workflows and fragmented tools (Google Forms, WhatsApp, Calendly)
• Limited safeguarding and poor audit trails
• Inability for community members to manage or update their own information

“We needed something intuitive and flexible. MyLP has brought structure, but also autonomy - for us and for our community members.”

The Solution

With the help of certified Noloco experts at Mass, the Lisbon Project built a custom platform called MyLP on Noloco. The tool brings together operations and community event management in one place - reducing friction for both staff and the people they support.

Key features include:

• Centralized profiles for community members
• Secure, self-service updates and document uploads
• Standardized scoring across programs
• Criteria-based eligibility for enrollment
• Automated emails and messages to reduce manual coordination
• Cross-team visibility and data consistency

Designed with ease of use in mind, the platform accommodates a team with mixed technical experience and high volunteer turnover - a critical factor for long-term sustainability.

“At first, we didn’t speak the same technical language - but Russell met us halfway. He helped us build something that made sense for the way we work.”

Partner Spotlight: Mass

To bring their vision to life, the Lisbon Project partnered with Mass, a certified Noloco partner.

Their role went beyond technical implementation - helping translate the Lisbon Project’s unique needs into practical workflows, despite differences in sector language and working styles. The team at Mass provided patient guidance throughout the process and continues to support the team post-launch as they refine and expand their solution. View Russell’s expert profile.

The Results

Just two months after launching MyLP, the Lisbon Project is already seeing meaningful improvements:

• 2 full days per week saved through automated registration scoring.
• Attendance tracking fully automated, saving nearly 6 hours per week by replacing 5 minutes of manual effort across an avg. of 70 sessions weekly.
• 2+ hours saved per activity via automated communication workflows
• 2+ hours per week saved through better visibility on one-to-one support services
• Improved donor reporting with cleaner, unified data
• Greater autonomy for community members to manage their own information and engagement

The platform also provides a scalable foundation for future growth, including potential multilingual support, additional integrations, and deeper program tracking.