About RMI
Before diving into the transformation, it helps to understand the organization. RMI is not a small nonprofit running a few programs. It is a global operation with the complexity and scale of a mid-size enterprise.
R
Organization
RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute)
F
Founded
1982 (40+ years of impact)
M
Mission
Transform the global energy system toward a clean, zero-carbon future
T
Team Size
500+ employees, scaling toward 1,000
G
Global Reach
50+ countries, offices in CO, NY, CA, DC, Beijing
P
Project Volume
~1,000 projects managed annually
Organizations of this size face a predictable challenge: the tools and processes that worked at 100 people start breaking at 300 and become unsustainable at 500. That is exactly what happened at RMI.
The Problem: Tools That Could Not Scale
As RMI grew and adopted a remote-ready workforce policy, their internal systems buckled under the weight of new complexity. Information lived in spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected tools. There was no single system connecting HR, recruiting, onboarding, IT, and operations.
There was no standard system in place. People used whatever tool they thought was convenient. It kind of spiraled out of control.
Kevin Gauthier – Technical Project Manager, RMI
Before monday.com
✕ Candidate tracking spread across 4+ separate spreadsheets
✕ Interview request emails lost in overflowing inboxes
✕ Onboarding tickets in SharePoint with no visibility into assignments
✕ No cross-department coordination for new hire setup
✕ Manual status reports consuming leadership time
✕ Each team working in silos with their own preferred tools
After monday.com
✓ Single candidate tracking board with real-time status
✓ Automated interview coordination with form-based routing
✓ 154+ people connected on shared onboarding board
✓ Automated task assignments across HR, IT, Facilities
✓ Live dashboards replacing manual reporting
✓ Company-wide single source of truth
When we were tracking the hiring rounds before, we would need to check four different spreadsheets and keep creating new ones for new batches of candidates. Teams requested a lot of information about interview rounds, and those emails got lost because we would get our inboxes really blown up.
Jafet Nieves – Senior Recruiting Specialist, RMI
The Solution: Five Workflows That Changed Everything
RMI did not flip a switch and transform overnight. They followed a phased rollout strategy, starting with one department and expanding after teams saw real results. Kevin Gauthier began with three standard project management templates, then evolved each into customized workflows as departments identified their unique needs.
The adoption strategy that worked: Communications and Marketing adopted first. Once other teams saw the impact, adoption became organic. As Kevin put it: “When people said, ‘I like all that, but I need something quite unique from my case,’ we evolved the standard project board into more agile boards and let them go with it.”
Click each workflow below for the full breakdown of what RMI built and how it worked.
RMI’s recruiting team was drowning in spreadsheets. Every batch of candidates meant a new spreadsheet, and interview status lived in a different one. Jafet Nieves and the team built a single candidate tracking board that replaced all of them.
> Candidate status pipeline: New Applicants, In Progress, Hired
> Every record includes interview stage, department, resume, and phone screen status
> Automated mirroring between HR boards: email center, open positions tracker, and hiring round debriefs
> Automations notify stakeholders when candidate details or status change
> Filterable by position status and interview stage for instant visibility
Now it’s easier to filter information and get an overview of the position. They can see if a position has been filled or if it’s still in interview rounds because that’s something that we actively update in the open positions board.
Jafet Nieves – Senior Recruiting Specialist, RMI
As interview volume grew, the team needed a way to handle requests without manual email chains. They built a form-based system that automatically routes interview coordination tasks to the right people.
> Hiring teams submit interview coordination requests via monday.com forms
> Integration with SyncHR Recruit application system
> Automations create tasks in the interview tracker board instantly
> All stakeholders can access candidate information when needed
> One-day turnaround for sending emails to 50 different candidates
> Automated confirmation emails for take-home assignments
Before monday.com, onboarding was a hope-and-pray operation. Tickets came through SharePoint with no visibility. HR, IT, Facilities, and managers had no way to see who was handling what. Chris Morris, People Operations Manager, described the old process bluntly.
There was just a hope that everything would come together at the right time for this person. But obviously, that didn’t happen.
Chris Morris – People Operations Manager, RMI
> Interview tracker seamlessly converts to onboarding tracker
> Separate department views while maintaining shared data
> Automatic ticket notifications to People Ops, manager, and external IT helpdesk
> Task assignments customizable per department
> Timeline-based tracking: Day 1 (IT setup, team lead meeting), Week 1 (benefits, training, feedback)
Equipping new hires and managing IT orders across a distributed team required coordination with external vendors. RMI brought their IT vendor directly into monday.com, eliminating back-and-forth emails and manual tracking.
> External IT vendors collaborate directly on the board
> Equipment orders tracked by section: This Week’s Orders, Complete Orders
> Vendor adds FedEx tracking numbers and passwords directly
> Automated notifications when tasks become overdue
> Built-in “safety nets” catch forgotten tasks before they impact new hires
> Replaced manual staff directory lookups
Leadership needed visibility into hiring, diversity, and operational KPIs without requesting manual reports. RMI built dashboards that pull live data from their operational boards, making status meetings more productive and data-driven.
> Positions filled per quarter with trend visualization
> Employee referral tracking and source analytics
> Total open positions with real-time status
> Diversity metrics and retention rate tracking
> Shareable links or exportable reports for board presentations
> Eliminated the need for manual status request emails
The Results: Measured and Verified
The numbers tell a clear story. RMI did not just improve workflows. They fundamentally changed the economics of their operations.
Transformation Impact
Team Connectivity
154+ users
monday.com has allowed us to work a lot more efficiently, collaboratively, and transparently.
Chris Morris – People Operations Manager, RMI
We work with approximately 1,000 projects annually and monday.com just continues to keep us organized.
Katie Frank – Creative Operations Senior Manager, RMI
Why This Matters Beyond RMI
RMI’s results are impressive, but they also reflect a broader gap in the nonprofit sector. Most nonprofits understand that digital transformation matters, but very few have actually achieved it.
The nonprofit technology gap: Only 12% of nonprofits have achieved digital maturity, despite 74% recognizing its importance. Meanwhile, 58% report a growing gap between their current capabilities and what they need to stay effective. RMI’s case shows what is possible when an organization commits to centralized work management rather than patching together disconnected tools.
The patterns RMI addressed, scattered information, manual handoffs, invisible bottlenecks, siloed departments, are not unique to nonprofits. Any organization between 200 and 2,000 employees will recognize these problems. What makes RMI’s example instructive is their phased approach and the measurable results they tracked from the start.
A Replicable Framework
If you see your organization in RMI’s “before” picture, here are the five principles that drove their success. These apply whether you are a nonprofit, a growing company, or an enterprise team looking to fix operational fragmentation.
1
Start with One Department
Do not try to transform everything at once. Pick a team with visible pain points and a collaborative leader. Let their success create demand from other departments.
2
Use Templates, Then Customize
Begin with standard workflows to build familiarity. Once teams understand the platform, let them evolve boards to match how they actually work.
3
Automate the Handoffs
The biggest time savings come from automating the connective tissue between teams: interview routing, onboarding task creation, status notifications, and vendor coordination.
4
Make Data Visible
Build dashboards early. When leadership can see live data instead of requesting manual reports, it reinforces the value of the platform and builds organizational trust.
5
Design for Scale
Build workflows that work at twice your current size. RMI designed for 1,000 employees while still at 500. That foresight prevented them from outgrowing their own systems.
Is Your Organization Ready?
Use this checklist to assess whether your organization could benefit from the same type of operational transformation RMI achieved. The more items you recognize, the stronger the case for centralizing your work management.
Operational Readiness Assessment
Check the statements that describe your current situation
0 of 10 recognized
✓
Our team tracks work across 3+ different tools (spreadsheets, email, Slack, SharePoint, etc.)This is the #1 signal that centralization would have immediate impact.
✓
New hire onboarding involves manual coordination between HR, IT, and managersIf onboarding requires someone to chase down tasks manually, automation can reclaim significant hours.
✓
Interview scheduling or candidate tracking relies on spreadsheetsRMI was using four separate spreadsheets. If you use even two, there is room to improve.
✓
Leadership needs to request status updates instead of seeing live dataManual reporting is one of the easiest wins to eliminate with dashboards.
✓
Important emails get lost or buried in high-volume inboxesIf critical requests are traveling through email, they are competing with everything else in the inbox.
✓
We have grown 30%+ in the past two years and processes have not kept upFast growth is the accelerant that turns minor inefficiencies into systemic problems.
✓
Cross-departmental projects lack visibility into who owns whatWhen ownership is unclear, work falls through the cracks. Centralized boards make ownership explicit.
✓
Our team manages 100+ projects per year across multiple functionsAt this volume, manual tracking becomes a full-time job. RMI manages 1,000 annually on monday.com.
✓
External vendors or contractors need access to internal task updatesRMI’s IT vendor collaborates directly on equipment boards. If you are emailing vendors for updates, there is a better way.
✓
We cannot easily report on diversity metrics, hiring velocity, or team workloadIf these numbers require manual assembly, you are likely making decisions on outdated information.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did RMI save by using monday.com?
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RMI saved $2.9 million per year and reclaimed more than 85,000 staff hours annually after implementing monday.com across HR, recruiting, onboarding, and operations. This represented a 16X return on their investment in the platform.
What workflows did RMI build in monday.com?
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RMI built five core workflows: a centralized candidate tracking board replacing four separate spreadsheets, an automated interview coordination system with forms and routing, a cross-departmental onboarding board connecting HR, IT, Facilities, and managers (154+ people), an IT and operations equipment ordering board with external vendor collaboration, and real-time leadership dashboards for hiring metrics, diversity data, and project progress.
Can monday.com work for nonprofit organizations?
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Yes. RMI is a nonprofit with 500+ employees operating in over 50 countries, and they achieved a 16X ROI using monday.com. The platform’s flexibility allowed them to build custom workflows for HR, recruiting, and operations. Only 12% of nonprofits have achieved digital maturity, so there is significant opportunity for organizations willing to centralize their operations.
How long does it take to implement monday.com for HR operations?
▼
RMI followed a phased approach. Their Communications and Marketing department adopted first, then expanded company-wide. Kevin Gauthier started with three standard project management templates and gradually customized for each department’s needs. This phased strategy helped drive adoption because teams could see results before committing to changing their workflows.
What problems did RMI have before monday.com?
▼
Before monday.com, RMI’s processes were scattered across spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected tools. Their recruiting team had to check four different spreadsheets for candidate tracking. Interview request emails got lost in overflowing inboxes. Onboarding tickets came through SharePoint with no visibility into task assignments. As Kevin Gauthier described it, things “spiraled out of control” as the organization grew.
What is RMI and what do they do?
▼
RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1982 that works to transform the global energy system toward a clean, zero-carbon future. They operate in over 50 countries with offices in Colorado, New York, Oakland, Washington D.C., and Beijing. RMI focuses on market-driven solutions to scale clean energy, reduce waste, and improve energy access.
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