EdZola partners with Zoho Creator to amplify social impact for nonprofits

The company

EdZola Technologies is a Zoho Advanced Partner based in India. Founded in early 2020, they focus on empowering nonprofits, social enterprises, and mission-driven organizations with scalable digital solutions. With a tight-knit team of 20+ individuals, they've worked with over 60 nonprofits across India and the Asia-Pacific region, with operations extending to the US, UK, and Africa.

Though EdZola was officially set up in 2020, its founder, Akshay, had connected with Zoho years earlier when he worked there as a software engineer. That experience gave him deep product knowledge and a vision for how technology could transform nonprofit operations.

The foundation

Building on his experience at Zoho, Akshay pursued his long-standing passion for social causes, especially education. This led him to join Teach For India, a nationwide movement of leaders dedicated to providing an excellent education for all children. During this time, he also volunteered at government schools to teach and train students.

Akshay sought help from Zoho to set up technology classrooms at these schools: "Zoho helped us set classrooms with 20 laptops. Using them, the students were taught digital literacy, how to make presentations, maths using games, and reading and speaking English using voice-assisted applications.”

Within six months, students doubled their skill growth rate. Seeing firsthand how technology could accelerate social impact inspired Akshay to focus more on this sector. While exploring job opportunities in similar initiatives, he wondered: why not start a company dedicated to providing technology for nonprofits?

This led to the foundation of EdZola, and there has been no turning back since.

Their first project

In 2020, during the pandemic, EdZola’s first Zoho Creator project came from Mitti Café, a nonprofit that empowers adults with disabilities through livelihood opportunities. Mitti Café operates in over 40 locations across India, including the Supreme Court of India, Mumbai and Bangalore International Airports, and corporate parks like Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, they had to quickly move operations online to manage orders and streamline processes while its physical cafés remained closed. To make this shift seamless, EdZola recommended Zoho Creator for its flexibility and speed.

“Within a few days, we built and deployed a system on Creator, allowing Mitti Café to continue serving customers and supporting their teams during a critical time,” says Akshay.

"I still remember the founder, Alina Alam, calling me up and saying, 'Akshay, kya jaadu tumne banaya (What magic have you created)? All our processes are streamlined and help us do so much in less time.' This pushed us to carry on giving our best shot around this sector," adds Akshay.

Since then, EdZola has completed over 100 implementations, growing from Authorized Tier Partner to Zoho Advanced Partner, and becoming one of the leading contributors to Zoho Creator’s growth in the nonprofit sector.

Key implementations

Starting a consultancy dedicated to amplifying social impact for nonprofits wasn't easy. EdZola found that most clients had no tools in place, relied on disconnected systems, and heavily used spreadsheets. Realizing the impact Zoho Creator brought, they introduced it as their core offering.

Among their projects, Akshay highlights three prominent nonprofit organizations they’ve worked with: The/Nudge Institute, Avanti Fellows, and the TAP India Foundation. Each demonstrates the transformative potential of Zoho Creator.

TRRAIN

Founded in 2011, TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India) is a nonprofit dedicated to improving livelihoods in the retail sector through initiatives like Pankh (for differently-abled youth) and TRRAIN Her (for women in retail). As their training programs expanded, TRRAIN ran into critical technology roadblocks. Their existing platform was rigid, lacked customization, and was shutting down—creating an urgent need to migrate data and processes without disrupting ongoing operations.

To solve this, EdZola built a custom program management system on Zoho Creator in just four months. The new system not only replaced TRRAIN’s inflexible legacy platform but also streamlined operations with features like geographic mapping, automated approvals, centralized trainee tracking, and placement workflows.

Today, TRRAIN efficiently manages over 10,000 trainees every year through this solution, strengthening its mission of creating a more inclusive and empowered retail workforce.

The/Nudge Institute

Founded in 2015, The/Nudge Institute empowers underprivileged youth through initiatives like the Future Perfect Program, delivering English and soft skills training to low-income communities. When the pandemic struck, they struggled to transition to online delivery while managing a growing student base and keeping participants engaged.

To address this challenge, EdZola built a management information system on Zoho Creator. This solution integrated with 12 applications, including LMS platforms and webinar tools like Zoom, enabling real-time monitoring of attendance, assignments, and student performance.

As a result, The/Nudge Institute scaled from managing 1,000 to over 40,000 students and saved 60,000+ labor hours per month.

Avanti Fellows

Avanti Fellows supports high school students from underserved backgrounds with test preparation and mentorship. They relied on telecallers to track student progress, but manual processes slowed them down.

With EdZola’s help, Avanti implemented a telecalling management system on Zoho Creator in just a few months. This solution automated student call assignments, integrated BigQuery for data sync, and provided dashboards for tracking engagement and outcomes.

As a result, Avanti Fellows now efficiently manages communication and support for over 8,000 students. The solution has streamlined telecalling operations, reduced manual workload, and improved transparency.

Internal adoption

EdZola has not only deployed the application for customers but also internally. They use this solution for project tracking, delivery monitoring, sales pipeline management (integrated with Zoho CRM), and data consolidation.

“It allows us to remain agile, reduce manual tasks, and refine our Creator skills while testing new workflows in real-world conditions,” adds Parthiban, a technical project manager at EdZola.

What's next

EdZola is now focusing on scaling FundZola, their flagship donation management solution, to more nonprofits. They're also exploring AI-powered insights for donor and beneficiary prediction, and expanding Creator learning workshops to help nonprofits build and manage systems independently.

“Over the years, our work with Zoho Creator has empowered non-profits and social enterprises. With its new AI capabilities, we're confident we can help even more organizations. Zoho Creator continues to prove itself as an exceptional platform for social impact,” concludes Santhosivan, senior development lead at EdZola.