New Report: Successful Technology Use in Small Grassroots Nonprofits

Thanks to NTEN's blog (http://www.nten.org/blog) I learned that the University of San Francisco's Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management released a report called "Successful Technology Use in Small Grassroots Nonprofits." The major conclusions from the report:

"The most successful nonprofits ... involved the ultimate users of the technology in their decision-making process."

"The best nonprofits similarly recognized that technology is a tool – not an end in itself."

"The most successful nonprofits did their research and then budgeted sufficient staff time and other resources. They also recognized that they might not be able to afford to do everything with internal staff resources and would have to look outside for funding and expertise."

"Successful nonprofits parlayed their social networks into valuable resources. They relied on friends, relatives and acquaintances for technical knowledge, for connections to vendors, and for actual help in building websites, networking offices and developing specialized applications."

"There is an entire network of technical assistance providers – circuit riders, management service organizations, and simply individuals who specialize in helping nonprofits. Surprisingly, very few of the organizations we interviewed utilized them."

"Support for technology is crucial to nonprofits. It is an essential cost of general operations. Furthermore, this support must go beyond simple hardware and software to cover the costs of learning about new software and hardware, staff training, maintenance and upgrading."

"...nonprofits can no longer survive using staff members’ personal email and internet connections, old computers that are not networked, and rudimentary phone systems. Technology requires continual investment if nonprofits are to be most effective in accomplishing their missions."