If you work for a nonprofit, the odds are that your organization has an operating budget under $1 million (like 85 percent of TechSoup member organizations in the U.S.). That often means making do with imperfect tools, limited staff capacity, and the absence of a full-time IT professional. For many, even thinking about digital transformation — the process of enhancing business processes through adoption of new digital tools — can feel overwhelming.
TechSoup’s Digital Resilience Program (DRP) was developed exactly for this reality. It helps organizations accelerate their digital evolution while maintaining a clear focus on their mission.
A Structured Approach with Flexibility at Its Core
The DRP is built around a cohort model that combines structured learning with personalized guidance. Organizations join together in a shared journey and gain the benefits of peer exchange, collective learning, and community support. At the same time, each nonprofit receives individualized attention, so the program adapts to their unique context.
The structure moves participants through four key phases
- Training: Organizations learn to build their capacity through practical strategies around cybersecurity, AI, change management, and more.
- Assessment: Participants map out their organization’s current technology environment, practices, and vulnerabilities.
- Roadmap: The DRP provides a big-picture view of the areas that the organization should focus its energies on.
- Implementation support: The DRP offers hands-on help as organizations take tangible steps to improve their systems and practices and also offers funding to ensure that the highest priorities are addressed.
This approach ensures that nonprofits leave the program not only with new knowledge, but also with changes already in motion — whether that means rolling out a password manager, updating a data backup plan, or training staff on how to recognize suspicious emails.
Centering on Humans, Not Just Technology
What makes the DRP distinct is its human-centered model. Every nonprofit works with a digital consultant, who helps them to understand
- Staff comfort with technology
- How decisions about tools are made
- Barriers like time, confidence, budget, or bandwidth
- Organizational culture and readiness for change
This focus shifts the narrative from “technology as a burden” to “technology as an empowering tool.” Even organizations without IT staff can make meaningful progress when their teams feel supported.
This results in both stronger infrastructure and stronger teams. Digital resilience becomes a shared responsibility, not something that rests solely on a single “tech-savvy” person
Cybersecurity as the Tip of the Spear
At the same time, the program recognizes that cybersecurity is the nonnegotiable starting point. Nonprofits are entrusted with sensitive data — from client records to donor information — and the consequences of a breach can be devastating.
Unfortunately, far too many folks de-emphasize security measures because they are not fully sensitized to the risks or because they are so intimidated by the entire topic that they ignore it and hope for the best. That’s why the DRP uses cybersecurity as the “tip of the spear” for every organization in the program.
Participants get a chance to identify immediate risks and the actions that anyone can take to mitigate them, such as these:
- Understanding their risk environment
- Adopting multi-factor authentication
- Strengthening password practices
- Training staff to recognize phishing attempts
- Setting up reliable data backup systems
These interventions can dramatically reduce an organization’s vulnerability to cyberattacks. Just as importantly, they build confidence. Once staff members see that small, practical changes can make them safer, they often become more willing to tackle broader digital transformation goals.
A Pathway Toward Long-Term Resilience
Technology will continue to evolve, and threats will keep emerging. But nonprofits don’t need to face this alone — and digital transformation does not need to feel out of reach.
The DRP demonstrates that with the right structure, personalized support, and a focus on people, any organization can strengthen its digital foundation.
For nonprofit leaders, the takeaway is clear: You don’t need to be a technology expert to guide your organization toward resilience. You just need a willingness to start and the right guidance — and a recognition that digital resilience is as much about behavior, culture, and people as it is about tools.
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