Abstract
Nonprofit organizations are widely assumed to be technologically challenged, largely bereft of the cutting-edge
hardware and software needed to function effectively in
the new information era. “From antiquated technology to
bureaucratic red tape, working at a nonprofit can be
downright exasperating,”
1
is how one foundation’s website describes the nonprofit workplace. Similarly, a page
describing nonprofit work on the popular website, Idealist, warns, “If you prize…the latest in office technology,
many nonprofit organizations will disappoint, frustrate,
and discourage you.”
2
How well do these impressions of the nonprofit sector
reflect reality? Have nonprofits been able to integrate
sophisticated technologies into their operations and use
them to their full potential? Perhaps most importantly,
have nonprofits been able to use such technologies to
support and enhance their delivery of mission-critical
programs and services—the core reason behind nonprofits’ existence? What variations, if any, exist by organizational size, age, service area, and field? Finally, what challenges are limiting nonprofits’ use of information technologies and preventing them from using such technologies
as effectively and as comprehensively as possible?
To answer these important questions, the Johns Hopkins
Nonprofit Listening Post Project conducted a Sounding, or
survey, of its nationwide sample of roughly 1,100 nonprofit organizations in four key fields (children and family
services, elderly housing and services, community and
economic development, and the arts) in 2009. Altogether, 443 organizations responded to this survey, producing
a response rate of 42 percent, which is quite respectable
in this field, particularly at a time of economic hardship.
3
Three key findings resulted from this inquiry:
1. The majority of nonprofits are relying on a range of
current information technologies for both administrative functions and program and service delivery.
2. However, most nonprofits are not content with the
extent to which they have integrated technologies into
program and service delivery and recognize that they
could be doing more.
3. Lack of funding, time, and expertise are the major barriers preventing nonprofits from harnessing the full potential of information technologies.
The balance of this Communiqué examines these and
other important findings in more detail.
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