Nonprofits Value Technology, Lack Strategy to Implement, Report Finds

Nonprofit organizations see technology as being critical to their success, but many lack a long-term strategy for how to use it effectively, a report from Salesforce.org finds. Based on a survey of more than seven hundred nonprofit leaders in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, the second edition of the Nonprofit Trends Report (50 pages, PDF) found that 85 percent of respondents believed that technology was critical to the success of their organizations, but only 23 percent of respondents' organizations had a long-term strategy and vision for how it should be used. Respondents also reported facing challenges in collecting and reporting performance and outcomes data and in accommodating supporters' desire to participate in their work (i.e., creating "constituent-centric experiences"). Other challenges cited by respondents include budgetary constraints (51 percent), lack of organizational flexibility (45 percent), and the inability to demonstrate a return on investment (40 percent).