“The price of doing
the same old thing is far higher than the price of change” - Bill Clinton
With increasing innovations in technologies, there are
numerous opportunities for NFP to increase their operating efficiencies. For
instance, it can streamline the volunteer management process, keep track of
complex finances, etc.
There are many NFPs that are under pressure to do ‘more’
with ‘less’. The decline in government funding has really made NFP realise that
they need to figure out a way to operate differently to ensure longevity and
viability of their organisation.
A survey
developed by Infoxchange, Connecting Up and TechSoup NZ (TechSoup) highlighted
that in the past NFPs have not out much though into adopting new or updating
their IT systems and spent most of their money towards frontline service
delivery. However in this era, there is a real need for technology to drive
donor engagement, to measure funding success and to communicate success in a
professional manner to acquire or maintain corporate partnerships.
The survey also showed that almost half of the organisations
that participated in the survey do not have an IT plan have basic or challenged
IT capability. A large proportion of these organisations have also reported a
decreasing revenue over the past 12 months. Therefore a poor uptake of
up-to-date IT systems can have a damaging impact on the amount of income being
generated by NFPs.
Another interesting fact that the survey highlights is that the
top priority for NFP is to improve their online presence by improving their
website and their social media tools.
The Ice
Bucket Challenge is a classic example of how social media can be used to
communicate a NFP mission and spread awareness of a cause. The ALS Association raises
money to fund research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and they raised
more than $100 million during a 30-day last year. The Ice Bucket Challenge was
in the public eye for a long time and famous actors and athletes, posting
YouTube videos of themselves being doused with a bucket of ice water further
promoted this viral campaign to become a global phenomenon.
Girl
Scouts in America is another NFP that have embraced technology to increase
their efficiency. They launched the ‘Digital Cookie’ in December last year
where they created a website to sell their cookies online. This gave them the
opportunity to track who is buying what and gave them an opportunity to
continually improve their service and their offerings.
Many NFP do struggle in embracing technology and the reason
is simple: they are not sure where to improve their IT and how to achieve it.
The survey mentions that 50% are eager to keep up with technology however they
aren’t sure what key areas to invest their money into and how to effectively
implement these changes in their organisation.
Capterra is an organisation that that helps organisation
find the right software and they recently released
the biggest nonprofit technology trends in 2015:
1.
Going mobile: Making their website and donation
platform more mobile and user friendly
2.
Increasing their visuals: Focussed on mission
driven videos, images, and infographics. Also a marked uptake in social media
platforms such as Instagram and Vine.
3.
The potential to go to the cloud: Many are
looking at the possibility to adopt cloud computing
NFP have to change the way they used to operate in order to
ensure viability and longevity. They need to harness and leverage the benefits
of this digitally driven era. As technology continues to evolve in this fast
paced digitally driven era, NFP organisations need to evolve with.
When Aranei was seven she truly believed she could one day
train turtles in the Galapagos. Unfortunately she came to the realization that
such a thing could never happen. A couple of years later, she decided to be a
conference producer and has never looked back. The best part of her role is
exploring different sectors and getting in-depth insights from thought leaders
and well-experienced specialists from varying sectors.
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