Technology Challenges

Faced in the Nonprofit

Sector, and Solutions
The necessary tools for solving issues
and creating a complete tech strategy
Technology Challenges Faced in the Nonprofit Sector, and Solutions

Introduction Nonprofit organizations have a rising need for updated and more
sophisticated technologies. However, determining the right technol-
ogy investment can prove a formidable challenge. Markets have be-
come deeply saturated, and as such, a myriad of options from which
to choose are now available.
All of these choices can foster a sense of uncertainty within orga-
nizations, which can lead to indecisiveness regarding which tech-
nological sectors require a deeper focus. For example, should you
transfer member information to cloud storage, or keep it locally
stored? Do you invest in donor-management tools to create a more
streamlined donation process? Do you create apps for volunteer
management so you can efficiently track member activity?

Overview There are countless options when upgrading technology for non-
profit organizations. This white paper will highlight the tech chal-
lenges nonprofits face, and the IT solutions that can be applied to
address, or rectify these problems.

Technology Challenges Before digging deeper into cost-saving technology, it’s better to un-
Nonprofit Organizations derstand all present issues to analyze the underlying cause. Though
Experience the tech challenges nonprofit organizations face can be situationally
unique and differ from place to place, the most common technolog-
ical troubles include:

Outdated or Obsolete A vast majority of nonprofits are still dependent on outdated techs.
Technology They’re still paying a significant amount of money to IT staff.
In addition to that, many nonprofit organizations continue hosting
their shared drive, emails, website, and software programs on a lo-
cal server (in-house). Moreover, maintenance is quite expensive,
and the risks of cyber-crime are high.

Manual Documentation For all not-for-profit organizations, documentation is vital and de-
tailed. But at several 501c3(s), they have manual documentation,
making it hard to access during emergencies. Additionally, some
nonprofit institutions are still unable to automate any of the stages
of this tiresome process.

Skepticism Towards Adopting The traditional mindset of many individuals working in nonprofits
New Technologies can be hard to change. As a result, the organizations may not greet
new techs cordially that private businesses have been capitalizing
on for quite some time.
Possible reasons for this skeptic behavior could be past digital trans-
formation efforts gone wrong or sheer mistrust of these technologies
and their provided value.
Technology Challenges Faced in the Nonprofit Sector, and Solutions

Inefficient Fundraising Tools Some nonprofit organizations rely heavily on donations to operate
efficiently and smoothly, thus need tools to organize fundraisers. But
when the devices are poorly designed, it becomes challenging to
run a campaign and increase and track the money flow.

Challenges Differ By The tech troubles discussed earlier are of varying importance to
Nonprofits Type each nonprofit organization. For example, the leading problems for
churches are:
• Changing patterns of privacy
• Choosing contemporary antivirus software
• Lack of credible information about cyber security
• Challenges in e-payments because of poor development

Challenges Faced With On the contrary, various charitable organizations find it extremely
Software difficult to maintain remote systems and technology because they
still don’t have a dedicated CRM system to help them manage such
a vast array of data. They’re still functioning without video confer-
encing apps and online platforms. Instead, some organizations rely
on transferring phones manually to their employee’s homes during
work-from-home situations.
Political entities still employ direct verbal communications to en-
gage with their citizens since they lack tools of digital connectivity.
Due to this, it’s pretty challenging to manage and track their cam-
paigns during the ongoing pandemic.

IT Solutions for Nonprofits Choosing the right tech to upgrade can help nonprofit organizations
save money, function more efficiently, engage with their patrons
much better, and increase the level of satisfaction of their custom-
ers and employees.
How does technology help nonprofit organizations? Here are five
cost-saving technologies for nonprofits:

Equipment & Services Non Profit organizations that prefer outsourcing their IT depart-
Specialists ments can still scale on tech upgrades while staying cost-effective.
Maintenance services and traditional hosting may still be depend-
able on pre-cloud tech and charge much more than most modern,
scalable SaaS platforms.

Cloud Migration Everything from project and accounting management software to

local servers is going to the cloud.
Cloud migration is when organizations move all or some of their
data center abilities into the cloud, typically to operate on cloud-
based infrastructures provided by service providers like Google
Cloud, Azure, or AWS.
Technology Challenges Faced in the Nonprofit Sector, and Solutions

Some of the benefits include automatic and timely maintenance,

free installation, and periodic updates free of charge. However, the
main advantage of the cloud is that every employee within your or-
ganization can access almost anything, from data to different pro-
grams, in one place.

Upgrading/Replacing Old Desktops operating on unsupported software and outdated oper-

Technology ating systems are more vulnerable to cyber threats and malicious
attacks, causing a costlier data breach. In addition to that, old tech-
nology and systems add extra costs, as you need to recruit workers
that maintain them regularly.
Computer Resources of America’s development and hosting plat-
form contains cloud deployment, maintenance, and security, allow-
ing you to create a complete roadmap for your particular organiza-
tional needs.

Utilizing Open-Source Tools Several open-source tools can help nonprofit organizations in their
online engagement pursuit. In addition, these free tools can assist
you in saving money as you don’t need to pay licensing fees.
Since an enthusiastic community maintains it, open-source tech
helps to minimize long-term technological expense and allows you
to challenge more technologically forward competitors.
Numerous open-source providers are available for nonprofits, such
as Eclipse Foundation, Drupal Association, GNOME Foundation,
Mozilla Foundation, OASIS Open, etc.
Survey: How do you prefer to hear from your favorite nonprofits?

Source: The Data-Backed Guide to Nonprofit Marketing

Donor-Engagement Tools With donor-management tools, nonprofit organizations can maintain

their associations with big donors and collect funds appropriately.
Computer Resources of America (CRA) has a donor-engagement
system that contains numerous free licenses and a set of useful
apps for nonprofits. We also provide email tools so you can reach
your donor timely.
Technology Challenges Faced in the Nonprofit Sector, and Solutions

Things To Consider When As a nonprofit organization, you must request quotations from mul-
Creating An IT Roadmap tiple solution providers and vendors and compare them to ensure
optimum savings. Here are a few things to consider when creating
an IT roadmap:

Subscription Charges Subscription charges mean the amount you have to pay to other
parties before using their services and products. Make sure to ask
them about other additional perks and benefits you’ll get within the
subscriptions.
In addition to that, make sure you understand the subscription du-
ration well: is it recurring payments or a one-time payment? Is there
any hidden charge that might apply under specific conditions?
Get a response to every question you ask them, and then match
various providers to have a better deal.

Implementation/Maintenance Another worry after the sign-up is recurrent implementation and

Cost maintenance charges. Again, as a nonprofit institution, you should
cautiously probe proposals from various providers and vendors and
choose the one offering free or minimal implementation and main-
tenance charges.

Compatibility What use is a new tech service or product if it’s not even compati-
ble with the existing infrastructure and system? Make sure to check
your tech upgrades compatibility by administering a demo with your
current IT settings to guarantee that it operates smoothly.

Regulatory Compliance This consideration mainly relates to patrons and their payment infor-
mation. Confidential data is essential and, therefore, must be kept
secret. So, always select an upgrade that ensures the best possible
data privacy and security.

Source: The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Nonprofit Organization’s

IT Operations to CRA
Technology Challenges Faced in the Nonprofit Sector, and Solutions

Computer Resources of Now is the ideal time for nonprofits to adopt new, updated technol-
America ogy for their business. With the right technological upgrades, non-
profit organizations can minimize operating costs, increase produc-
tivity, open more donors, and raise fundraising efforts.
At Computer Resources of America, we have a proven history of
working with nonprofits and delivering fast and competitive apps.
We have more than 25 years of successful experience in offering
managed IT solutions to government agencies, midsize organiza-
tions, financial services, legal firms, nonprofit organizations, and
much more. For more information, browse our website or contact us
directly to speak to a technician for a free IT evaluation.

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