Technology Strategy: Decision Making for Nonprofit Boards
Many nonprofit organizations struggle, quite understandably,
with technology planning and investment. New computers,
sophisticated Websites and database systems can be expensive.
Staff members may be resistant to change and to learning new
applications.
But, to quote a famous saying from my homeland: "penny wise can
be pound foolish". Sound and well-thought out purchases in the
short term have the potential to save significant resources in
the medium to long term.
So, how should your Board of Directors and / or your Technology
Committee approach technology planning and investment?
One technique is to start out with a "blue-sky" session. First,
take an inventory of the capabilities that you currently have,
what's working in your operations, and your limitations and
frustrations. Then, without consideration of constraints such as
cost or staff resources, list the things that you should ideally
be able to do.
I like to use "What's the One Thing" questions for this process
to help you focus and prioritize:
* What's the One Thing that you're currently doing that is most
valued by your constituents? (i.e. Board, members, funders,
staff, the general public . . .) * What's the One Thing that you
currently don't do that your constituents wish that you would? *
What's the One Thing that would give you maximum competitive
advantage? (or fundraising edge, or whatever is your most
burning need . . .)
Look at the procedures that are currently absorbing staff time
and resources. Is there potential to streamline these, or to
recreate them in a way that would be more cost-effective?
For example, many organizations produce small informational
leaflets, brief white papers, or regularly updated research
findings. These are sold for a few dollars, which may not cover
the true cost of printing, mailing, and check or credit card
processing.
An alternative is to provide these as downloadable e-books on
your Website. When the buyer enters their credit card, they gain
instant access to your materials in whatever format you choose -
Adobe Acrobat (pdf), Word, html, etc. Once this system is set
up, you should have few maintenance or support issues, and
you're in business on a 24/7 basis. You can change the documents
whenever you need to, without leaving stocks of outdated print
copies.
Are you using e-mail as effectively as you could? There are two
elements to successful implementation of e-mail:
1. Maintaining a comprehensive database of all the contacts that
your organization has, including appropriate details of your
dealings with each one.
This allows you to create personalized, targeted and timely
e-mail messages that you can send to selected recipients, such
as:
* News updates about your organization * Special events,
discount purchase offers * Legislative alerts and tracking
notices * Fundraising appeals * Membership renewal reminders
Of course, you should include and adhere to a privacy policy
whenever using e-mail, and you must honor requests to be removed
from your mailing list.
2. Having clear e-mail usage procedures. Sometimes it is
preferable to use direct personal contact such as telephone or
letters instead of e-mail - for instance, when responding to
complaints, or thanking donors for gifts.
But your staff should be clear and comfortable about using
e-mail to save time and resources. Sending bulk e-mail from a
good database is faster and cheaper than sending bulk faxes. One
association that I consulted with recently linked their staff
bonuses directly to savings realized from using e-mail over fax.
A great deal of Board business can be conducted via e-mail. This
may not include actual voting (check your by-laws and legal
obligations for this). But much of the background information
that is provided at a typical Board meeting could be
disseminated by e-mail ahead of time, thus freeing up valuable
meeting time for substantive discussion.
How effective is your Website in promoting and achieving your
strategy? An intranet (password protected area) can be very
useful if you have staff or chapters geographically distant from
your head office. It can provide training materials, mentoring
discussion boards, templates for frequently used documents, etc.
And, you can have a private section of your site for your Board,
as an alternative to sending information via e-mail.
Depending on your operations, there are other technologies that
might be appropriate for you to consider as you plan your future
strategy and investments. These could include handheld devices
and laptops if you have employees who are often out of the
office. Voice recognition software can be used for dictation by
disabled staff, or those who are really not comfortable with
keyboards. For larger organizations, virtual private networks
may be appropriate for file sharing and synchronized database
maintenance.
Whatever your size, use the strategic and prioritizing "What's
the One Thing . . .?" questions that I listed above, together
with your estimation of current inefficiencies in staff time and
resources to come up with a wish list. Then you can start to
analyze the potential investments that you need to make, and the
potential savings or revenue that you can realize in the longer
term.