Nonprofit Trends Report: Technology is Driving Relevance and Growth

Digitally mature nonprofits exceed their organizational goals, including being 4 times more likely to exceed mission goals. Nonprofits thrive on relationships. Carrying out a nonprofit mission requires close connections with stakeholders – including employees, sponsors, volunteers, program participants, etc., according to the latest research on the organization. non-profit organization.

Fifth edition of Nonprofit Trends Report from Salesforce explains how organizations that adopt technology have the strongest relationships and highest rates of goal achievement – regardless of their size, revenue, or location. Here are four key takeaways:

1. The strategic use of technology is directly linked to improving an organization’s efficiency and performance in its operations. Nonprofits with a high degree of digital maturity are more likely to exceed their goals and have stronger relationships with all stakeholder groups.
2. Technology has clear benefits for nonprofit culture and workforce. Digitally mature nonprofits report more motivated and optimistic employees, more positive organizational cultures, and lower levels of employee burnout. These organizations are also going further in achieving the climate action and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals.
3. Nonprofits recognize the importance of technology in meeting their goals but have difficulty implementing it to its fullest extent. While nearly three-quarters (74%) of nonprofits think digital transformation is a “must have” or a “must have,” only 12% score high on the Technical Maturity Index. Salesforce numbers for nonprofits.
4. Barriers to digital maturity may include budget or resource constraints and competing priorities. Nonprofits are doubling down on employee retention and benefits to offset internal challenges like increased revenue and employee burnout. Externally, nonprofits are focusing on awareness and fundraising to diversify and rebuild relationships with their supporters. In general, nonprofits feel resilient and ready to face the future.

My main findings in this report will focus on using technology to drive better outcomes and stakeholder interests. The Nonprofit Trends Report is a 58-page document with amazing insights, but I wanted to focus on this post. digital transformation and use of technology in nonprofit organizations.

Non-profit organization overview

Over the past 12 months, the majority of nonprofits have met or exceeded their overall goals, particularly their program, financial, and mission goals. Despite their high goal attainment rates, nonprofits face many challenges from awareness to employee retention to measuring impact and more. The top four challenges facing nonprofits include: 1. awareness, 2. employee retention, 3. live events, and cost control.

For the coming year, nonprofits anticipate challenges related to staffing and the state of the economy, technology, finance, and fundraising. This is reflected in how nonprofits are shifting their priorities over the next year with 48% focusing more on fundraising, 46% on employee retention, and 44% on employee welfare.

Today, nonprofit leaders are slightly more optimistic about their own organizations (65%) than the broader nonprofit sector in their own countries (58%). Nonprofits are also confident in their organization’s role in society: 74% say they believe society trusts nonprofits to do what’s right.

Nonprofits report weaker relationships with volunteers and donors – two stakeholder groups that are critical to the organization’s mission and continuity.

Digital transformation is driving growth and impact

Over the next 12 months, nonprofits will prioritize network security and privacy (39%), adding new programs and services (27%), or implementing remote working models (26%). Online services to increase revenue and engagement are also a top priority for nonprofits.

A sizable minority of nonprofits (46%) say they make strategic decisions quickly. These nimble nonprofits describe their organizations as technology adopters (51%), adaptive (51%), empowered (50%), forward-looking (48%) and innovation (48%). These characteristics constitute a positive “mind of change” that helps nonprofits pursue strategic growth and become more agile.

Tips from qualitative interviews with nonprofit leaders on innovation, adaptability, and change:

1. Be pragmatic. Hire experts or engage with trusted private sector advisors, especially for guidance on technology or legal matters; Look to banking partners, board members and corporate partners for their expertise.
2. Commercialization of benefits for sponsors. Think in terms of “packaging” the benefits of being a facilitator so that they are easy to understand and act on.
3. Listen to improve. Use surveys and other listening tools to get feedback from stakeholders, both internal and external.
4. To multiply the impact. Think simultaneously about new and evolving end-user needs and the needs of the economy as a whole – e.g. upskilling users in areas where the economy is lacking.
5. Collaborative thinking. Rely on your organization’s skill set(s) and find colleagues to fill the gap. Explore partnerships with other nonprofits and businesses.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of nonprofits say digital transformation is essential, and organizations describe themselves as “technology adopters”, “future-oriented” or ” empowered” are more likely than their peers to say digital transformation is a must-yes.

One key takeaway from the report is how nonprofits link data together. Most nonprofits consistently leverage data to design programs and services (75%), personalize communications with stakeholders (74%) and make decisions (73). %). Lower-ranked information uses include problem solving (69%) and income forecasting (58%).

More than half (55%) of nonprofits say their organization needs to invest in technology to increase fundraising, and 60% say their donors expect a better experience than the company’s. their current technology.

Technology providers must do a better job supporting nonprofits. Only 36% of nonprofit professionals are “very satisfied” with the technology they have to do their job. Lowest satisfaction with the integration of data sources and systems (34% very satisfied) and the availability of easy-to-use reporting tools (33% very satisfied).

Technology providers must also do a better job educating nonprofits about the importance of digital maturity. Digitally mature nonprofits outperform their peers, regardless of their organization’s revenue, number of employees, or geographic location. Organizations with a high degree of digital maturity are 1.9 times more likely (93% vs 50%) to have improvements in organizational effectiveness or mission impact. They are also 3.5 times more likely to achieve mission goals (38% vs 11%) than their low digital maturity peers.

Digital transformation is the path to maturity. The report notes that cybersecurity and privacy (34%), cost effectiveness (33%), data management and optimization (32%) are the top reasons for digital transformation . Impacts such as improved stakeholder relationships (23%), competitive advantage (19%), and keeping up with stakeholder expectations (18%) were ranked lowest.

Digital transformation is hard work and it requires the right organization, culture, people and processes commitment. Without commitment of resources and clarity of vision and execution, transformation can be difficult and slow. The most commonly cited barriers to digital transformation are lack of budget or resources (37%) and higher priorities within the organization (30%). Other challenges include a lack of skilled talent to deploy and manage technologies (28%) and a lack of understanding of those technologies (26%).

To learn more about Nonprofit Trends Report from Salesforce, which you can access here.