In addition to findings, the report features recommendations for filling current gaps in strategy, software development, and tool adoption paths.

Founded in 2005, dotOrganize’s mission is help groups stop struggling with technology so they can direct more energy toward their missions. Online Technology for Social Change was researched and authored by Leda Diederich, Tate Hausman and Susan Maxwell. The following is a summary of the report’s key findings and recommendations. To view the entire 30-page report, visit: www.dotorganize.net/report.

KEY FINDINGS

• Enthusiasm and Wide-Ranging Interest
Social change organizers are extremely enthusiastic about the potential of online tools: 95 percent indicate that they believe technology is important or essential to achieving their goals.

• Frustration with Current Capacity and Tools
Some 59 percent of those surveyed report being frustrated by or really struggling with their current technology. A surprising number of organizations lack the capacity to employ some of the most standard online organizing techniques — 39 percent do not use email newsletters and 47 percent do not accept donations online.

• The Heart of the Problem: Data Disarray
Inadequate data management emerged as a major impediment to effective organizing. One of the areas hardest hit by this data disarray is contact management, or the tracking of people and relationships. More than half of survey respondents report using slips of paper, Excel spreadsheets and personal address books to manage organizational contacts. Organizations across the budget spectrum experience similar difficulties. In the absence of infrastructure to manage information about constituents and communities, organizers cannot engage and serve them in the most productive ways.

• Predictors (or Not…) of Technology Success
The number of dedicated technology staff in an organization, rather than size of budget, emerged as the most stable predictor of technology success.

• Lack of Time, Money, and Expertise Prevents Adoption of New Tools
Regardless of organization size, organizers across the board report that money (57 percent), time (45 percent), and lack of staff expertise (34 percent) prevent their organizations from taking full advantage of databases and online tools.

• Technology Struggles Stunt Impact
Organizations are struggling to master standard and emerging technology, as well as to manage data silos and ill-suited tools. These challenges result in lost time, missed civic engagement opportunities, lost money, and poorly informed decisions. For example, 55 percent of survey respondents report not keeping email lists at all, and a majority have email lists with fewer than 1,000 supporters.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Define Best Practices for Online Organizing
Because “online organizing” is such a new medium, the body of knowledge about successful strategies is limited. The sector requires an organized set of technology-neutral case studies, best practices, success stories, and performance benchmarks. How do we define success? How can online tools support our campaign and program objectives?

• Enhance Strategic Support and Information Resources
In order to support their objectives with appropriate technology solutions, organizations need access to comprehensive online information resources (including a searchable tools database, tool recommendations, user ratings, and a repository of user-generated best practices and implementation guidelines). Some attempts have been made to centralize this kind of information in the nonprofit technology sector, but the results are often not helpful to non-tech savvy organizations.

• New Models of Software Development
Once an online strategy is defined, the right tool will make or break that strategy. At the same time, a groundbreaking tool can often drive the strategy in ways previously unimagined. Appropriate, reliable tools rest at the heart of what’s possible. Technology needs among organizers are too varied to render any single tool suite a viable sector-wide solution. “Ecosystems” of software that share data and build on each other’s strengths, rather than stand-alone applications that seek to be all things to all organizations, are most likely to succeed. Specifically, nurturing a tighter integration between robust contact management tools and online engagement tools (email management, online fundraising, online advocacy) can address some of the data management woes currently experienced by the majority of the sector.

• Support Adoption of On-Demand Software
The on-demand model affords organizers access to tools hosted online by Application Service Providers (ASPs). In the nonprofit sector, where organizations rarely have inhouse technical staff or resources for an independent technology consultant, this model can be of great value.

• Prioritize Documentation, Outgoing Support, and Training
Social change-oriented software projects need to be approached with a full adoption path in mind. Even the best online tools enjoy only short-lived success if they are delivered without adequate documentation, reliable technical support or a means for accommodation ongoing feature enhancements.

• Increase Offerings to the Full Spectrum of Social Change Groups
Many organizations don’t have the money to invest in online tools, period. Moreover, volunteer-run groups, who do not possess nonprofit tax status, are some of the most influential and potentially effective contributors to progressive social change. They are organizing with their neighbors, in their communities and they require support as much as foundation- sponsored organizations. As a sector, we need to create funding and service strategies that deliver technology to under-resourced and volunteer-run organizations.

— The preceding findings and recommendations are reprinted with permission.