Press Releases

For Immediate Release
1/10/2002
Contact: Sloan C. Wiesen
(202) 387-9177
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NEW NCRP REPORT AIMS TO HELP FOUNDATIONS BETTER MEET INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY NEEDS OF AMERICA'S CHARITIES
Direct Human Service Sector Especially Hindered by ‘Organizational Divide'
WASHINGTON ­­­­- The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) today released a groundbreaking new report on how foundations can better meet the information technology (IT) needs of nonprofit organizations.  Among the report's findings are that almost all nonprofits could benefit from significantly increased foundation support for investments in IT, that few foundations have a clear strategy for making those investments - and that charities on the front lines of providing direct human services bear the brunt of the lack of support for IT.

"Foundations can do more to end the digital divide among nonprofit organizations - an ‘organizational divide' that significantly hinders the ability of many charities to help the neediest American families," said NCRP President Rick Cohen.  "In the wake of Sept. 11, one way that we in the philanthropic community can help America unite as a nation is to end the organizational divide that keeps so many nonprofits from maximizing their use of technology for those in need.  We hope foundations find the new NCRP report useful in shedding light on how they can better meet the needs of nonprofits struggling to overcome this technology gap."

Beyond Access: A Foundation Guide to Ending the Organizational Divide is the latest in NCRP's continuing series of reports aimed at helping foundations better serve the most disadvantaged Americans.  The new research examines how nonprofits currently use IT, the ways in which foundations are responding to nonprofit IT needs and how these funders can do an even better job of building the technology infrastructure of nonprofits.  The report reveals three general trends in how larger foundations are providing IT support for nonprofits:

1. Some types of charitable institutions - particularly those that provide direct human services - appear to be underfunded relative to IT grants given to other areas of the nonprofit sector.
2. IT grants are too heavily biased toward equipment and do not take into account other costs of technology, such as training, technical assistance and maintenance.
3. While a large percentage of grants are going to support interactive online activities - including distance learning and online activism - nonprofits and foundations could still benefit from increased understanding of how online resources can enhance their impact.  Continuing to fund projects that explore innovative ways to use Internet technology to improve the delivery of nonprofit services.
"Technology is a critical tool for nonprofits to use to effectively mobilize their constituencies, develop collaborative partnerships, raise money and generally forward their organizational goals," added Cohen.  "And although a few foundations support IT development in limited ways for certain types of organizations, most nonprofits could benefit from IT that goes beyond just equipment - to include strategic support for organizational capacity building in such areas as staff training, long-term maintenance and technical assistance."

The report details the opportunities funders have to considerably strengthen their technology investments in nonprofits.  Some of these recommendations include:

  • Increasing IT grants for direct service organizations, especially human service, food and nutrition, and housing and shelter organizations.
  • Budgeting for the ongoing costs of sustaining technology over the long-term as a standard part of IT grants.
  • Providing more funding for general operations that can be used to support both short- and long-term IT costs.
  • Leveraging the growing experience of nonprofits using technology to contribute to the development and replication
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