Office Hours Recap: How to Choose the Right Nonprofit Technology for Your Organization’s Growth

Mitch Stein is the founder and CEO of MPowerUS, a free shared platform that allows nonprofits to learn about technology solutions by sharing feedback, comparing alternatives, and drawing upon an extensive library of resources and information. Technology has never been more important for nonprofits that want to improve the efficiency of their operations, provide transparency and accountability to grantors, and scale impact. Mitch joined Resilia’s Alaysia Brown to discuss the importance of technology in the nonprofit sector, as well as how organizations can deploy it as effectively as possible. 

• “If you’re not maximizing your technology solutions, you’re leaving impact on the table.” This is how Mitch opened our recent Resilia Office Hours on Thursday, and it’s something many nonprofits need to hear – particularly small to mid-sized organizations that have to make the most out of limited resources. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, almost 90 percent of organizations have annual budgets of less than $500,000, and many have just a few months of operating reserves (a fact that has been highlighted by COVID-19). While Mitch acknowledges that it’s difficult for already-stretched nonprofit leaders to develop a plan for implementing tech solutions, he points out that such a plan can reduce overhead, improve communication, and ultimately help organizations scale impact. 

• “The more manual your processes are, the more things are going to fall through the gaps.” Mitch emphasizes two major areas of focus for nonprofit technology solutions: fundraising and operational efficiency. When nonprofits use legacy technologies such as Excel spreadsheets (or physical documents), routine tasks such as tracking donations and measuring outcomes become far more resource-intensive and error-prone than they need to be. When employees have to gather and synthesize information from many different sources (and in multiple formats), the chances of a mistake increase dramatically and the necessary time investment is much higher. This is why the development of standardized and automated databases for core priorities such as donor management is so vital – as Mitch explains, these databases provide an “essential source of truth for your team.”

• “Be realistic about your team’s experience level, bandwidth, and budget. It’s easy to have lofty goals, but take steps that are reasonable for you.” This is one of the most fundamental points Mitch emphasized in his discussion with Alaysia: organizations have to determine which technology solutions make the most sense for their unique needs and fit with their existing capabilities. First, he recommends making a list of priorities – while one organization may be most concerned about grant management, another will want to focus on advocacy or internal communication. Second, he points out that organizations shouldn’t be afraid to ask potential technology partners detailed questions about customer service, costs, and any other issues of interest. In many cases, these will be long-term partners, and nonprofits have every right to know what to expect. And third, Mitch observes that organizations shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with technology solutions. In fact, he even thinks nonprofits should try to accomplish tasks manually before automating their processes, which will help to “see where the bottlenecks are and experiment with what you’re really going to need.”

Several trends are pushing the nonprofit sector toward greater technology adoption – from the demand for transparency and accountability among grantors to the availability of increasingly powerful (and accessible) digital tools. While the digital transformation can seem daunting (especially to small and mid-sized organizations), it will actually give all nonprofits – no matter their size – the tools they need to operate as efficiently as possible and scale impact like never before. Fortunately, organizations like MPowerUs exist to make this transformation as smooth as possible.