2010 Nonprofit IT Staffing and Spending Report

An NTEN Report Prepared by:
Chris Bernard
Senior Writer & Editor
Kimberly Bernard PhD
Research Consultant
www.italicsmedia.com
APRIL 2011
2010 Nonprofit
IT Staffing & Spending
Survey Results
Conducted With:
NTEN | 1020 SW Taylor Street | Suite 800 | Portland, Oregon 97205 | p: 415.397.9000 | f: 415.814.4056
1
Table of Contents
ABOUT NTEN . . . 2
ABOUT THE NONPROFIT TIMES . . . 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: KEY FINDINGS . . . 4
ABOUT THE SURVEY . . . 8
ABOUT THE RESULTS . . . 8
ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS & THEIR ORGANIZATIONS . . . 9
SPENDING TRENDS . . . 13
LEADERS IN IT ADOPTION . . . 15
IT BUDGETING . . . 19
STRATEGIC PLANNING . . . 21
OUTSOURCING IT RESPONSIBILITIES . . . 24
ORGANIZATION OF IT . . . 27
SATISFACTION WITH IT FUNCTIONS . . . 33
IT STAFFING . . . 37
IT RECRUITING . . . 41
APPENDIX: SURVEY TEXT AND QUESTIONS . . . 44
NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE
IT STAFFING & SPENDING REPORT APRIL
2
About NTEN
A Community
Transforming
Technology Into
Social Change
www.nten.org
Who We Are
A community of nonprofit professionals, we aspire
to a world where nonprofit groups of all types and
sizes use technology strategically and confidently
to fulfill their missions. Together, the NTEN
community helps members put technology to
work so they can bring about the change they
want to see in the world.
What We Do
NTEN connects members with one another and
offers many opportunities for learning and
professional developmentall so you can focus on
achieving your goals and meeting your mission.
How We Do It
NTEN helps members, with their diverse job
functions and levels of tech comfort and
expertise, share best practices, and glean insights
from one another both online and off: training,
research and industry analysis, regional meet-ups,
our signature Nonprofit Technology Conference.
As a member, you gain instant access to a
supportive community that shares your passions
and challenges, as well as to valuable resources
for professional development.
Connect
Online Networking / www.groups.nten.org
Whether youre a webmaster, marketer, executive
director, fundraiser, blogger, program manager, or
play another role in the nonprofit sector, connect
with your peers online. Join our Affinity Groups
and social networks, browse the Member
Directory, post in our online forums.
Events / www.nten.org/events
NTENs Nonprofit Technology Conference and
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together to share ideas and best practices. Get to
know colleagues. Develop a support network. Talk
shop. Vent. Congratulate. Collaborate. The
possibilities are endless.
Learn
NTEN Webinars / www.nten.org/webinars
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NTEN Research / www.nten.org/research
NTEN collaborates with renowned industry,
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research on key subjects related to nonprofit
technology like IT staffing and spending, salaries,
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reports and benchmarks studies offer actionable
data and invaluable insider information.
Change
NTEN: Change / www.nten.org/ntenchange
NTEN: Change is a quarterly journal for nonprofit
leaders. Youll find guidance on the strategic and
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Read how NTEN members are fulfilling their
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stories, and best practices related to technology
and the nonprofit sector.
3
About The
NonProfit Times
www.nptimes.com
NPT Publishing Group has been the leading
information provider for the nonprofit sector
since 1987. The NPT has provided news and
information to help nonprofit executives manage
their organizations more efficiently and increase
the effectiveness of fundraising efforts.
The NPT provides a mix of news, in-depth
features, how-to articles and special reports to
keep our readers informed of the latest trends
and technology that drive the marketplace. Just as
the nonprofit marketplace has grown, The
NonProfit Times also has evolved. The NPT started
as a monthly publication.
NPT now publishes 19 print issues plus two digital
issues per year, publishes six issues of Exempt,
a standalone magazine which provides financial
information for the largest nonprofits, has two
Web sites which are updated constantly, and five
separate eNewsletters for nonprofits (NPT Weekly,
NPT Instant Fundraising, NPT TechnoBuzz, NPT
Jobs and Exempt), and broadcasts a series of
educational Webinars. The magazine goes out to
more than 34,000 nonprofit executives and
reaches more than 200,000 people through our
combined circulation with our eNewsletters.
The NonProfit Times (NPT)
Circulation: 34,000
The readers of The NonProfit Times are leaders
within the nonprofit world. With more than 75
percent having a title of vice president or higher,
NPT subscribers are responsible for a number of
duties within a nonprofit organization, including
vital purchasing decisions. By advertising with The
NonProfit Times, you will get your product/service
directly in front of these decision makers, thus
increasing sales and awareness.
NPT Weekly
Circulation: 85,000
NPT Weekly is an e-letter that addresses matters
pertaining to all aspects of nonprofit management
news, fundraising, financial management, direct
marketing, technology, legal issues and human
resources. It offers a mix of how-to and news
stories.
NPT Instant Fundraising
Circulation: 34,000
NPT Instant Fundraising is geared towards
keeping development officers and executive
directors up to date with the latest fundraising
developments. It offers news, tips and proven
methods to fund organizations.
NPT Jobs
Circulation: 85,000
NPT Jobs is the premier nonprofit newsletter
bringing new career opportunities to the
nonprofit executive community.
NPT TechnoBuzz
Circulation: 40,000
NPT TechnoBuzz is for CIOs, CFOs, IT Directors
and Development Directors responsible for the
purchase and management of hardware and
software at the nations nonprofit organizations.
It features trends and business stories
with a focus on technology solutions for donor
management, finance and fundraising.
4
Executive Summary: Key Findings
Its no longer possible for organizations to ignore technology. Technology has
the power to transform not just our work, but our entire world. When used
properly, it can streamline processes, improve communication, and effectively
shrink the world into a manageable community. To not use it is to risk falling
behind, or becoming irrelevant.
But technology is constantly changing and immeasurably diverse. It can be a challenge for organizations to
find the right mix of training, staff, commitment, leadership and funding to keep on top of itor better yet,
to keep ahead of it, not just using technology but advancing it.
In the fifth year of this survey, were seeing clear patterns around nonprofits and technology. Some might
say that throwing money at it is one way to fix the issues many organizations face, but our results show
thats not the only way, or even the best way. In fact, funding is only one piece of the puzzle. Weve found
that the following components are of equal, or greater,
importance to using technology effectively:
Strategic planning around technology
Examining the Return On Investment in technology
Having a standalone or clearly defined-and-dedicated
IT department
Investing in IT staffing
This report gauges the state of nonprofit staffing and
spending, and provides organizations with annual
information to help evaluate their own approaches. When we
began, it was the first time a survey of this kind had ever been done. We hoped to shed light on the most
common questions nonprofit organizations were asking in this area, including the level of investment
nonprofits were making in IT, what typical salaries looked like, and how Small and Large organizations
compared with each other.
We also started asking organizations to rank themselves in terms of where they fell on the scale of
technological proficiency, which enabled us to ask a few new questions:
What are the decisions and practices that define a technological leader?
What can organizations that lag behind these leaders learn from them?
Is there any correlation between budget, IT spending, staff size or organizational size and this
ranking?
With this information, we believe all nonprofitsregardless of their self-reported rankingcan analyze and
adjust their IT practices to their own benefit.
Leaders are found among
organizations of all sizes. Small-
and Medium-sized organizations
may have accounted for 59 percent
of our stragglers, but they also
accounted for almost 39 percent
of our leaders.
5
Key Findings
Because some nonprofit organizations adopt and manage technology better than others, we asked
respondents where they see themselves on that curveas early adopters or fast followers, which weve
combined into a single group of leaders, or as average, lagging behind, or in trouble, which weve
combined into a group that well call stragglers. Then we took a look at what the leader organizations are
doing, and what the other organizations can learn from them. The key findings are summarized below.
Technology Leadership
Using the criteria described above to categorize respondents
as coming from either leader or straggler organizations, we
saw:
Less than 32 percent of respondents self-identified as
leaders. This is down more than 3 percent from last
year, and the first decline since 2007.
Respondents from organizations in all size categories considered their nonprofits to be technology
leaders, but larger organizations are more likely to consider themselves leaders.
Of the leaders, 33 percent were Very Large organizations, 28 percent Large, 29 percent Medium, and
just 10 percent Small.
Nearly half of all Very Large organizations considered themselves leaders, in line with the last two
years results.
Of Small organizations, about 17 percent considered their organizations to be leadersdown from
last year. From Medium organizations, less than 25 percent considered their organizations to be
leaders, also slightly down from last year.
The number of Large organizations (35 percent) who considered themselves leaders was almost
identical to last year.
IT Investment
Leaders, regardless of organizational size, continue to spend more money on technology than
stragglers.
Though the average percentage for all respondents organizations overall budgets allocated to IT
was less than 3 percent, this figure was significantly higher among Small organizations than those
of any other size.
In general, IT expenditures either stayed the same or increased for the majority of survey
respondents compared to last year.
Investment was most static in the areas of Help Desk Support, which stayed the same for 84 percent
of respondents organizations, followed by Network Administration and Support (79 percent), Technical
Training for IT Staff and Security and Data Backup (76 percent), and Technical Training for Other Staff
(75 percent).
35 percent of organizations increased their spending on Hardware, while 15 percent decreased their
spending in this area.
34 percent increased their spending on Website Design and Development, while 8 percent decreased.
32 percent increased their spending on Software, while 11 percent decreased.
Leaders were far more satised
with every aspect of IT function
than other organizations.
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Satisfaction with IT Function
Leaders were far more satisfied with every aspect of IT function than other organizations.
All organizations, on average, continue to be most satisfied with Hardware and Software In Use,
followed closely by Availability of IT to Meet Staff Needs, Organizations Website and Availability to Meet
Client Needs.
All organizations, on average, continue to be least satisfied with IT Budget Allocations, Quality of IT
Training for Staff, Integration of IT into Strategic Plan, and IT Recruiting Procedures.
In no category did leaders satisfaction fall below 50 percent.
Conversely, in no category did stragglers satisfaction rise above 41 percent.
Planning
Strategic, formal planning continues to be a sign of
success for organizations in terms of technologya
majority of leaders (64 percent) have a formal plan in
place, compared to just 29 percent of stragglers.
However, most respondents (60 percent) said their
organizations still do not have a formal plan.
For the first time since 2007, the percentage of respondents who report having no strategic
technology plan increased when looking at year-over-year trends.
Just 26 percent of respondents said their organization had ever evaluated the Return on Investment
from IT projects or programs. Those who did were much more likely to be leaders (44 percent
compared to 17 percent).
Outsourcing
Outsourcing does not appear to have any impact on whether an organization identifies as a leader.
Organizations of all sizes outsourced at least some IT functions.
Salary and Tenure
CEOs topped the list with a reported annual average
salary of just more than $100,000, followed by CIOs,
at $97,250.
Web Masters, Web Developers and Systems
Administrators held the middle of the list, ranging
from about $59,000 to just over $60,000.
IT Support Staff continued to hold the bottom rung, at $41,751, behind Online Communications
Managers at $52,777 and Online Community Managers, at $56,590.
Online Community Managers continued to have the shortest tenures, at three years. At the other end
were CEOs, with the longest average tenure at 8 yearsexactly the same as last years report.
Of the nonprofits who did not contract any IT needs to outside consultants, organizations regardless
of size devoted an average of 55 percent of their IT Budget to staffing.
Medium orgs devoted the largest percentage (72 percent), followed by Large (67 percent), Very Large
(54 percent) and Small (41 percent).
A majority of leaders (64 percent)
said they had a formal plan in
place.
Across organizations of all sizes,
leaders averaged almost ve IT
staers compared to about three
for stragglers.
7
Among organizations of all sizes, the median budget for IT staffing was $50,000, and the average
was $218,000.
Among organizations that dont use external IT consulting, leaders spent four times as much as
stragglers on IT staffing, regardless of size.
Among organizations of all sizes, staffing ratiosthe proportion of IT staff to total staffaveraged
one IT staffer to every 34 staffers.
Across organizations of all sizes, leaders averaged almost five IT staffers compared to about three
for stragglers.
The ratio of IT staffers to total staffers was one to 30 for leaders, and one to 37 for stragglers.
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About the Survey
This is the fifth year of conducting the Nonprofit IT Staffing Survey. The results
provide information that nonprofits of all sizes can use to better their own
approach to technology. To gather the data for this report, we rely on the
generosity and participation of respondents throughout the nonprofit
community who completed the survey.
We distributed an invitation to participate in the survey to all organizations on the NTEN member and
discussion lists, a combined circulation of over 20,000. In addition, links to the survey ran in The NonProfit
Times email newsletter (circulation about 34,000). Invitations were also distributed to potential participants
through a number of nonprofit capacity-building and membership organizations. All respondents were
encouraged to invite others to participate.
For the full text and questions included in the survey, please see Appendix A.
About the Results
In November and December of 2010, we collected surveys from a total of
1,199 people representing a wide variety of nonprofit organizations.
The non-random sample and low response rate means these respondents are probably not representative of
the nonprofit sector as a whole, and reflect only those organizations that chose to fill out the survey. One
example that illustrates this fact is that, while the majority of nonprofit organizations in the United States
have budgets under $500,000, only 17 percent of survey respondents work for such organizations.
In addition, our survey pool means its likely our respondents are generally more aware ofand more
concerned abouttechnology issues than the rest of the sector. That said, we believe theres much to be
gained from the insight this survey gives us into the differencesand the similaritiesin thinking about
Information Technology expressed by respondents. We present this data not as a rigorous look at the sector,
but as a set of benchmarks and figures to help guide those who are thinking about nonprofit IT
infrastructure.
If youre thinking about it, youve already made that critical first step.
Note: In the survey, respondents were asked for additional comments to elaborate on their answers or to
articulate ideas or concerns that didnt fit within the options provided for a standard response. Some of those
remarks appear in this report, both in pull-out boxes and in lists at the end of certain sections. These respondents
remarks have been edited for spelling and punctuation.
9
About the Respondents and
Their Organizations
In all, we collected surveys from a total of 1,199 people, a 19 percent increase
over last year. This years respondents resemble the past two years in almost
every respect, including job titles, organizational size and focus area, and
geographic locationif nothing else, this supports our efforts to draw
conclusions about trends over multiple years, though the nature of those
conclusions is limited by the size and demographics of our respondent group.
Respondents Job Titles
As weve already mentioned, the nature of this survey means
its likely our respondents are generally more aware ofand
therefore more concerned abouttechnology issues than
much of the nonprofit sector. We asked about their roles in
their organizations, and their answers seem to bear this out.
More than half (57 percent) were the Executive Directors/CEOs
or the IT Directors of their organizations, but we also heard from Chief Technology Officers, Project Managers,
Systems Administrators, Webmasters and Database Managers. The remainderlisted as Other in the chart
belowincluded Program Analysts, Information Architects, Web Developers, Circuit Riders and Programmers.
CHART 1: Job Titles Of Survey Respondents (N=759)
We don't have departments,
IT is me.
From a Straggler organization
Executive Director/CEO
IT Director/Technology Director
Project Manager
Chief Technology Ocer/Chief Information Ocer
Online Communications Manager/Strategist
Systems or Network Administrator
Other
Webmaster/Web Administrator
Database Manager
PC Technician or IT Support Sta
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
268
168
67
62
57
45
30
23
22
17
10
Organizational Focus
In all, survey respondents represented more than 25 different sectors of the nonprofit community at large.
Most survey respondents came from the following programmatic focus areas:
Human Services (136)
Education (114)
Health Care (63)
Arts, Culture, Humanities (53)
Youth Development (43)
Community Improvement and Capacity Building (39)
Environment (37)
Mental Health and Crisis Intervention (34)
Geographic Locations
A generous 876 respondents shared the location of their organizations headquarters with us. The majority
were from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, followed by the West. We also received one response
from a U.S. territory, and 24 from outside of the U.S.
CHART 2: Where The Surveys Came From (N=876)
Outside US: 24
173
179
87
191
221
11
Size of Organizations
However you measure it, the results represent a broad range of nonprofit organizations, but for this report,
we had to establish certain scales to measure other things. To understand the size of an organization, we
used two methods: Overall Staffing (which uses the number of Full Time Equivalent, or FTE, positions
employed by the organization), and Budget. Unless staffing is specified, any references to size in this report
refer to budget.
In past editions of this report, we defined a range of sizes to categorize organizations budgets, which well
continue to use to make it easy to compare results from year to year.
Heres what we came up with:
Small: Budgets under $500,000
Medium: Budgets from $500,000 to $3 million
Large: Budgets from $3 million to $10 million
Very Large: Budgets over $10 million
Based on those categories, this year just 17 percent of our respondents represented Small organizations,
35 percent Medium organizations, 24 percent Large organizations and 23 percent Very Large. As we
mentioned earlier, this doesnt line up with what we know about the size of nonprofit organizations in the
United States in general.
CHART 1: Size Of Nonprofits Participating In Survey
17% 35% 24% 23%
2010
15% 32% 24% 29%
2009
17% 31% 26% 26%
2008
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Small Medium Large Very Large
12
TABLE 1: Total Number Of Full-Time Equivalents Staffed By 2009-10 Nonprofits
Office Locations
Similar to the responses we received last year, almost half of our responding organizations maintain just one
office location, and three-quarters of respondents maintain four or fewer office locations.
TABLE 2: Number of Office Locations
Number of FTEs Frequency 2009 2010
None/Less than 1 FTE 23 (3 percent) 22 (2 percent)
1 FTE 14 (2 percent) 19 (2 percent)
2 - 10 FTEs 175 (21 percent) 230 (24 percent)
141 - 200 FTEs 51 (6 percent) 49 (5 percent))
More than 500 FTEs 60 (7 percent) 65 (7percent)
Number of 2008 2009 2010
Oce Locations Nonprots Nonprots Nonprots
1
2 - 4
5 - 8
9 - 15
More than 15
492 (48 %)
274 (27 %)
99 (10 %)
69 (6 %)
94 (9 %)
367 (44%)
245 (29%)
85 (10%)
52 (6%)
94 (11%)
452 (47%)
278 (29%)
91 (9%)
44 (5%)
101 (10%)
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Spending Trends
The economic downturn affected nearly everyone, from individuals to
nonprofits to corporations. We were curious if it affected the waysand the
amountsnonprofits spent on IT. We asked respondents to compare their IT-
related expenses from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010. What did we find?
IT expenditures increased or stayed the same for the majority of organizations in all areas. The areas with
the least amount of change were Help Desk Support, which stayed the same for 84 percent of respondents
organizations, followed by Network Administration and Support (79 percent), Technical Training for IT Staff
and Security and Data Backup (76 percent), and Technical Training for Other Staff (75 percent).
35 percent of organizations increased their spending on Hardware, while 15 percent decreased their
spending.
34 percent increased their spending on Website Design and Development, while 8 percent decreased.
32 percent increased their spending on Software, while 11 percent decreased.
The largest decreases were for:
Hardware, Telephone/Mobile Expenses, and Outsourced
IT Consulting (15 percent)
Technical Training for IT Staff (14 percent) and Other
Staff (13 percent)
Software and Custom Software (11 percent)
IT Staffing and Payroll (9 percent)
Interestingly, some of the largest increases also occurred in the same areas:
Hardware (35 percent), Website Design/Development (34 percent) and Software (32 percent)
Outsourced IT Consulting (25 percent) and CRM/Database Development (24 percent)
IT Staffing and Payroll (22 percent)
Its difficult to draw firm conclusions from this data, but its possible organizations took a safe route with
expenditures and held a steady course during the downturn. New hardware purchases, outsourced
consulting and technical training are easy line-item targets in budget crises, and payrolls are also commonly
cut, but at least as many organizations increased spending in each of these areas as decreased it, and we
find that encouraging.
Last years survey asked respondents about the areas in which their spending had increasedin most cases,
those areas were Website Design, Hardware, Software and Consulting, which resonates with this years
results. 2009 was the first year we asked about specific expenditures, so the data doesnt go back far
enough yet to monitor longer-term trends.
Lack of funding causes us to be a
generation or three behind the
curve in equipment.
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CHART 4: Reported Changes In Nonprofit IT Costs Between 2009 And 2010
Help Desk Support
Security and Backup
Network Administration/Support
Other Custom Sotware
CRM/Database Development
Telephone/Mobile
Website Maintenance
Website Design/Development
IT Stang/Payroll
Software
Hardware
Technical Training for Other Sta
Technical Training for IT Sta
Outsourced IT Consulting
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
10% 84%
20% 76% 5%
14% 79% 7%
17% 72% 11%
24% 68% 8%
20% 66% 15%
21% 71% 7%
34% 58% 8%
22% 69% 9%
32% 57% 11%
35% 51% 15%
12% 75% 13%
10% 76% 14%
25% 60% 15%
6%
Leaders in Adoption
One of the goals of this report is to determine what makes organizations
succeed or fail at Information Technology. Obviously, theres no easy
answerno silver bullet or magic wand. But by identifying the behaviors of
organizations that are successful at IT and looking for patterns, our hope is
that we can learn something about the practices that lead to positive
outcomes in this area.
So, how do we identify an organization thats successful at
IT? We asked respondents to rate their own nonprofits and
tell us where they think their orgs stand in relation to the
rest of the nonprofit sector in terms of the technological
solutions theyve implemented for their daily practices. What
standard practices do they maintain, how do they manage
them, and how do they see themselves positioned relative to
other organizations in the nonprofit sector in terms of
adopting technology? We gave the following choices:
Leading Edge/Early Adopter
Fast Follower
Average
Lagging Behind
In Trouble
CHART 5: Nonprofit IT Adoption Reported in 2010 (N=972)
Just 91 respondents felt their organizations were on the leading edge, and just 54 felt their organizations
were in trouble.
15
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
91
285
428
320
54
Leading
Edge
Fast
Follower
Average Lagging
Behind
In Trouble
We prefer to wait until technology
has a chance to mature but believe
in investing in systems that allow
sta to be ecient and accurate.
From a Leader organization
16
As you might expect, the majority by far, at 428, felt their organizations were average. Next were the 320
respondents who felt their orgs were lagging behind. The fast followers trailed them with 285 respondents.
That means the bulk of organizations feel they fall somewhere in the middle, with 376 indicating above
average and 374 below average.
A lower percentage of respondents felt their organizations were leaders this year than in either of the
surveys since 2007. A higher percentage felt their organizations were stragglers than in either of the surveys
since 2007.
TABLE 1: Self-Identified Leaders in IT 2007-10
Respondents Comments
We were curious what factors respondents took into consideration when deciding how to rank their own
organizations, so we asked them. Recurring themes mentioned by respondents from leader organizations
were Planning and Evaluation, Committees or Groups Devoted to Technology, and Staff Member Interest.
Other leaders comments included the following:
We have established a tech team that meets every other week to talk about tech-related issues,
and things that we have learned about. Through this constant assessment we keep IT issues on the
forefront of our minds, thus being able to try new things quickly.
We don't go after every new gadget or format, we let the market test the product a bit, but we
usually go after useful tech stuff rather quickly.
A small staff (one) that is interested and recognizes the cost-effectiveness of many tools, and a
really accepting forward thinking board.
Adoption of new technology, constant re-examination of technology road map.
In-house IT.
Latest versions of software are reviewed and updated quite often.
The main factor is the way in which we have evaluated and implemented technology in the last 2
years.
We do like to explore new technology, but the actual adoption involves in-depth discussions and
weighing ROI. We never jump right in.
Moving to (Software as a Service) solutions, mobile strategy, and updating key applications to
ensure best of breed.
We have adopted software earlier than others -- we are always looking for new ways to use tech to
help our business process.
Don't always have the funding to be a leader, but with necessity and our new leadership's
progressive attitude, we're catching up.
Young staff interested in latest technology.
There are committees in place to review new software and decide if it's right for the organization.
2007 2008 2009 2010
Leaders
Stragglers
Number of Responses
30.4%
69.6%
1,010
32.3%
67.7%
753
35.5%
64.5%
994
31.9%
68.1%
1,179
17
Recurring themes among the stragglers were overwhelmingly Budget and Staffing Limitations and Lack of
Training, though multiple respondents mentioned consciously choosing to avoid the risks of cutting-edge
technology.
Other respondents comments from straggler organizations included the following:
We are still using some IT technology from the year 2000.
The rate at which we purchase and upgrade, and how we use technology.
Budgets and number of IT staff.
Budget, bureaucracy and attitude of leadership.
Budget drives our adoption of new technologies.
We advance our IT when we can.
An aversion of senior management to embrace new
forms of technology and communication.
We have limited budget to put to IT; we have limited
understanding of what IT is among the staff.
Very little reliance on virtual/cloud computing. Use
traditional on-site methods for storage, security, etc.
Planning and architecture take time. It would be
great if innovative ideas and changes could be
implemented instantaneously.
IT was done by volunteers. When professional management took over it was a slow process to
accumulate the needed funding and to convince the board that additional expenditures on IT were
appropriate.
Budget constraints, poor understanding of how technology can further our goals.
Our investments in technology are driven by operational needs, we do not try to be a leader in IT
support.
Small staff, non-technology savvy leadership.
Trying to be standard and avoid risk make us slow on the uptake of new technologies.
Staffing levels, some reluctance to change.
We opt for stability and functionality.
We try to stay one generation behind for the sake of maturity and cost.
Size & IT Leaders
The larger the operating budget, the more likely the organization will be identified as an IT leader. That was
true in each of our past years surveys, and it remains true this year.
Almost half the nonprofits with operating budgets over $10 million dollars identified as leaders.
Just 17 percent of Small nonprofits with budgets less than $500,000 identified that way.
We make heavy use of the
donated Microsoft and other
products through TechSoup, and
our sta make eorts to stay
current with leading tech trends
and hardware/software, with the
support of senior management.
18
CHART 8: 2010 IT Leaders Found in Size Categories
Despite the clear pattern, there are bright spots. Leaders are found among organizations of all sizes. Small-
and Medium-sized organizations may have accounted for 59 percent of our stragglers, but they also
accounted for almost 39 percent of our leaders.
Size may be a factor in an organizations IT success, but its far from being the only factor.
CHART 7: Percent IT Leaders Found in All Size Categories 2007-2010
An emerging pattern shows a steady, four-year decline in the number of small organizations that identify
themselves as Leadersat least one percent drop each year. In no other size category has there been a clear
pattern of increase or decrease. This is not the trend wed hope to see, and we hope this trend reverses itself
over the coming years as the economy improves.
Very Large
Large
Medium
Small
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Number of IT Leaders
Number of IT Stragglers
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
%
L
e
a
d
e
r
s
2007
14%
29%
25%
32%
2008
12%
32%
24%
32%
2009
11%
24%
24%
41%
2010
10%
29%
28%
33%
Small
Medium
Large
Very Large
I
I
I
I
N
N
N
N
L
L
L
L
X
X
X
X
19
IT Budgeting
How much are nonprofits spending on IT, and what are they choosing to
spend it on? We asked respondents to describe the components of their
organizations IT budgetseverything from Overall Expenditures to what
proportion they allocate for Staffing, Capital, Consulting Contracts and Other
Discretionary Expenditures.
About 60 percent said they either did not know or did not
want to share this information. But 476 respondents provided
details that lets us put their IT spending decisions into a larger
organizational context. Heres what we learned:
The median budget for IT expenditures for all survey
respondents was about $56,000.
The average budget for all IT expenditures was about
$431,000.
On average, organizations devoted 2.7 percent of their budget to IT.
Small orgs devoted the largest portion of their overall budget, at 7.1 percent, reporting an average IT
budget of just under $17,000.
TABLE 4: Total IT Expenditures Reported by Nonprofits in All Size Categories (N=476)
Like last year, leaders spent more money on IT across all
organization size categories.
Among Very Large organizations, the gap between
leader and straggler IT expenditures was about
$261,000.
Among Small organizations, it was more than $8,000.
The gap widens in the middle, too. Leaders spent
almost $38,000 more than stragglers among Medium-
sized orgs.
Leaders spent over $60,000 more than stragglers among Large organizations.
Size of Number of Median Budget Average Budget % Organizational
Nonprot Responses For All IT For All IT Budget Allocated
Expenditures Expenditures To IT
Small
Medium
Large
Very Large
All Respondents
95
171
108
102
476
$2,500
$28,000
$100,750
$490,000
$55,600
$16,617
$50,696
$148,072
$1,753,204
$430,811
7.1%
3.4%
2.5%
2.7%
2.7%
While we are ahead in terms of
software, lack of money makes us
lag in terms of having a hardware
replacement policy. We use a lot of
duct tape.
To the extent possible, budget is
allocated to IT, and we have often
found ourselves pushing the
envelope with our funders.
20
Where is the money going? For most organizations, to IT Contracts, followed by Discretionary Expenditures,
and Software or Cloud Expendituresthis is true for organizations of all sizes.
The median IT budget for organizations of all sizes dropped from $91,000 to $55,600, though the average
rose. Because the inclusion of extremely small or extremely large budgets can skew the average, its likely
that this year we received responses from large organizations that did not participate last yearraising the
averagewhile a number of organizations reported smaller budgets than last year, causing the median to
decrease. The latter probability is more relevant, as organizations of all sizes reported spending less on IT
this year than in the previous yearthe one exception was Very Large organizations, maybe a sign that the
economic downturn had less of an impact on the largest organizations spending habits.
The percent of the overall budget devoted to IT dropped for organizations of all sizes.
For Large and Very Large organizations, it dropped only slightly.
For Medium organizations, it dropped noticeably (from 6 percent to 3.4 percent).
For Small organizations, it dropped considerably (from 14 percent to 7.1 percent).
CHART 8: Comparison of Median IT Budgets Between IT Leaders & Stragglers
TABLE 5: Median IT Expenditures Reported by Nonprofits in All Size Categories
$700,000
$600,000
$500,000
$400,000
$300,000
$200,000
$100,000
$
$10,450 $2,000
$56,250
$19,000
$155,000
$95,500
$680,000
$418,601
Size of Median Budget Median Budget Median Budget For
Nonprot For Discretionary For Software Or IT Contract
IT Expenditures Cloud Expenditures Expenditures
Small
Medium
Large
Very Large
All Respondents
$100
$4,000
$12,500
$44,100
$5,000
$0
$1,500
$10,000
$30,000
$2,000
$1,800
$10,000
$29,000
$50,000
$15,000
Strategic Planning
Planning ahead for technology means your organization has put some thought
into its needs beyond the present moment, whichconsidering organizational
growth and technological depreciationis a smart bet. But budget and
staff considerations can often make planning ahead difficult. Sometimes its
a challenge even to fight fires as theyre started.
Technology Plans
Weve seen in the past that planning is an important factor
for organizations that are IT leaders, and weve seen an
increase in the number of organizations that are looking to
the future. We asked respondents if they had a formal,
organization-wide technology plan or strategy.
Last years survey saw the percentage of respondents who
said yes increase for the third straight year, but still fail to
reach a majority. This year the news is even worse: the percentage who said their organizations had a plan
dropped. Just 40 percent said yes, and about 8 percent90 respondentswerent sure if their nonprofit had
an IT plan.
TABLE 8: Percent Of Nonprofits With Established Technology Plan
Here, too, lines are drawn across organization sizes. Theres a direct, proportional relationship between the
size of the organization and whether or not it has a plan. Almost 60 percent of Very Large organizations did
and remember, such orgs were also more likely to be leaders. At the other end, just 14 percent of Small
organizations reported having a plan or strategy for technology.
Of organizations that identified as leaders, 64 percenta solid majoritysaid they had plans.
A full 71 percent of stragglers said they did not have a plan.
21
2007 2008 2009 2010
Yes
No
36%
64%
40%
60%
42%
58%
40%
60%
We have traditionally taken an
attitude of, If it is cheap we will use
it regardless of how well it meets
the organizations needs.
CHART 9: Size of Nonprofits with
Established Technology Plan in 2010
Return on Investment
We asked respondents whether their nonprofit had ever evaluated the Return On Investment (ROI) from
IT projects or programs. A large number (176) didnt know. Of the rest, about 26 percent said they had, and
about three-quarters had not. These percentages were almost identical to last years report.
As organizations increase in size, so does the likelihood that
theyve evaluated their ROI. Just 15 percent of Small orgs had
done so, compared to 38 percent of Very Large orgs.
Those organizations that evaluated their ROI for IT
expenditures were much more likely to be leaders
44 percent, compared to just 17 percent of stragglers.
With less than half of IT leaders analyzing ROI, evaluation
is an area in which mostif not allorganizations can
improve.
22
Are you nuts? All our IT is
donated. We spend all of our
money serving our clients. In what
world would we waste it on
evaluating IT?
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
14%
28%
43%
59%
Small Medium Large Very
Large
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
64%
29%
CHART 10: Leaders vs. Stragglers with
Established Technology Plan in 2010
Yes My Nonprot Has A Technology Plan Yes My Nonprot Has A Technology Plan
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
15%
18%
23%
38%
Small Medium Large Very
Large
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
44%
17%
CHART 12: Leaders vs. Stragglers
Examining IT ROI in 2010
CHART 11: Size of Nonprofits Examining
ROI In 2010
Leaders Stragglers
Leaders Stragglers
Yes My Nonprot Has Examined
our IT Return on Investment
Yes My Nonprot Has Examined
our IT Return on Investment
23
Some of the respondents comments for this question
included the following remarks.
Leaders said:
Communications regularly provides reports on IT.
There is an annual communications plan which
includes IT. There is an annual staff plan for email
and server needs by our IT contractor.
Each major expense and upgrade is assessed
thoroughly.
Yes, but in an informal waythere have been plenty
of discussions but no formal process.
Since our main investment is time, I think we are doing well.
The Advancement Department analyzes ROI on the IT-related projects/investments we consider
that are under our direct management.
We perform and request ROI studies from vendor partners and use this as well as research.
Were always evaluating our use of technology and comparing it to the costs of acquisition or
maintenance.
Stragglers said:
Are you nuts? ALL our IT is donated. We spend ALL
of our money serving our clients. In what world
would we waste it on evaluating IT?
Due to budget challenges, we are in a hold-steady
mode regarding technology. Focus is to keep
everything as operational as possible, but with the
awareness that a major investment in infrastructure is needed to support operational growth.
Due to our current scramble, I dont expect to have time to evaluate usefulness for 1) two years or
2) we can afford two more FTE folks!
IT has always been an afterthought.
IT is seen like plumbingsomeone to call when it breaks.
The ROI evaluation happens in an ad-hoc way. There is not a comprehensive ROI assessment that
ties to the overall strategic goals for the org.
They ignore the results.
We have not conducted official IT evaluation. That said, from experience, we have seen how
devastating it can be when IT support and effective capacity is absent. As we mature as an
organization, our IT effectiveness becomes more and more critical.
We couldnt do what we do without technology. It saves me from having to hire personnel.
We keep ourselves apprised of
developments and best practice in
the nonprot technology world,
and implement new technologies
as appropriate. We aren't cutting
edge, but we're ahead of the
curve.
IT is seen like plumbing
someone to call when it breaks.
24
Outsourcing Responsibilities
Many nonprofits budgets cant support a full-time staff IT person. And even
when they can, its not always feasible for a single person to be up-to-date on
all aspects of technology. Whether its for a generalist or a specialist, outside
help can be a good way for nonprofits to bridge the IT gap.
IT consultants offer a broad range of services and expertise
in everything from setting up hardware and building
websites to customizing and integrating databases. We
asked respondents about their organizations relationship
with outsourcing IT. Similar to last year, about a quarter of
nonprofits who responded said they do not contract with an
outside IT consultant or firm. The majority, however, do:
35 percent said they used One Part-Time Consultant
20 percent said they used One Consulting Firm
15 percent said they used More Than One Firm
3 percent said they maintained a Full-Time Consultant for IT
CHART 11: Nonprofit Use of IT Consultants (N=1052)
What areas of technology are nonprofits outsourcing? According to our respondents, its a mix. Most
commonly outsourced IT functions were:
Website Hosting (81 percent), Website Design (69 percent) and Website Development (68 percent)
Telephone Services (68 percent)
Programming/Custom Software Development (62 percent)
We have outsourced so much of
our support that computers and
printers are dysfunctional for days
or weeks at a time.
More than 1
Consulting Firm
15%
No outside
Consultant
or Firm
27%
1 Part-Time
Consultant
35%
1 Full-Time
Consultant
3%
1 IT
Consulting
Firm
20%
25
IT functions least likely to be outsourced were:
Social Media (17 percent)
Website Content Management (31 percent)
Help Desk (32 percent)
There wasnt significant change in these areas compared to last years survey, with a few exceptionsthe
most notable was that half of our respondents are handling Security and Data Backup in-house this year, an
increase of 19 percent compared to last years respondents. Maybe the proliferation of online backup options
has contributed to that, since its easier than configuring redundant servers and the physical transfer of data
to offsite storage.
Slightly more orgs said they were outsourcing Telephone Services and Programming/Custom Software
Development than last year.
Slightly fewer orgs said they were outsourcing Database Hosting & Management, Hardware
Recommendations and Software Installations.
Because survey questions have evolved, its difficult to track longer-term trends for outsourcing, but as far
back as the first survey in 2006, almost all organizations outsourced at least a single aspect of technology.
The most commonly outsourced items were website hosting, telephone services, custom software
development and technical training for IT staff. Almost 4 percent of all organizations outsourced all, or a
majority, of their IT functions.
In the past, as in this years survey, leaders were no more likely to seek IT consulting services than stragglers.
This means that outsourcing IT has no bearing on your nonprofits IT leadership.
CHART 14: Use of IT Consulting Services by IT Leaders & Stragglers
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
71%
74%
Leaders Stragglers
Yes My Nonprot Uses an
External Consultant
26
TABLE 7: Changes in Nonprofit Outsourcing Practices 2009 to 2010
% Nonprots % Nonprots
Outsourcing This Outsourcing This
Aspect of IT Activity in 2009 Activity in 2010 Dierence
Web site hosting
Web site design
Web site development
Telephone services
Programming/custom software
development
Email hosting and maintenance
Hardware maintenance
Web site maintenance
Technical training for IT sta
Network administration/support
Hardware installation
Database hosting/maintenance
Security and backup
Software installation
Hardware recommendations
Technical training for
organizational sta
Software recommendations
Help desk
Web site content management
Social Media
81%
69%
70%
64%
66%
57%
53%
52%
64%
53%
50%
47%
70%
44%
42%
44%
42%
29%
30%
19%
81%
69%
68%
68%
62%
60%
55%
55%
64%
54%
53%
52%
51%
49%
46%
45%
44%
32%
31%
17%
0%
0%
-2%
4%
-4%
3%
2%
3%
0%
1%
3%
5%
-19%
5%
4%
1%
2%
3%
1%
2%
27
Organization of IT
With each years survey we try to better understand the contributing factors to
an organizations IT success. How your nonprofit treats IT seems to matter. We
ask respondents about the location of the department within the
organizationor if there is even an IT Departmentand who the IT director
reports to in an effort to better understand the relationship between IT
departments and IT success.
Location
Weve found that the location of the IT department says a lot
about how the organization views the departments role.
Organizations that understand the crucial role of technology
for their general mission are more likely to assign technology
a more deliberate place in the organizational structure.
In fact, among leaders, the majority reported standalone IT departmentsand with significantly more
frequency than stragglers. Just 2 percent of leaders said they had no one with official IT responsibility.
CHART 15: Location of IT in Organizations, Leaders and Stragglers
Our IT guy me
is remarkably under-qualied.
Within Marketing or
Communications
Within Finance
We have no one with ocial
IT responsibility
Separate IT department within
organization
Within general operations
or administration
Within Development or
Fundraising
Other
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
4%
6%
14%
8%
16%
2%
21%
43%
32%
30%
1%
1%
13%
9%
Leaders Stragglers
28
Among all our respondents:
Most orgs have either have Standalone IT Departments or place IT within General
Operations/Administration.
A full 12 percent said they had No One with Official IT Responsibility.
Another 12 percent said IT fits within the Finance department.
The remaining 17 percent places IT within Marketing or Communications, Development or Fundraising,
or some other department.
Among leaders, 43 percent said they had a standalone IT department, compared to just 21 percent of
stragglers. The only other scenario indicated by more leaders than stragglers was grouping IT functions
within the Marketing or Communications department (6 percent compared to 4 percent).
Grouped by size, with a majority of 58 percent, Very Large orgs were the most likely to have a separate IT
department. Among Medium and Large organizations, the largest percentages (42 percent and 34 percent)
reported grouping IT functions within General Operations or Administration. Among Small orgs, a slightly
higher percentage (37 percent) reported having no one with official IT responsibility than reported grouping
IT within General Operations or Administration.
These trends stand up over timewe began tracking the location of IT within an organization in our 2008
report. That year, the majority of leaders (46 percent) reported a standalone IT department, compared to 30
percent of stragglers. Leaders were least likely to group IT within Development and Fundraising, which
remains true. And stragglers were far more likely to have no one with official IT responsibility than leaders
(13 percent compared to 5 percent), which is even more true today (16 percent compared to 2 percent).
CHART 18: Location of IT Within Organization (N= 1174)
Within
Finance
12%
Other
11%
Within
Development or
Fundraising
1%
Within general
operations or
administration
31%
Separate IT
department
within
organization
28%
We have no
ocial IT
responsibility
12%
Within
Marketing or
Communications
5%
29
TABLE 8: Location of IT and Organization Size
Another way to look at this area is by staffing size. Generally, the more staff an organization has, the greater
the likelihood it has a separate IT department. Organizations with greater than 80 people were most likely to
report having a separate IT department, while orgs with between two and 80 people were mostly to report
that their IT is housed within General Operations or Administration.
TABLE 9: Location of IT and Staffing Size
Those respondents that selected Other reported the following:
I am the internal point person for office IT management, software and hardware. I had no formal
training and have learned as I went along. All CPUs in our office were five-plus years old and were
neglected in basic maintenance and safety features.
IT Director reports to CFO, everyone else reports to someone else at the third-party company. So IT
Director doesnt technically manage the IT staffits a nightmare.
Other
Within Development
or Fundraising
Within general operations
or administration
Separate IT department
within organization
We have no one with
ocial IT responsibility
Within Finance
Within Marketing or
Communications
18%
1%
35%
5%
37%
0%
4%
16%
3%
42%
8%
15%
11%
6%
8%
1%
34%
28%
4%
22%
3%
9%
1%
15%
58%
1%
16%
1%
Number Of Full Within General Separate IT No One With Other
Time Equivalents Operations Or Department Ocial IT
Administration Responsibility
None/Less than 1 FTE
1 FTE
2 - 10 FTEs
11 - 20 FTEs
21 - 40 FTEs
41 - 80 FTEs
81 - 140 FTEs
141 - 200 FTEs
201 - 300 FTEs
301 - 500 FTEs
More than 500 FTEs
25.0%
21.1%
38.7%
44.6%
35.9%
35.0%
18.1%
24.5%
22.9%
16.0%
12.3%
0.0%
5.3%
5.2%
12.3%
16.9%
32.0%
40.5%
38.8%
56.3%
64.0%
73.8%
37.5%
42.1%
24.3%
11.5%
11.3%
2.0%
3.4%
6.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
37.5%
31.6%
31.7%
31.5%
35.9%
31.0%
37.9%
30.6%
20.8%
20.0%
13.8%
30
Product department (our organization is IT-based).
Combination of special projects, communications, and finance.
A director assumed responsibility, and oversees organizational planning.
Separate company does our ITa guy visits biweekly but is available upon request.
A volunteer committee.
Admin Assistant and contracted IT company.
Administrative Assistant with Tech Training.
As the director and only staff member, I do it.
Board and key staffengage outside consultant when absolutely necessary.
Board communications committee.
Board member.
Consultantas needed.
Current ED gets very involved.
Director of Library/Archives.
ED and Board.
External consultant and a volunteer.
Facilities and Grounds.
Human Resources.
It is part of the job of our 2nd employee.
Supervision of IT
Another way to determine the roles and responsibilities of an IT Department is to examine who the IT
Director reports to in an organization. For the majority of our
respondents, the IT Director or equivalent reports directly to
the Executive Director (39 percent), followed by:
Other (21 percent)
Administrative Director/Chief Operating Officer
(20 percent)
Chief Financial Officer (17 percent)
Another 3 percent said they did not know.
Last years survey was the first to ask this question, and the numbers looked similar. A majority (35 percent)
said their IT Director or equivalent reported to their Executive Director, and the rest were as follows:
Administrative Director/Chief Operating Officer (22 percent)
Other (19 percent)
Chief Financial Officer (18 percent)
The largest percentage of both leader (37 percent) and straggler (40 percent) organizations said their IT
directors reported to their Executive Directors, followed by:
Administrative Director/COO, Chief Financial Officer and Other, in that order, for leaders.
Other, Administrative Director/COO and Chief Financial Officer, in that order, for stragglers.
The nance director who oversees
IT doesnt even own a TV at her
home.
CHART 17: Who Does Your IT Director Report To in Your Nonprofit? (N= 1162)
CHART 18: Who Does Your IT Director Report To in Your Nonprofit?
Comparison of Leaders and Stragglers
31
Other
I dont know
Executive DIrector
CFO
Administrative Director/COO
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
22%
17%
4%
3%
40%
37%
16%
18%
Leaders Stragglers
18%
25%
Other
21% I dont know
3%
Administrative
Director/COO
20%
CFO
17%
Executive
Director
39%
Respondents who selected Other reported the following:
Academic Dean and VP
Agency head
All staff are responsible for IT management.
Associate Director
Board
Board Chair
Business Manager
Chair
Chief Academic Officer
Chief Officer for Facilities and Operations
Chief Quality and Safety Officer
CIO
Communications Director
Congregational Services Coordinator
Controller
Development & Marketing Director
Director of Evaluation and Technology
Director of Human Resources
Director of Membership
Director of Programs
Director, Marketing & Communications (Because it is a good personality match)
Editorial Director (Because IT director is also responsible for Web site execution, Ed Director is
responsible for online content)
Executive Director is the IT director
Founder
Institutional Assessment
Office Manager
Pastor of Administration
Planner
Principal and Vice Principal
Probably the college president
32
33
Satisfaction with IT Functions
We asked our respondents to rank their satisfaction with a number of IT
functions to see if any trends emerged. Organizations were most satisfied
with:
The Hardware and Software they were using at their nonprofit organization
The Availability of IT Staff to meet their needs
They were least satisfied with:
The Quality of IT Training they were receiving
The IT Budget Allocations available to them
CHART 19: Satisfaction Among Nonprofits In 2010
Across the board, there was little change from last years survey, which was the first year we asked about
this topic. The bright spot is that the areas that did show change all showed improvement. The most
occurred in two areas, Availability to Meet Client Needs and Organizations Website. Both showed about a 4
percent increase in satisfaction. No area showed a decrease, but one areaIT Budget Allocationsstayed the
same.
Organizations appear to be happy with their websites, and feel they are better able to meet their clients
needs.
Quality of IT Training for Sta
IT Budget allocations
Integration of IT into strategic plan
IT Recruiting procedures
Availability to meet client needs
Organizations website
Availability to meet sta needs
Hardware and software in use
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
44% 29%
45% 28%
38% 25%
33% 30%
27% 26%
23% 28%
25% 25%
21%
27%
27%
37%
37%
47%
49%
50%
51%
Satised Neutral Dissatised
28%
34
TABLE 10: Changes in Nonprofit Satisfaction 2009 to 2010
Among leaders and stragglers, heres what we found.
Leaders were:
Most satisfied with Hardware and Software in Use, Availability to Meet Staff Needs, Availability to Meet
Client Needs, and Integration of IT into Strategic Plan.
Least satisfied with Quality of Training for IT Staff, IT Budget Allocations, IT Recruiting Procedures, and
their Organizations Website.
Stragglers were:
Most satisfied with their Organizations Website, Hardware and Software, and Availability to Meet Staff
Needs.
Least satisfied with their IT Budget Allocations followed by Quality of IT Training for Staff, Integration of
IT Into Strategic Plan, and IT Recruiting Procedures.
In no category did leaders satisfaction fall below 50 percent. Conversely, in no category did stragglers
satisfaction rise above 41 percent.
In general, leaders and stragglers were most and least satisfied with the same categories, with one notable
exception: Integration of IT into Strategic Plan. This area showed the most disparity between leaders and
stragglers satisfaction. Combined with the earlier finding that 64 percent of leaders said their organizations
had a formal strategic plan for technology, this suggests that planning is key to both leadership and
satisfaction.
% Nonprots % Nonprots
Aspect of IT Satised in 2009 Satised in 2010 Dierence
Organization's website
Quality of IT training for sta
49%
48%
45%
42%
35%
35%
27%
26%
51%
50%
49%
47%
37%
37%
27%
27%
+3%
+2%
+4%
+4%
+2%
+2%
0%
+1%
35
CHART 20: Percentage of Leaders and Stragglers Satisfied With IT in 2010
CHART 21: Percent of Nonprofits Satisfied By Organizational Size
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
80%
38%
Hardware
and
software
in use
77%
37%
Availability
to meet
sta needs
64%
41%
Organizations
website
74%
33%
Availability
to meet
client needs
58%
25%
IT
Recruiting
procedures
70%
22%
Integration
of IT into
strategic
plan
55%
14%
IT Budget
allocations
50%
17%
Quality of
IT training
for sta
Leaders Stragglers
Quality of IT training for sta
Organizations website
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
34%
24%
23%
17%
40%
27%
24%
12%
50%
41%
30%
23%
43%
43%
20%
31%
60%
51%
44%
26%
59%
43%
49%
40%
65%
57%
43%
22%
69%
48%
37%
44%
36
In general, the larger the organization, the greater the satisfaction. Very Large organizations were
significantly more likely to be satisfied with Hardware and Software in Use than organizations of any other
size, and at least twice as likely to be satisfied as Small organizations with every function except the
Organizations Website, which showed the least disparity (59 percent compared to 40 percent).
Respondents comments revealed a little more detail about the areas in which respondents felt their
organizations IT teams were succeeding, or failing. They included the following:
Leaders:
Good tech funding and tech focus.
[We] have added EMR and Social Media. Computers and networking is up to date.
Maintain newest hardware and software. Using cloud computing.
We've designed a Drupal CMS which inspired all leaders to take classes in SEO and writing for the web
so they can maintain their own pages. We're using crowdsourcing to engage our grassroots
membership. We're using webinars and social networking to promote civic engagement and advocacy.
Stragglers:
We excel at cloud computing, but we are behind in
hardware and need maintenance for our
organization.
Inadequate website, late to get updates on
software/hardware.
We don't even have a server. Help!
System assessment determined systems were from the 1980's, with no capabilities for upgrading.
Old technology including hardware and software. Havent adopted any social networking.
Our phones do not have an easily accessible voicemail system or caller ID, and the internet/email
system is often painfully slow. They have done a good job, however, with installing
videoconferencing capabilities.
Our website looks like hell!
No WiFi, old computers, just not up-to-date in general.
Outdated website, in-house server, weak IT support. Still using MS Outlook.
We don't even have a server.
Help!
37
IT Staffing
We asked respondents to share information about their organizations IT staff.
Of those who said they had at least one full-time IT staffer in each of the
following positions, we asked them for the average annual salary for the
person. (Since CEOs make up a large proportion of our survey respondents,
weve also included their salary information):
The highest-paid position is CEO ($101,982), followed by CIO ($97,250), Information Architect ($85,312)
and IT Director ($75,211).
Those were the only positions averaging more than $70,000 per year, followed closely by
Programmers ($69,843).
The lowest-paid positions were IT Support Staff ($41,751), Online Communications Manager ($52,777)
and Online Community Manager ($56,590).
We also asked about the tenure for each positionhow long has the person in that job been there? Heres
what respondents told us:
CEO (8 years), CIO (7 years), and Information
Architect, IT Director and Systems Administrator (6.5
years) held the longest tenure, followed closely by
Programmersmore or less in-line with the highest-
salaried positions.
Online Communications Manager (3 years) and Online
Community Manager (3.5 years) held the briefest
tenures, more or less in-line with the lowest-salaried positions.
Pay ranges vary geographically. A position in Los Angeles might pay more than the same position in
Cincinnati. This diversity makes it difficult to draw conclusions about salary trends, as two people answering
the same question a year apart in different parts of the country might show an artificial decrease in salary
attributable to geographic location.
We have one person whos hyper
web-savvy.
TABLE 11: IT Staffing Salary and Tenure 2010
Percentage of Budget
We learned in the Outsourcing section that 283 nonprofits chose to handle IT entirely in-house and not
contract any IT needs to outside consultants. We asked them how much of their IT budgets were dedicated
to staffing. Just 122 respondents shared both their IT staffing budget and overall IT budget, making any
conclusions we draw somewhat unreliable. However, heres what we found:
Organizations of all sizes devoted an average of
55 percent of their IT Budget to staffing.
Medium orgs devoted the largest percentage (72
percent), followed by Large (67 percent), Very Large
(54 percent) and Small (41 percent).
Among organizations of all sizes, the median budget
for IT staffing was $50,000, and the average was
$218,000.
Among Small organizations, the median budget for IT
staffing was $0, but the average was about $13,000.
(Respondents remarks showed that a number of Small organizations dont have a dedicated IT
person on the books, or share their IT responsibilities with other positions, departments, or
organizations, which accounts for the disparity between these numbers.)
On the whole, leaders spent four times as much as stragglers on IT staffing, regardless of size. Thats a pretty
clear message.
38
1 Participants were asked to provide the average salary for each position at their organization. Salaries
were reported as a range and these results reect a weighted average using the midpoint.
2 Participants were asked to provide the average length of tenure for each position at their organization.
Tenure was reported as a range and these results reect a weighted average using the midpoint.
Number of Average Annual Average Years
IT Position Responses Salary
1
Of Tenure
2
CEO
CIO
Information Architect
IT Director
Programmer
Systems Administrator
Web Developer
Webmaster
Database Manager
Online Community Manager
Online Communications Manager
IT Support Sta
425
60
16
177
32
142
31
78
80
22
54
127
$101,982
$97,250
$85,312
$75,211
$69,843
$60,422
$60,241
$59,038
$57,375
$56,590
$52,777
$41,751
8
7
6.5
6.5
6
6.5
4
5
5.5
3.5
3
4.5
[We have a] proactive sta that
sees the benet of staying fairly
current on technology and how it
helps the entire organization be
more productive.
TABLE 12: Staffing Expenditures for Nonprofits Who Provide Their Own IT Support
CHART 22: Median Budget Dedicated To IT Staffing (N=120)
Staffing Ratios
Among organizations of all sizes, staffing ratiosthe proportion of IT staff to total staffdidnt change much
from last years report, and averaged one IT staffer to every 34 staffers. Broken down by size:
Small orgs averaged one IT staffer to every 24 staffers.
Medium orgs averaged one IT staffer to every 22 staffers.
Large orgs averaged one IT staffer to every 32 staffers.
Very Large orgs averaged one IT staffer to every 45 staffers.
Across organizations of all sizes, leaders averaged almost five IT staffers, while stragglers averaged about
three. The ratio of IT staffers to total staffers was one to 30 for leaders, and one to 37 for stragglers.
39
$90,000
$80,000
$70,000
$60,000
$50,000
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
$0
$20,000
$80,000
Leader Straggler
Size of Number of Median Budget Average Budget % Of IT Budget
Nonprot Responses For IT Stang For IT Stang Allocated To
Expenditures Expenditures Stang
Small
Medium
Large
Very Large
All Respondents
36
34
24
28
122
$0
$29,500
$80,000
$382,726
$50,000
$13,025
$35,704
$98,095
$805,715
$218,009
41.28%
72.15%
66.82%
53.75%
55.05%
40
TABLE 11: Staffing Ratios For Nonprofits Who Provide Their Own IT Support
CHART 21: Average Number of IT Staff For Leaders And Stragglers
Size of Number of Average IT Average Total Average Ratio IT
Nonprot Responses Sta Size Sta Size To Total Sta
Small
Medium
Large
Very Large
All Respondents
36
34
24
28
122
$0
$29,500
$80,000
$382,726
$50,000
$13,025
$35,704
$98,095
$805,715
$218,009
41.28%
72.15%
66.82%
53.75%
55.05%
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
4.61
2.82
Stragglers Leaders
IT Recruiting
Nearly half of our survey respondents (44 percent) held positions at their
nonprofit in which they were responsible for recruiting or hiring IT
professionals, a comparable percentage to last years survey. We asked them
what methods they use in their positions to recruit new hires, where they find
them, and what they look for in a good IT staffer.
Electronic Recruiting of IT Professionals
Just 14 percent of respondents said their organization does
not advertise IT positions online, and another 10 percent did
not know. Of those who do post such jobs electronically, 46
percent said they post them to their organizations own
website, up a few points from last year, followed distantly by
Craigslist (23 percent) and Idealist.org (13 percent), neither of
which changed much in popularity since last year.
NTEN, Tech Soup and DICEs websites were next, each earning 4 percent of the responses, followed by
Opportunity Knocks and Progressive Exchange.
TABLE 14: Common Websites Used to Advertise Nonprofit IT Jobs
Other popular websites mentioned in respondents comments were:
CareerBuilder.com
Monster.com
Local Newspapers and Job Boards
Regional Job Sites
Mailing lists
Very few responses indicated social media sites, but Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were each mentioned by
at least one respondent.
41
We were in great need, but now
have an amazing part-time staer
with these skills.
Website % 2009 Nonprots % 2010 Nonprots
Their Own Nonprots Website
Craigslist
Idealist.org
NTEN
DICE
TechSoup
Opportunity Knocks
Progressive Exchange
Developers.net
Computerwork.com
Justtechjobs.com
43%
23%
14%
7%
5%
5%
3%
1%
0%
0%
1%
46%
23%
13%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
0%
0%
0%
42
Recruiting Tactics for IT Professionals
We asked if nonprofits were targeting any particular recruiting or retention practices toward IT professionals,
and what we heard was very similar to what we heard last year. Of the 800 survey respondents who
answered this question, the majority (58 percent) reported not doing anything differently for IT staff.
Of those who did report IT-focused recruiting techniques, the most commonly cited were to offer:
A Higher IT Pay Scale than other staff (90)
IT Staff Telecommuting (37)
Other options cited included:
Alternative and Flexible Work Schedules
Establishing a Trial or Probationary Period
Paying for Ongoing Professional Development Opportunities
Hiring Considerations for IT
We also asked survey respondents what skill set their orgs are looking for in their employees. Among both
leaders and stragglers:
Past experience with Technology, Fit with Organizational Culture and Attitude/Personality were the most
important.
Past Training/Certificates, Prior Work in a Nonprofit Setting and a Degree/Formal Education were least
important.
Its safe to say nonprofit organizations want experienced people who will mesh with existing staff.
CHART 24: Most Important Considerations by Nonprofits in Hiring IT Staff
Fit with organizational Culture
Attitude/Personality
Past Tech Experience
Prior work in nonprot setting
Past Training/Certicates
Degree/Formal Education
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Stragglers Leaders
85
80
84
78
91
83
36
41
47
46
34
29
43
Respondent remarks for this question included the following:
(We have a) lack of knowledgeable staff to handle new IT capabilities.
Small staff, lack of emphasis on social networking.
We need knowledgeable personnel.
Staff capacity and finances are limiting.
Staffing levels, some reluctance to change.
Staff capabilities are a concern.
44
Appendix
Survey Text and Questions
1. How would you describe your organization's IT adoption?
K Leading edge/early adopter
K Fast follower
K Average
K Lagging behind
K In trouble
K I don't know
2. What factors contribute to that self-assessment?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Please indicate how satisfied you are in each of the following areas:
Not at all Extremely Dont Know
Satisfied 1 2 3 4 Satisfied or N/A
IT recruiting process used K K K K K K
by your organization
Quality of IT training K K K K K K
provided to your staff
Integration of IT into your K K K K K K
organization's strategic plan
Availability of IT to respond K K K K K K
to your staff needs
Availability of IT to respond K K K K K K
to your client needs
Quality of hardware/software K K K K K K
in use by your organization
Quality of your organization's K K K K K K
web site
Amount of total organization K K K K K K
budget allocated to IT
45
4. How would you describe your current IT staffing condition?
K Inadequately staffed
K Adequately staffed
K Overstaffed
5. Please provide comments if you wish to explain your ratings above:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Does your organization have a formal, organization-wide technology plan or strategy?
K Yes
K No
K Not sure
K Other
7. Where is the responsibility for IT primarily located in your organization?
K We have no one with official IT responsibility
K Within Finance department
K Within Marketing or Communications departments Part of general operations or administration
K Part of Development/Fundraising
K Separate IT department within organization
K Other (please specify)
8. Who does the IT Director or person responsible for IT report to?
K Executive Director
K Administrative Director/COO
K CFO
K I don't know
K Other Other (please specify)
46
9. Has your organization ever evaluated the return on investment from IT projects or programs?
K Yes
K No
K I don't know
10. Please provide any comments if you wish to explain your responses:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
11. How many people, excluding consultants, are on your payroll who are, in any way, responsible
for supporting or maintaining information technology in your organization?
Please consider part-time staff in Full Time Equivalents (FTEs).
K None K 11-13 FTEs
K Less than one full-time person K 14-16 FTEs
K About one full-time person K 17-19 FTEs
K 2-4 FTEs K 20-22 FTEs
K 5-7 FTEs K More than 22 FTEs
K 8-10 FTEs
12. What is the average tenure of your IT staff? If you do not have dedicated IT staff, indicate the
average tenure for all staff responsible for technology support and maintenance.
K Less than 6 months
K 6 months to 1 year
K 1 to 3 years
K 3 to 5 years
K 5 to 10 years
K More than 10 years
K I don't know
47
13. What is the percentage of your IT STAFF assigned to particular functions? 0% 10% 20% 30%
40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Networking
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Networking K K K K K K K K K K K
Application Development K K K K K K K K K K K
Program Support K K K K K K K K K K K
Helpdesk/Desktop Support K K K K K K K K K K K
Application Administration K K K K K K K K K K K
IT Management K K K K K K K K K K K
End-user Training K K K K K K K K K K K
Telecom/Audio-Visual K K K K K K K K K K K
Knowledge Managementl K K K K K K K K K K K
Web site K K K K K K K K K K K
Online Communications K K K K K K K K K K K
Social Media K K K K K K K K K K K
14. Does your organization work with an outside consultant or provider firm to support
K No, we do not use an outside consultant or firm
K Yes, less than one full time consultant
K Yes, about one full time consultant
K Yes, one consulting firm/organization
K Yes, more than one consulting firm/organization
K I don't know
48
15. What are your organization's IT outsourcing practices?
Not Partially Completely Cloud (where
Outsourced Outsourced Outsourced applicable as an option)
Technical training for IT staff K K K K
Technical training for K K K K
organizational staff
Network administration/ K K K K
support
Security and backup K K K K
Website design K K K K
Website development K K K K
Website hosting K K K K
Website maintenance K K K K
Website content management K K K K
Database hosting/maintenance K K K K
Hardware recommendations K K K K
Software recommendations K K K K
Hardware installation K K K K
Software installation K K K K
Hardware maintenance K K K K
Programming/custom K K K K
software development
Telephone services K K K K
Email hosting and maintenance K K K K
Help desk K K K K
Social Media K K K K
16. Please provide comments if you wish to explain your responses:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
49
17. How many office locations does your organization maintain?
K 1 K 9 to 15
K 2 to 4 K More than 15
K 5 to 8 K I dont know
18. How many TOTAL staff are employed by your organization? Please consider part-time staff in
Full Time Equivalents (FTEs).
K None K 121-14-3 FTEs
K Less than one full-time person K 141-180 FTEs
K About one full-time person K 181-200 FTEs
K 2-4 FTEs K 201-300 FTEs
K 11-20 FTEs K 301-400 FTEs
K 21-40 FTEs K 401-500 FTEs
K 41-80 FTEs K More than 50 FTEs
K 81-100 FTEs K I dont know
K 101-120 FTEs
19. What is your organization's TOTAL annual budget? Please report the budget for the entire
organization (including all office locations). Please round to the nearest whole dollar.
K I don't know
K Budget $ _________________________________________________________________________________
20. We are interested in learning more about the portion of your annual organizational budget
that pertains to IT expenditures. Please report on the IT budget for the entire organization
(including all office locations). Round to the nearest dollar.
IT Staffing expenses _______________________________________
IT Contracts with outside consultants/firms ___________________
Software or Cloud services
Discretionary IT expenditures _______________________________
Total IT Budget ___________________________________________
50
21. Please indicate whether there has been any change between the last fiscal year (2009) and the
current fiscal year (2010) in your actual expenses for:
Decreased Stayed the same Increased I dont know
Outsourced IT consulting K K K K
Technical training for IT Staff K K K K
Technical training for other staff K K K K
Hardware K K K K
Software K K K K
IT staffing/payroll K K K K
Website design/development K K K K
Website maintenance K K K K
Telephone/mobile K K K K
CRM/database development K K K K
Other custom software development K K K K
Network administration/support K K K K
Security and backup K K K K
Help desk support K K K K
22. Please provide comments if you wish to explain your responses.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
51
23. We are interested in learning more about the IT staff that work in your organization. For the
following positions, please tell us how many employees you have with that title, the average
salary for that position, and the average tenure for your staff in that position.
# FTE Staff Average Salary Average Tenure
Outsourced IT consulting
______________ ______________ ______________
System/Network Administrator
______________ ______________ ______________
IT/Technology Director
______________ ______________ ______________
Chief Technology/Information Officer
______________ ______________ ______________
Webmaster/Web Administrator
______________ ______________ ______________
Online Communications Manager
______________ ______________ ______________
Online Community Manager
______________ ______________ ______________
Database Manager
______________ ______________ ______________
Information Architect
______________ ______________ ______________
Programmer
______________ ______________ ______________
Web developer
______________ ______________ ______________
PC Tech/IT Support Staff
______________ ______________ ______________
24. Is recruiting or hiring IT staff part of your job description?
K Yes
K No
25. Which websites do you use to electronically post position openings for IT Staff?
K Own organization's web site K Developers.net
K NTEN K Computerwork.com
K Idealist K Justtechjobs.com
K Craigslist K Opportunity Knocks
K DICE K We do not post positions electronically
K TechSoup K I don't know
K Progressive Exchange
K Other (please specify) ______________________________________________________________________
52
26. Are there differences in the recruitment/retention practices for your IT staff as compared to
those of your other staff? Check all that apply.
K No difference
K Higher pay scale than for other staff
K Lower pay scale than for other staff
K Higher salary increases than other staff
K Lower salary increases than other staff
K Interval between salary increases shorter than for other staff
K Interval between salary increases longer than for other staff
K Special bonuses or incentives
K Telecommuting
K I don't know
27. How important are the following considerations for hiring IT staff?
1 (least important) 2 3 4 5 (most important)
Technical training for IT staff K K K K K
Degree or formal education K K K K K
Past training or certifications K K K K K
Past experience in nonprofit K K K K K
work environment
Past experience in technology K K K K K
Personality or attitude K K K K K
Candidate's fit with K K K K K
organization's culture
28. Does your organization provide technology training for your staff?
K Yes
K No
53
29. Which of the following are used for staff technology training? Check all that apply
K Staff trainers
K External trainers, including training centers
K Online training
K Staff are expected to train on their own (read manuals, etc.)
30. How satisfied are you with the IT training available to your organization and staff? Very
satisfied Somewhat satisfied
K Very satisfied
K Somewhat satisfied
K Somewhat unsatisfied
K Very unsatisfied
31. What is the PRIMARY issue area of your organization?
K Arts, Culture, Humanities K Recreation and Sports
K Education K Youth Development
K Environment K Human Services
K Animal-related K International, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights
K Health Care K Civil Rights, Social Action, and Advocacy
K Mental Health and Crisis Intervention K Community Improvement and Capacity Building
K Diseases, Disorders, and Medical Disciplines K Philanthropy, Volunteerism, Grantmaking
K Medical Research K Foundations
K Crime and Legal-related K Science and Technology
K Employment K Public and Societal Benefit
K Housing and Shelter K Religion-related
K Diseases, Disorders, and Medical Disciplines K Mutual and Membership Benefit
K Public Safety, Disaster Preparedness and Relief
54
32. Where is your organization located? If more than one location, select your headquarters
location.
K Northeastern US
K Southeastern US
K Mid-Atlantic US
K Midwestern US
K Southwestern US
K Western US
K US Territory
K Outside US
33. What is your job title (please choose the one closest to yours)?
K Executive Director/CEOs K Information Architect
K Systems or Network Administrator K Programmer
K IT Director/Technology Director K Web Developer
K Chief Technology Officer/Chief Information Officer K PC Technician or IT Support Staff
K Webmaster/Web Administrator K Circuit Rider
K Online Communications Manager/Strategist K Project Manager
K Online Community Manager K Program Analyst
K Database Manager
34. What is your gross annual salary (range)?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
55
35. What is your highest level of education?
K High School
K Some College
K Bachelor of Arts
K Bachelor of Science
K Masters of Arts
K Masters of Science
K Ph.D. or equivalent
If you would like to be entered to win a $250 Amazon.com gift certificate, please share your contact
information below.
36. Your contact information:
First Name ____________________________________________________________________________________
Last Name ____________________________________________________________________________________
Organization __________________________________________________________________________________
Email Address _________________________________________________________________________________
Phone Number ________________________________________________________________________________

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