NNIC - ICT Survey Results
18 June 2007 at 4:06 pm
A clear majority of Not for Profits in Australia support the idea of a National Nonprofit Coalition according to a recent online survey that also highlights real concern that Not for Profits are not getting the most out of their existing systems.
As part of the recently released report into a model for the ICT coalition, researchers carried out an online survey of 900 organisations.
Of those who took part, 73% agreed that that the concept of an NNIC was a good idea compared with 3.7% who didn’t.
Responses were received from organisations working in all areas of non-profit activity, but the highest representation was from the categories of: Community Development (16.7%), Business and Professional Organisations (16.1%), Disability Services (13.1%), Service, Sports and Social Clubs (10.8%), Older People (10.1%), Youth Services and Welfare (9.7%), Family Services (9.1%), Employment and Training (8.5%), Child Care and Child Services (8.3%).
The survey found there is a strong desire to get hands-on experience or at least better exposure to new technologies.
The survey also breaks down the state of Not for Profit ICT. Here’s a snapshot:
NFPs with annual revenues of up to $1 million commonly spend between $5000 and $10,000 annually on computers, software and support.
Small NFPs (less that $250,000) however, commonly spend from zero-dollars to $1000 on IT training annually, medium NFPs ( ($250,000-$1million) spend between $1000 and $2000 and large organisations (greater than $1million) most commonly spend around $10,000 on training.
Around one quarter of all those surveyed described their rate of technology adoption as ‘average’ while 13% of large NFPs described their up-take as ‘leading edge’. Around 18% of all those surveyed believe they ‘lag behind’.
The majority of organisations across the board use software for accounting purposes. Between 30-50% use software for client management and more than half used software for membership/CRM.
Interestingly less than 10% of all small to medium organisations used software for fundraising purposes. For large NFPs this rose to 20%.
The survey found that some 70% of Not for Profits are connected to the Internet via ADSL.
Not surprisingly, more than 96% of organisations use email, between 60% (medium sized NFPs) -80% (large NFPs) use online banking and just over half of all those surveyed use the Internet for research.
Buying goods and services on line varies widely between small 44% (small NFPs) and 64% (large NFPs).
Fundraising online remains relatively low with between 6% (annual income between $250,000 and $1million) and 17.3% (greater than $1million) using this facility.
New technologies including videoconferencing, low cost calls using VoIP, blogs and podcasting average at around 11% for Not for Profits across all sizes.
Some 14% of all small organisations surveyed still do not have a website while 7% of large organisations also do not have a website.
The online survey results are contained in the Report on a Model for a National Nonprofit ICT Coalition.
