Nonprofits Serving Technology Needs of Communities of Color

After being awarded a 2005 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Philanthropy and Volunteerism grant, TechSoup embarked on a study to better understand the needs of nonprofits serving communities of color and to determine how our Web site, services, and outreach strategies could be adapted and enhanced to better meet those needs.

The report, which can be downloaded in its entirety below, contains the following key findings:

1. Technology is viewed as culturally neutral.
   Overall, nonprofits experience the same sort of technology issues regardless of the communities they serve. In addition, most respondents regard the technology products they use as relatively culturally unbiased, especially when it comes to use within the organization. "Technology is used by our staff, not clients; cultural relevance is not an issue," said one respondent.
2. Resources impact attitudes toward technology more than ethnicity.
   A nonprofit's budget, size, staff expertise, organizational focus, constituents' income, and geographical location all have a far greater impact on how technology is used within the organization than does constituents' ethnic background.
3. Certain cultural considerations can help nonprofits develop technology and provide technological assistance to communities of color.
   The study found that nonprofits could better serve their constituents through technology by providing ongoing support and building meaningful relationships, tailoring their approach and message to the targeted community, and taking into account the needs of multilingual constituents or those for whom English is a second language.
4. Software, hardware, and fundraising are high priorities among nonprofits serving communities of color.
   Software reviews and resources (including database products and accounting), hardware, and fundraising information are the most popular technology-related online search topics among survey participants.
5. Ethnic focus doesn't impact sites visited.
   The top Web destinations for technology assistance, service, or products are consistent across cultural lines, with manufacturer and retailer sites and TechSoup emerging as the most popular.
6. Nonprofits rely most heavily on government Web sites for non-technology-related assistance and services for communities of color.
   These sites were not necessarily focused on communities of color themselves but on the issues they faced; when not frequenting government sites, organizations reported relying on peers, rather than central news portals, for information.
7. TechSoup articles, Stock popular among nonprofits serving communities of color.
   Survey respondents reported that the TechSoup features they used most frequently were the articles and TechSoup Stock, followed by e-newsletter By the Cup.
8. Other TechSoup services used less frequently.
   The study found that nonprofits serving communities of color are less familiar with other TechSoup services, such as Healthy and Secure Computing (HSC), toolkits, and online forums.
9. TechSoup's services are relevant to needs, but not always immediately useful.
   A majority of respondents note that TechSoup's products and services are relevant to their nonprofits' technology needs, but some also reported delays in implementing them. This could be attributed to a number of factors, including limited staff resources, a lack of customization, or ordering and processing slowdowns.
10. Suggested improvements for TechSoup organizational, procedural rather than cultural.
    When asked to share what would make TechSoup services more culturally relevant, a vast majority of interviewees and survey respondents focused on TechSoup Stock. Suggestions included streamlining the registration, ordering, and payment processes; reaching out to and creating more inclusive eligibility requirements for faith-based organizations, rural organizations, schools, and libraries; and providing more language options on the site. TechSoup hopes to resolve many of these issues through a variety of customer-service improvements.

This report was supported by a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Philanthropy and Volunteerism grant .