From Obstacles to Opportunities, Version 1.0: Six Interlocking Elements of Strategic Technology Gran

Executive Summary

Foundations have made substantial and successful investments into nonprofit use of technology. Despite this, there still is not widespread and strategic adoption and integration of technology in the nonprofit sector. Many funders we spoke with acknowledged that much technology-related grantmaking has been piecemeal – focused on hardware or software or on isolated initiatives that fail to anticipate critical aspects of implementation and sustainability. In addition, most foundations have not collaborated with other grantmakers on technology projects, substantially limiting the opportunity to leverageinvestments for wider impact.

Few would deny that foundations have tremendous influence on their grantees and on the sector as a whole. However, as grantmakers and others we spoke with reiterated again and again, foundations will realize more success if they re-assess and change how they consider and support technology. A shift from traditional grantmaking approaches to an approach that takes into consideration infrastructure, mission, and human and organizational capacity will result in funders being more effective in their technology-related grantmaking.

This study discusses what some foundations, intermediaries and nonprofits feel are the core challenges in the current technology-related funding environment. It aims to facilitate deeper understanding about different types of technology-related grantmaking; to stimulate further questioning about the practice of nonprofit technology funding; to inform the work of individual grantmakers in their quest to be more strategic in their funding; and to encourage increased sharing of ideas between funders to identify strategies for appropriate collaboration.

Given the complexity of the issues related to funding technology and the pace of activity in the field, it is virtually impossible to document the good work being done in this area –especially since so much technology support is embedded into programmatic and capacity building grantmaking. Our study only scratches the surface of the learning necessary to support more strategic investments. As such, we consider this report “Version 1.0”, and hope it provides a foundation for subsequent editions.

This sixty-one page report has sections that include: background on the issue, what the future holds, challenges and problems associated with technology-related grantmaking within foundations, resources, a bibliography and methodlology. One section, entitled "Technology-Related Grantmaking Taxonomy," begins with the fact that "there currently exists no single definition of technology-related grantmaking, and this makes it very difficult to inventory the real level of investment in nonprofit use of technology."

The report also identifies six core elements of technology-related grantmaking and indicates that there is a shift away from hardware/software-based or technology-driven grantmaking "to a more holistic approach." Below are six "interrelated elements of strategic technology-related grantmaking" which form the framework for this holistic approach. The idea behind this approach is that together the six elements can help grantmakers improve their impact.

1. Determined Leadership – the vision and fortitude to promote and support appropriate mission-driventechnology use and innovation.
2. Active Learning – assessment and evaluation that drives nonprofit technology grantmaking, support anduse.
3. Dynamic Collaboration – nonprofits, intermediaries and funders working together to leverageexperience and resources.
4. Strategic Technology Use – appropriate, mission-based use of technology.
5. Holistic Infrastructure – servers, processors, software, networks – AND the people and skills tomake it all work.
6. Effective Intermediaries – people, organisations and services that support nonprofit use of technology.

Click here for the full report in PDF format