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Exploring the state of the industry’s digital-first transformation
The last few years have been full of changes, and no one could’ve predicted how the nonprofit sector would be affected, much less respond.
From shifting to a remote/hybrid workforce to exploring new ways of reaching stakeholders and constituents, for nonprofits to accomplish their goals in 2022, it is nothing short of a herculean effort. While pain points persist, nonprofits’ have survived these years of the pandemic and are adapting with a leaner, more fluid approach for sustained success going forward.
Our 2022 Nonprofit Professional Survey measured the state of the nonprofit industry as a whole and defined the pandemic’s effect on a variety of aspects of nonprofit operations and management, including staffing, efficiency, and technology adoption.
While the last years of the pandemic have upended industries, the collective determination of nonprofits is defined by resilience and an eagerness for forward progress. As a result, nonprofit organizations are functioning at a near pre-pandemic level of operational efficiency.
“The collective determination of nonprofits is defined by resilience and an eagerness for forward progress.”
A significant driver of those changes is technological solutions. Nonprofits are using more technology to meet their employees, stakeholders, donors, and constituents wherever they are. One nonprofit professional even called out the importance of such in their response, saying, “Getting a lot of employees transitioned to teleworking was a huge challenge for our office, but it worked out perfectly, and nothing lagged behind. Going forward, we are all equipped to be able to transition more smoothly now.”
Two of the most telling findings from our survey relate to increasing technological efficiency and integration, and adopting cloud-based computing solutions.
Nearly half of the nonprofit professionals surveyed utilize six different digital tools to do their jobs, with 23% of professionals relying on eight digital tools. The complexity of digital infrastructure, however, is leading to reduced efficiency. Seventy-eight percent of nonprofit professionals said they spend at least a quarter of their workday managing multiple systems.
To achieve sustained success, investing in multi-faceted systems that eliminate siloed systems increases efficiency and allows nonprofits to do more with less. Most nonprofits already plan to invest in cloud-based computing systems in 2022. This year alone, 34% of nonprofit professionals said they’d upgrade to cloud-hosted software, 31% said they’d upgrade data security software, systems, or protocols, and 28% said they’d invest in cloud computing.
Our survey discusses topics like the current state of nonprofit organizations, staffing and shareholder engagement, the digital-first workplace, technology and security, and executive-level leadership thoughts.
To read more, download the 2022 Nonprofit Financial Health Survey here.
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