Nonprofits Behind Curve in Technology Planning Only 26 Percent Have Tech Plans in Place, Survey Finds Michael Antrobus April 14, 2006

For its part, the local United Way put together an information technology advisory board made up of technology-savvy volunteers from the corporate world. The advisory board helped create and implement a technology plan to upgrade PCs and the computer network. United Way also upgraded its analog-based help line to a digital system.

The move proved to be fortuitous. Following Hurricane Katrina, the help line began receiving 1,000 more calls per day than it did in 2004, when it took 300,000 calls, Hanacek said.

Hemophilia of Georgia Inc., which provides services to people with bleeding disorders, serves as a model for larger nonprofits in implementing technology, said Tiffany Brott, senior marketing manager at Accenture.

Hemophilia of Georgia received TechBridge's fourth annual Technology Innovation Award for developing an online tool that cut the time needed for ordering a prescription from 15 minutes to seven minutes. "They are a great example of the power technology can have on an organization," Brott said.

With a price tag of $50,000, the Hemophilia of Georgia technology upgrade is out of reach for small to midrange nonprofits, but nevertheless serves as an example of the kind of openness to innovation needed in the nonprofit sector.

Many nonprofit organizations would benefit from embracing basic business practices, according to Accenture's Institute for High Performance, a think tank for the global management consulting and technology services company.

In a recent survey, Accenture found that fund-raising and survival dominated the list of top issues confronting nonprofits, while operational issues were overlooked.