2012 NTEN Community Survey Report · 2015. 5. 18. · NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE 2012 NTEN COMMUNITY SURVEY REPORT – NOVEMBER 2012 About 4 1 Key

An NTEN Report Prepared by:

Annaliese Hoehling

Publications Director, NTEN

NOVEMBER 2012

Your Voices 2012 NTEN Community Survey Report

NTEN | 1020 SW Taylor Street | Suite 800 | Portland, Oregon 97205 | p: 415.397.9000 | f: 415.814.4056

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About NTEN A Community Transforming Technology Into Social Changewww.nten.org

Who We AreA community of nonprofit professionals, we aspire to a world where nonprofit groups of all types and sizes use technology strategically and confidently to fulfill their missions. Together, the NTEN community helps members put technology to work so they can bring about the change they want to see in the world.

What We Do NTEN connects members with one another and offers many opportunities for learning and professional development—all so you can focus on achieving your goals and meeting your mission.

How We Do It NTEN helps members, with their diverse job functions and levels of tech comfort and expertise, share best practices, and glean insights from one another both online and off: training, research and industry analysis, regional meet-ups, our signature Nonprofit Technology Conference. As a member, you gain instant access to a supportive community that shares your passions and challenges, as well as to valuable resources for professional development.

ConnectOnline Networking / my.nten.orgWhether you’re a webmaster, marketer, executive director, fundraiser, blogger, program manager, or play another role in the nonprofit sector, connect with your peers online. Join our Affinity Groups

and social networks, browse the Member Directory, post in our online forums.

Events / www.nten.org/eventsNTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference and local meet-ups bring nonprofit professionals together to share ideas and best practices. Get to know colleagues. Develop a support network. Talk shop. Vent. Congratulate. Collaborate. The possibilities are endless.

LearnNTEN Webinars / www.nten.org/webinarsChanging the world isn’t easy. NTEN members are always looking to learn more about how to use technology to further their missions. Gain a wealth of knowledge without ever leaving your desk through NTEN’s extensive schedule of live webinars and archived events.

NTEN Research / www.nten.org/researchNTEN collaborates with renowned industry, academic, and nonprofit partners to conduct research on key subjects related to nonprofit technology like IT staffing and spending, salaries, social networking, and data ecosystems. Our reports and benchmarks studies offer actionable data and invaluable insider information.

ChangeNTEN: Change / www.nten.org/ntenchangeNTEN: Change is a quarterly journal for nonprofit leaders. You’ll find guidance on the strategic and practical considerations necessary to make the sound investments and decisions that will help your organization achieve its mission.

NTEN Connect / www.nten.org/signupRead how NTEN members are fulfilling their missions and changing the world—and how you can too. The free monthly NTEN Connect newsletter brings you solid advice, success stories, and best practices related to technology and the nonprofit sector.

NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE2012 NTEN COMMUNITY SURVEY REPORT – NOVEMBER2012

NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE2012 NTEN COMMUNITY SURVEY REPORT – NOVEMBER 2012

About 4

1 Key Findings 6

2 Tech Adoption 7

3 Technology and Your Work 10

3.1 Significant Technology Challenge for Your Org 10

3.2 Importance of Tech Across the Organization 11

3.3 Technology Training Budget 13

3.4 Your Role in Strategic Tech Planning and Implementation 14

3.5 Your Role in Purchasing Software or Services 14

3.6 Your Role in Purchasing Hardware or Networking 14

3.7 Your Role Over Next 12 Months 15

4 NTEN Member Feedback 16

4.1 Tenure 16

4.2 Why Join? 17

4.3 Program Ratings 18

4.4 Member Satisfaction 19

4.5 Membership Helps Individuals 20

4.6 Membership Helps Organizations 21

5 Non-Member Feedback 22

5.1 Program Ratings 22

6 NTEN Community Demographics 23

6.1 Organizational Types 23

6.2 Individual/Professional Roles 24

6.3 Organizational Issue Area 25

6.4 Budget Size 26

6.5 Staff Size 26

7 NTEN Constituencies: A Closer Look 27

7.1 IT Staff 27

7.2 Communications/Marketing Staff 28

7.3 Program Staff 30

7.4 Fundraising Staff 31

7.5 Executive Directors/CEOs 33

7.6 Consultants 34

7.7 Respondents from Leading Organizations 36

About the NTEN Community Survey The Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) conducts an annual Community Survey to find out more about the individuals and organizations in the NTEN community: we want to find out how these individuals and organizations use technology in their work, gauge the impact of NTEN programs and services on their professional development and their organization’s missions, and track trends in the nonprofit technology community over time.

The nonprofit technology landscape is an expanding and unpredictable one, influenced by

innovations in communications and IT business solutions and practices. In recent years,

more and more nonprofits are learning that these innovations can help them not only run

their internal infrastructure more efficiently, but also help them achieve their mission more

effectively with applications for community outreach, program delivery, and fundraising.

NTEN provides a platform for these nonprofits, along with the technology consultants and

providers who serve them, to exchange knowledge and resources for applying the innovations

and strategies to their missions. This annual survey provides both NTEN and the NTEN

Community documentation of how the nonprofit technology landscape is progressing, and

how NTEN’s resources are aiding the transformation.

The NTEN Community is made up of both dues-paying members (referred to as Members

in this report) and program participants (Non-Members), with just over 11,000 individuals

represented in membership, and a total of more than 45,000 members and non-members

engaging with NTEN programming and resources at the time the survey was conducted.

In May of 2012 we circulated the link to the online survey to the NTEN Community via direct

email (delivered to 38,354 contacts) and announcements in our community channels, including

our blog, NTEN Discuss email list, our Facebook page, and our Twitter network. We received

survey responses from 1,064 individuals.

Just over half of the respondents were NTEN members: 55% answered that they were

members, 34% said they were not members, and 11% did not know whether they were current

members. When we compare responses from Members and Non-Members in the survey, we

include only those responses from individuals who indicated they were one of these; those

4NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE2012 NTEN COMMUNITY SURVEY REPORT – NOVEMBER 2012

5

who responded that they didn’t know are left out of the comparison.

We’d like to note that the NTEN Community does not reflect the broader nonprofit community.

Responses and demographics of this particular group reflect, rather, the current state of what

we call the nonprofit technology sector, which is made up of nonprofit staff working in

various roles in their organizations (from CEOs to Program Assistants), as well as consultants

and technology and service providers. Participants in the NTEN Community have more

awareness of, and interest in, the application of communications and IT innovations to their

work than the broader nonprofit sector, and also tend to come from larger organizations –

larger annual budgets and staff sizes – than the general size make-up of the nonprofit sector.

NTEN’s theory of change is based on the vision that all nonprofits can skillfully and confidently

use technology to achieve their missions, and tracking both the Technology Adoption levels

reported by the NTEN community as well as the effect of NTEN Membership on various

organizational conditions and practices will help us measure progress towards NTEN’s desired

outcome: that technology is having a positive impact on organizations meeting their missions.

In analyzing the responses to the survey, therefore, we provide the additional break down

of responses by both the Member vs. Non-Member perspective, as well as the Technology

Leadership Spectrum, which is defined by respondents’ self-assessment of their organization’s

technology adoption.


6

1. Key Findings• 22% of the NTEN Community considers their organizations to be at the “Leading” level

on the Tech Adoption Spectrum.

• No survey respondent who has been a member of NTEN for 5 or more years described their organization at the “Struggling” level on the Tech Adoption Spectrum, while 6% of the general NTEN Community indicated their organizations were “Struggling.”

• While “Leading” organizations do tend to have larger annual operating budgets—with nearly 24% indicating their organizations have annual budgets Greater than $10M—we also find that 16% of “Leaders” come from organizations with budgets Less than $250K.

• 72% of respondents from Leading organizations indicated they have a technology-related professional development training budget, compared to just 53% of the overall community.

• Both NTEN Members and respondents from Leading Organizations are more likely to consider technology as playing an important role in their organization’s Programs and Services than the average community respondent.

• We have seen a jump in respondents indicating they’ve been members for more than 5 years, with nearly 15% this year compared to only 8% last year.

• This is the first year that “General Professional Development and Training” has surpassed all other reasons as the top reason to become a member of NTEN.

• For the first time, Marketing/Communications Staff have surpassed IT Staff as NTEN’s largest professional constituency.

• We are also surprised to see that, among Non-Members in the NTEN community, Fundraising/Development staff have become a large constituency, larger than either Marketing/Communications Staff or IT Staff.

• When asked about key organizational challenges regarding technology, respondents made clear that as technology becomes more necessary across all functions at an organization, the burden of training all staff to execute processes and strategies consistently has become greater: they feel challenged to find the time, funding, and the right resources to train their organizational staff.

• Respondents also emphasize pain points around one key area: Data. They are struggling with multiple parts of this issue, from collection to analysis to strategy.


2. Technology Adoption

Q: Which of the following descriptions most closely reflects your organization’s current

approach to technology and technology decisions:

Though we’ve been surveying our community about their “Tech Adoption” level for a few

years now, we have updated our adoption spectrum and definitions this year. To bring

our definitions more in line with the organizational levels identified in our book, Managing

Technology to Meet Your Mission, and to better gauge an organization’s overall approach

to decision-making (rather than personal comfort level), we have used the following levels

(without the labels in the survey questions, to avoid bias):

Type 1 (Struggling): “We are struggling; we have a failing infrastructure, and our technology

time and budget generally go towards creating workarounds, repairing old equipment, and

duplicating tasks.”

Type 2 (Functioning): “We keep the lights on; we have basic systems in place to meet

immediate needs. Leadership makes technology decisions based on efficiencies, with little-

to-no input from staff/consultant.”

Type 3 (Operating): “We keep up; we have stable infrastructure and a set of technology

policies and practices. Leadership makes technology decisions based on standard levels

according to industry/sector information and gathers input from technology staff/consultant

before making final decision.”

Type 4 (Leading): “We’re innovators; we recognize that technology is an investment in

our mission, and leadership integrates technology decisions with organizational strategy.

7NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE2012 NTEN COMMUNITY SURVEY REPORT – NOVEMBER2012

Answer Options Member Non-Member All

StrugglingFunctioningOperatingLeading

5%17%52%26%

6%32%46%16%

6%23%49%22%

8

Technology-responsible staff are involved in overall strategic planning, helping to craft the

future of the organization and the plan for how technology can support that work, both inside

the organization and through

public-facing technologies.”

We see that current NTEN

members tend to rate their

organization’s approach to

technology decisions higher

along the spectrum.

We also compared adoption levels by other factors, including organizational budget size and

length of NTEN membership tenure, and found that both of these have some correlation to

their organizational approaches to technology:

Tech Adoption by NTEN Membership Tenure


0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Struggling

Func3oning

Opera3ng

Leading

Member

Non-‐Member

9

Tech Adoption by Organizational Budget Size:

While Leading organizations and Struggling organizations can be found among almost all

constituent types, we do see that:

• Organizations with budget sizes less than $250K are most likely to be at the lower

end of the Tech Adoption spectrum

• No respondent who has been a Member of NTEN for 5 or more years described their

organization as Struggling


10

3. Technology and Your Work3.1 Significant Technology Challenge for Your Org

Q: What is a significant challenge or focus area for your organization when it comes to

technology?

We asked an open-ended question and were able to find some common challenges among our

community when it comes to technology and their work. We’ve categorized the most-cited

challenges below, with the number of times this challenge was referenced in parentheses:

For the most part, these are familiar pain-points we’ve heard from the nonprofit community

over the last few years, though we noted the increased references to two key areas this year:

• Training non-tech staff. Respondents made clear that as technology becomes more

necessary across all functions at an organization, the burden of training all staff to

execute processes and strategies consistently has become greater.

• Data challenges. Respondents are struggling with multiple parts of this issue, from

the collection side to the analysis side to the strategy side.


Lack of enough

funds/budget

(62)

Training non-‐

tech staff (38)

Time to

implement/

execute (32)

Leadership

buy-‐in (30)

Lack of

(skilled) tech

staff (27) IntegraEon of

Systems (and

staff access)

(20)

Keeping up

(20)

PrioriEzing

investment

(19) Strategic

Planning

(18) Data

CollecEon,

Analysis, and

Use (18)

11

3.2 Importance of Tech Across the Organization

Q: Please indicate how IMPORTANT technology is (which includes anything from

databases to social media to analytics) to carrying out your organization’s work in the

following areas (on a scale of 1 to 4):

We were interested to see that while Members and Non-Members generally rated the

importance of technology to the various organizational areas similarly, there is one area in

which they noticeably differ. Members rate the importance of technology for their Programs/

Services higher than non-members.

We also compared the responses according to Tech Adoption levels:



Communications & MarketingFundraising/DevelopmentPrograms/ServicesAdministrationLeadership/Board

3.873.433.503.432.90

3.833.473.423.412.88

3.863.453.483.432.92

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Communic

a1ons a

nd Marke

1ng

Fundrai

sing/De

velopment

Program

s/Servic

es

Adminis

tra1on

Leadersh

ip/Board

Struggling

Func1oning

Opera1ng

Leading

Ra1ng Average

12

We note, especially, where these respondents diverge from the overall responses averages:

• Struggling organizations rate technology higher than average when it comes to

Fundraising/Development.

• Leading organizations rate technology as more important for their Programs/Services

than the average response rating.

• Both Leading and Struggling organizations rate technology higher in importance

than other constituents for their organization’s administration as well as for their

organization’s leadership work.

We wondered, in this last case, if organizational size plays a role in responses here and found

that the role of technology in the case of Administration and Leadership does seem to increase

for very small organizations – those organizations with annual budget sizes less than $250K—

which we assume relates to staff size. Organizations with smaller staff sizes – which are less

likely to have dedicated administrative, operational, and financial staff roles – may rely more

on technology to carry out administrative and operational work.


3.3 Technology Training Budget

In NTEN’s separate annual research on nonprofit investment in technology – in budgets, staff,

and planning – we see that an organization’s technology training budget correlates to their

Technology Adoption and their Technology Effectiveness (see our annual report: http://www.

nten.org/research/download_it_staffing_2011).

We therefore wanted to track this data (whether an organization has budget for technology-

related professional development) in our NTEN community research.

Q: Does your organization provide organizational budget for *technology-related*

professional development (training, memberships, seminars, webinars, certifiation, etc.)?

Not surprisingly, responses to this question correlate to Tech Adoption levels, with “Yes”

answers increasing as the Tech Adoption level increases. For example, we note that 72% of

respondents from Leading organizations indicated they have a technology-related professional

development training budget, compared to just 53% of the overall community who said “yes.”


Significant change in responses compared

to last year:

• 71% said “yes” in 2011 • only 19% said no in 2011

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Struggling

Func3oning

Opera3ng

Leading

Yes

No

I don't know

N/A

14

3.4 Your Role in Strategic Tech Planning and Implementation

Q: What is your role in strategic technology planning and implementation for your

organization?

3.5 Your Role in Purchasing Software or Services

Q: What is your role in terms of purchasing software or services?

3.6 Your Role in Purchasing Hardware or Networking

Q: What is your role in terms of purchasing hardware or networking


Answer Options Member Non-Member All 2011

NoneSomeQuite a bitLeader

4%21%33%39%

8%27%32%32%

6%25%32%34%

4%24%30%39%


EvaluationRecommendationPurchasing AuthorityN/A

7%45%38%10%

10%45%31%15%

8%45%34%13%


EvaluationRecommendationPurchasing AuthorityN/A

9%32%33%27%

11%38%26%25%

10%34%29%27%

15

Unlike in previous years, we found no clear correlation to membership tenure across these

technology roles. Like previous years, however, we do see that Members are more likely to

have more authority in technology decisions than Non-Members.

3.7 Your Role Over Next 12 Months

Q: How do you see your personal role in your organization regarding technology

(decision-making, use of, etc.) changing over the next year? Select all that apply.

We are glad to see that the NTEN Community is most likely to see their contribution to their

organizational work when it comes to technology increasing over the next year, though we

are continuing to see a decline in the percentage who report this: we saw 51% of the 2011

respondents report that they anticipated increased leadership, and 55% report that in 2010.

When we compared responses by NTEN membership tenure, we saw that members

with shorter tenure were more likely to report that they anticipate increased leadership

regarding technology in the coming year. This suggests to us that the decrease in the NTEN

community’s anticipation of greater leadership has to do more with the probability that these

respondents already have leadership roles. This theory is also supported by the number of

respondents who indicated they anticipated no change: 26%.


Answer Options 2011 2010 2009

None (I don’t anticipate my role

changing in the next year)

Decreasing Usage

Decreasing Leadership

Increasing Usage

Increasing Leadership

N/A

25%

1%

1%

27%

42%

4%

26%

1%

2%

36%

33%

3%

26%

1%

1%

31%

37%

4%

16

4. NTEN Member Feedback4.1 Tenure

NTEN members still tend to be new to membership, with 34% of our member respondents

indicating they’ve been members for less than one full year.

We have seen a jump in respondents indicating they’ve been members for more than 5 years,

however, with nearly 15% this year compared to only 8% last year


17

4.2 Why Join?

Q: What would you say is the main reason you became a member of NTEN? (You can

choose more than one, but please limit to your top 3.)

This is the first year that “General Professional Development and Training” has surpassed all

other reasons as the top reason for becoming a member of NTEN.

Being “part of the community of nonprofit technology leaders,” the top reason over the

previous several years, is still a top reason for current NTEN members.

When we compared responses by Tech Adoption levels, we noted that responses generally

followed the same pattern of priorities, except that respondents from Leading organizations

were more likely to select “To be part of the community of nonprofit technology leaders” as the

primary reason for becoming a member of NTEN.


Answer Options Response %

To participate in the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC)

Discounts on other programs (e.g. webinars)

For general professional development and training

To access NTEN research and report data for free

To be part of the community of nonprofit technology leaders

Received complimentary membership through another organization

Other (please specify)

44.9%

22.4%

60.8%

41.9%

58.4%

4.7%

3.5%

18

4.3 Program Ratings

NTEN members were asked to rank the programs they had participated in over the previous

year on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the lowest rating and 4 being the highest. You can see

in the above chart the ratings of NTEN programs as well as their relative popularity. As in

previous years, NTEN’s annual conference, the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), is the

highest rated program.

While direct year-over-year comparisons of ratings are difficult to make this year as we shifted

from a 5-point rating scale to a 4-point rating scale, we note that, in general, the relative rating

of programs to each other has remained consistent.


2.51 2.54 2.56 2.63 2.72 2.93 3.05 3.08 3.17 3.18 3.18 3.23 3.29 3.39 3.43 3.52 3.63

New M

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r Call

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CoPs

Tech

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NTEN Disc

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Ask th

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ns

MultiPas

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Monthl

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Webina

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NTEN Program Rating (1-4) attended in last 12 months:

19

4.4 Member Satisfaction

Q: How long have you been a member of NTEN?

NTEN Membership is still a relatively young membership community, with the majority of

members (63%) having a membership tenure of less than 2 years. Considering NTEN is still

a relatively young organization, and with an awareness of the importance of technology in all

areas of nonprofit organizational work only recently emerging in the nonprofit sector, these

numbers are not surprising.

However, now that NTEN has passed our 10th Anniversary mark, we hope to see longer-

tenured members increasing their proportion of the NTEN community in the future.

When we looked at responses to this question according to their Organizational Tech Adoption

level, we saw that Members with shorter tenure are more likely to assess their organizations

at the Straggler end of the spectrum, when longer-tenured Members are more likely to assess

their organizations at the Leadership end of the spectrum.

NTEN members were asked to rate their agreement with several statements, on a scale of 1 to

4, regarding their satisfaction with various aspects of their membership experience.

We were glad to see that members rated all categories positively, with the “timeliness of

information and resources” ranked highest among the criteria.


20

4.5 Membership Helps Individuals

By a large margin, the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) is the highest-valued program

among NTEN Members, similar to previous years.

NTEN Webinars and Research continue to rank among the top 3 most valuable resources for

Members.

We continue to see increases across the board in value of NTEN programs and services to

NTEN Members.

A particularly welcome finding here is that NTEN’s 501 Tech Clubs have improved significantly

over the last year in perceived value among NTEN Members. We attribute this increase to the

dedication and hard work of the volunteers in our community to organize these local groups.

As in previous years, we asked members whether they agreed or disagreed that their

membership helped them, individually, be more effective in their job. While, as in previous

years, members overwhelmingly agree (nearly 86%), it is difficult for us to do a year-over-year

comparison on this question because we have removed the neutral option from the question.

We did see some correlation here with length of membership tenure, with agreement

increasing along with tenure:


21

4.6 Membership Helps Organizations

Q: How likely is it that you would recommend NTEN to a friend or colleague (on a scale of

1-10 with 1 being low)?

0 1 4 1 35 31 63 86 75 186 8.39

Though the agreement on this question is slightly less than the previous, NTEN members

generally agree that their membership helps their organizations be more effective (78%).

Again, direct year-over-year comparison can’t be made because the neutral option was

removed from the answer options in this year’s survey, but we are pleased to see that

the overwhelming majority of NTEN members believe their organization’s effectiveness is

positively affected by their NTEN membership.

We also reviewed responses here according to membership tenure, finding that length of NTEN

membership plays a role in responses here:


22

5. Non-Member Feedback5.1 Program Ratings

While direct year-over-year comparison is difficult because we’ve adjusted the rating scale to

remove the neutral option, we do note here that non-members rated the Nonprofit Technology

Conference (NTC) lower in relation to other programs this year. Last year, the NTC was the

second-highest rated program, while this year it is the third.

NTEN webinars continue to be the highest-rated program among non-members.


23

6. NTEN Community Demographics6.1 Organizational Types

Q: Which of the following most accurately describes your organization?

While most of the organizational make-up has remained consistent, the places where we see

the most change compared to last year are an increase in the percentage of Nonprofits in the

NTEN Community (+5% compared to 2011), and a decrease in the percentage of respondents

from Associations (from 8% in 2011 to 4% this year). We also see fewer consultants responding

to this year’s community survey (7% this year, compared to 10% of survey respondents the

previous year).


Organization Type Member Non-Member All 2011

Nonprofit

Association

Management Support

Organization

Technology Support

Organization

Advocacy Network

Consulting Firm/

Practice

Philanthropic

Foundation

Corporate Foundation

Public Sector/

Government Agency

For-Profit Vendor

Other

66%6%1%

4%

2%8%

4%

1%1%

4%5%

74%3%0%

0%

1%7%

4%

0%3%

1%5%

71%4%1%

2%

1%7%

4%

0%2%

3%4%

66%8%2%

2%

1%10%

2%

0%2%

4%4%

24

There are a few places that we see more than a slight difference in proportion when comparing

Members and Non-Members:

• Nonprofit Organizations make up a larger proportion of Non-Member respondents

• Technology Support Organizations are only represented among Members

• For-Profit Vendors are more likely to participate in the community as Members than as

Non-Members

6.2 Individual/Professional Roles

Which of the following describes your role in your work? (Please note that these may

not reflect your title, but please select the category that MOST CLOSELY represents your

professional role.)

Job Role Member Non-Member All 2011

Executive Director/CEO

Fundraising/

Development

Finance/Administration

Program/Direct

Services Staff

IT Staff

Marketing/

Communications

Sales/Business

Development

Consultant

Foundation Program

Officer/Grantmaker

Other

11%7%

5%6%

23%26%

1%

9%1%

11%

11%23%

7%8%

13%18%

1%

9%1%

9%

11%14%

6%7%

18%22%

1%

8%1%

11%

13%10%

5%10%

22%20%

1%

10%1%

8%

As has been the case for several years, the two largest constituencies among the NTEN

community are “IT Staff” and “Marketing/Communications Staff.”


25

We note, however, that for the first time, Marketing/Communications staff have surpassed IT

Staff as NTEN’s largest professional role segment.

We are also surprised to see that among Non-Members in the NTEN community, Fundraising/

Development staff have become a large constituency, larger than either Marketing/

Communications staff or IT Staff.

6.3 Organizational Issue Area

We also asked respondents to select their organization’s focus area (allowing them to

choose multiple areas as applicable) to get a sense of the sub-sectors that NTEN community

participants come from.

As in previous years, NTEN community members work primarily in Education (28.6%), Human

Services (24.5%) and Health (20.9%).


26

6.4 Budget Size

As in previous years, we continue to see more NTEN Members at the higher-end of the

budget spectrum, while NTEN community participants from very small organizations tend to

participate as Non-Members.

6.5 Staff Size

Although organizations participating in the NTEN Community tend to be larger, with 19%

reporting over 100 full time staff, we do see a split between Member and Non-Member

organizations, with Non-Members more likely to have smaller staff sizes than Members.

We don’t see any significant change in organizational staff-sizes when comparing this year’s

responses to 2011.


Full-Time Staff Member Non-Member All 2011

0

1-2

3-4

5-6

7-10

11-15

16-30

31-100

101+

4%12%7%5%

11%11%15%15%22%

8%17%8%8%9%8%

13%13%16%

6%14%8%7%

10%9%

14%14%19%

4%16%5%6%9%8%

14%16%22%

Operating Budget Member Non-Member All 2011

Less than $250k

$250k to $500k

$500k $1M

$1M to $2M

$2M to $5M

$5M to $10M

Greater than $10M

N/A

12%6%

10%16%17%9%

23%7%

26%7%

11%16%12%8%

14%6%

19%7%

11%15%14%8%

19%7%

16%7%8%

14%15%9%

21%9%

27

7. NTEN Constituencies: A Closer Look

7.1 IT Staff

One of NTEN’s largest constituencies at 18% (114 respondents to this year’s survey), IT Staff are also most likely to be participating in the NTEN community as members, with 67% of this group of survey respondents indicating that they are current members of NTEN.

IT Staff are also among the longest tenured members of NTEN, with nearly half (45%) indicating

they’ve been members more than two years, which is longer than the average member

respondent to this year’s survey.

IT Staff indicate that they became members of NTEN

primarily to “be part of the community of nonprofit

technology leaders” (70% indicating this reason), and

also for “general professional development” (67%

indicating this reason).

These professionals rate NTEN Research highest

in value for their professional development among

NTEN resources and programs they’ve participated in

or used over the last year, followed by the Nonprofit

Technology Conference.

IT Staff in the NTEN community are likely to be from organizations working in Human Services

or Education sub-sectors, and tend to come from larger organizations (32% from organizations

with budget sizes Greater than $10M, and 34% from organizations with staff size greater than

101 employees).

This constituency tends to come from organizations higher along the Tech Adoption spectrum,

with 85% indicating their organization is at the Operating or Leading end of the spectrum.

When asked what the biggest challenge regarding technology facing their organization was,

IT Staff echo general concerns from the community, namely funding challenges, leadership

and staff buy-in, etc., but this constituency voices these concerns from a different perspective,


“Being able to connect with other IT Directors/Managers has been the most helpful resource by far. When researching new systems, NTEN is often a source of great information.”

-- IT Staff Respondent

28

focusing on these particular themes: keeping technology systems up to external requirements;

integrating systems and data; working with non-technical staff to align their IT with business

and mission objectives.

Here is a snapshot of their voices

on this question:

7.2 Communications/Marketing Staff

As noted earlier in this report, this constituency surpassed IT

Staff for the first time to become NTEN’s largest constituency

responding to the survey, with 22% of survey respondents (139

individuals) indicating this job role.

Communications and Marketing Staff are slightly more likely than the average respondent

to be participating in the NTEN Community as current Members (62% indicating they’re

members), but this number is down from last year,

when 70% of Communications/Marketing Staff

indicated they were current Members.

This constituency represents veterans and new-

comers in the NTEN community, with about 40%

indicating they’ve been members for only 1 year

or less, and another 40% indicating they’ve been

members for more than 2 years.

Communications/Marketing Staff tell us that the

primary reason they’re members of NTEN is for


“I learned a lot at NTC 2012. I’m new to this industry ... I now feel more confident and equipped to do my job, and I know where to go for resources”

-- Communications/Marketing Staff Respondent

29

“general professional development” followed by “to participate at the Nonprofit Technology

Conference.”

This group of professionals rate the NTC as extremely valuable to their professional

development (3.8 out of 4), followed by NTEN webinars (3.6 out of 4). Just over 94% of

Communications/Marketing Staff agree that their NTEN membership makes them more

effective in their work.

This group was most likely to rate their Organization’s Tech Adoption Level at the upper-half

of the spectrum, with 71.1% at Operating or above, and this was almost exactly in line with the

average of all respondents (70.9%).

Communications/Marketing Staff are most likely to come from organizations with an Education

focus (29.2%) followed by Health-oriented organizations (25.5%). Half of this group comes

from either the top or bottom of the organizational size spectrum, with 26% coming from

organizations with budget sizes $1M or less, and 24% from organizations with budget sizes

Greater than $10M.

When asked to describe their

organizations’ significant

technology challenge/focus

area, this group emphasized a

lack of time and skilled staff to

execute strategies, and they also

voiced concerns over buy-in from

leadership.



7.3 Program Staff

While nonprofit Program Staff don’t make up a large segment

of the NTEN community, with just under 8% (45 individuals)

indicating this professional role in

our recent community survey, they

are an important NTEN constituency

and are on the frontlines, if you

will, of deploying organizational

strategies.

About 45% of the Program Staff responding to our

survey indicated that they are current members,

which means they are unlike other constituency

groups in the NTEN community, who are generally

more likely to be members than non-members.

Program Staff stick around once they become members, however, with 40% indicating they’ve

been members for 2 or more years.

This group tells us that they joined NTEN “to be part of the community of nonprofit technology

leaders,” and secondarily “to participate in the Nonprofit Technology Conference.”

Like their Communications/Marketing colleagues, this group of professionals rates th

e NTC as most valuable to their professional development among NTEN resources, followed

by NTEN webinars. Interestingly, while 70% agree that NTEN membership helps them,

individually, be more effective in their job, more of them – 85% – agree that NTEN membership

helps their organizations be more effective.

Like the rest of our community, this group was most likely to rate their Organization’s Tech

Adoption Level at the upper-half of the spectrum, with 68% at Operating or above, but we note

that this is slightly less than the percentage of the overall community indicating these levels

(71%).

Program Staff in the NTEN community are most likely to come from organizations with an

Education focus (29%) followed by Civil Rights/Advocacy organizations (21%) and Youth

“Among the many nuggets of useful information we get [at the NTC], there is always at least one major takeaway that significantly and very tangibly improves our work.”

-- Program Staff Respondent


oriented organizations (19%). Unlike our other constituencies, these professionals come from

smaller organizations, with 70% from organizations with budgets $2M or less.

Like their NTEN peers, this group is challenged by a lack of resources, but this group focuses

on upgrading their technology so that they can be more efficient in their work, as well as the

need for training staff and volunteers to implement innovative strategies and tools in the field.

7.4 Fundraising Staff

As a slightly larger constituency than the previous, Fundraising/

Development staff make up about 13% of the NTEN community,

according to our survey (86 individual respondents). They are a

growing constituency within the nonprofit technology community

– making up about 10% of our respondents last year, and only 7%

the year before that.

Of our key professional constituencies, this group is the least represented among current

NTEN members, with only about 27% of the Fundraising Staff who responded to our survey

indicating that they are current members.

With only a recently growing interest in NTEN and nonprofit technology (and therefore

representation within the community), it is not surprising that this group has the shortest

tenure among NTEN members, with more than half (52%) indicating they’ve been members for

less than 1 year.


They are eager to learn, however, and tell us that

that they joined NTEN “to be part of the community

of nonprofit technology leaders,” “for general

professional development,” and “to access NTEN

research and report data.”

Fundraising staff value NTEN webinars for their

professional development above all other NTEN

programming, and, further supporting the sense

that they are eager to learn, this group rated NTEN’s

webinar “MultiPass” a perfect 4 out of 4 on the rating

scale.

There is evidence that they are benefiting from their learning, as an impressive 100% of this

group agree that their NTEN membership makes them more effective in their job.

As newcomers to the NTEN community, it is perhaps not surprising that they are less likely

than their NTEN peers to rate their organizations’ Tech Adoption level at Operating or above –

only 61.5% of this group are at this end of the spectrum, compared to 71% on average for the

NTEN community.

Fundraising Staff in the NTEN community are most likely to come from organizations with an

Education focus (27%) followed by Human Services organizations (23%) and Health oriented

organizations (21%). About 26% of these professionals come from organizations with budget

sizes Greater than $10M, but another 13% come from very small organizations – those with

budget sizes Less than $250K.

These professionals voiced particular emphasis on updating and integrating systems,

wrangling data from too many sources, and training for non-technical staff as their technology

challenges. They also seemed to really feel the pressure of time (lack of staff and efficiency).

“NTEN helps me in my work by ensuring that I’m on top of new tech applications that support my work, and makes it possible for me to connect with people who share my goals and inspire me in solving them.”

-- Fundraising Staff Respondent


7.5 Executive Directors/CEOs

While just over 11% of our community survey respondents

indicated they were Executive Directors or CEOs, for this closer-

look, we want to focus on those executives who come from

nonprofits specifically, which

includes 9% of our respondents (57

individuals).

Half of these nonprofit executive directors (51%)

tell us they are current members of NTEN. While a

little over a third (34.5%) of those individuals have

been members for less than one year, 28% indicated

they’ve been members for 2+ years.

Interestingly, Nonprofit Executive Directors indicated

that they joined NTEN primarily “to access NTEN

research and report data,” and also “for general

professional development” and “to be part of the community of nonprofit technology leaders.”

These professionals rated webinars, the NTEN:Change journal, and the Ask the Expert sessions

as the most valuable for their professional development among NTEN programming and

resources.

When asked whether NTEN membership was helping them be more effective, 80% agreed that

it made them, individually, more effective in their work, while 76% agreed that it helped their

organizations be more effective in their work.

Similar to the Fundraising Staff in the NTEN community, Nonprofit Executive Directors

indicated that their organizations weren’t as established at the upper-end of the Technology

Spectrum, with 61.8% indicating they were at the Operating level or above – and only 14.5% at

the Leading level.

Nonprofit Executive Directors in the NTEN community are most likely to come from

organizations with an Education focus (34%) followed by Human Services organizations (30%)

“As an ED of a small nonprofit, I need help keeping our IT needs in focus. NTEN points me in the right direction as we slowly move forward. Report data and material accessible from my desk are truly helpful.”

-- Nonprofit Executive Director Respondent


and Public/Social Benefit oriented organizations (25%).

Nearly half, at 47.4%, of these professionals come from organizations with budget sizes Less

than $250K, which is an extreme divergence from the general budget size make-up of the rest

of the NTEN community.

For strategic leaders, this professional group raised many tactical issues their organizations

were facing when it comes

to technology challenges,

many involving the upgrade of

systems, data, and websites. Like

the rest of the NTEN community,

they also emphasized cost, time,

and training as key barriers.

7.6 Consultants

We saw a smaller proportion of survey respondents indicating

they are Consultants, with 8% (52

individuals) this year, compared

to the 10% we’d seen for the

past several years. About 58% of

this group indicated they were

participating in the community as

members, which is a drop from what

we saw last year.

Consultants are most likely to have the longest

membership tenure, however, with 57% indicating

they’ve been members for 2 or more years.

“The invaluable element NTEN provides to us is the ability to connect our current clients with contacts at other organizations in the sector in ways that help our clients to learn. THe more the people that I consult for know about options and opportunities in the world at learge, the better I am able to serve them.”

--Consultant Respondent

34


This group indicates that they became members of NTEN primarily to “be part of the

community of nonprofit technology leaders” (73% indicating this reason), and also for “general

professional development (60% indicating this reason).

Consultants in the NTEN community rate the Nonprofit Technology Conference and 501 Tech

Clubs as the most valuable resources for their professional development.

Though our Tech Adoption levels are designed to gauge nonprofit organizational approaches

to technology decisions, we were interested to

see this group’s self-assessment. While, not

surprisingly, Consultants had the largest proportion

(34%) indicating their organizations/firms were at

the Leading level, we were interested to see that

an equal proportion (34%) indicated they were at

the Functioning level. This means that moving

from “reactive” to “proactive” when it comes to

organizational technology decision-making is a

challenge area for the experts, too.

Consultants in the NTEN community are likely (49%) not to belong to any other professional

associations or organizations, but 26% indicated that they are also members of their state or

regional nonprofit association, and 14% belong to the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

When asked which websites or blogs they refer to more than once a week to keep up with

issues important to their work, Consultants told us that our blog, NTEN Connect, was the most

referred to resource (73%), followed by Idealware (53%) and TechSoup (48%).

“I believe that NTEN is the industry leader in providing the best and most up to date research on tech issues for nonprofits.”

-- Consultant Respondent

35


7.7 Respondents from Leading Organizations

About 22% of respondents (131 individuals) indicated their

organizational approach to technology decision-making was

at the Leading level. This is a significant proportion of the

NTEN community, equaling the size of our largest professional

constituency (Communications Staff).

This group is more likely than the average respondent to be participating in the NTEN Com-

munity as a current Member (64% indicating they’re current members). They are both rela-

tively new and old in the NTEN community, with 35% indicating they’ve been members for

less than one year, while 45% indicate that they’ve

been members for more than 2 years.

These respondents tell us that the primary reason

they are members of NTEN is “to be part of the com-

munity of nonprofit technology leaders,” with 79%

of this group indicating this reason. They also (55%)

join “to participate in the Nonprofit Technology Con-

ference.”

Leaders rate the NTC as extremely valuable to their

professional development (3.7 out of 4), followed by

NTEN webinars (3.5 out of 4). Just over 83% of this

group agrees that their NTEN membership makes

them more effective in their work.

This group indicates that technology plays a valuable role in their organizations’ Communica-

tions and Marketing work, rating the importance at 3.9 on a 4-point scale in this area. Lead-

ers also rate technology as extremely important for carrying out their organizations’ pro-

grams and services, rating the importance at 3.7.

Similar to the rest of the NTEN community, Leaders are most likely to come from organiza-

tions with an Education focus (27%) followed by Human Services organizations (25%). As we

touched on earlier in this report, Leaders do come from large organizations, with nearly 24%

“Articles shared in the NTEN newsletter and community have helped us improve our social media and website strategies. I’ve also gotten recommendations from the community on tools to use.”

-- Respondent from a “Leading” Organization

36


indicating their organizations have annual budgets Greater than $10M, but we also note that

16% come from organizations with budgets Less than $250K.

When asked to describe their organizations’ significant technology challenge/focus area,

Leaders cite similar challenges as other respondents, including time, cost, and training, but

this group focuses on “improving,” “upgrading,” “innovating,” and other activities that suggest

that they are, as their Tech

Adoption level would indicate,

thinking long-term and work-

ing to keep their technology

and staff ahead of the curve.

37

Documents

2012 NTEN Community Survey Report · 2015. 5. 18. · NTEN: A COMMUNITY TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY INTO SOCIAL CHANGE 2012 NTEN COMMUNITY SURVEY REPORT – NOVEMBER 2012 About 4 1 Key