Bridging the Innovation Divide: An Agenda for Disseminating Technology Innovations within the Nonprofit Sector

via Idealware by laura

from PolicyLink a national research and action institute that works collaboratively to develop and implement local, state, and federal policies to achieve economic and social equity.

Overview

Nonprofit organizations form the backbone of civil society and are at the forefront of efforts to build healthier, more vibrant, and more inclusive communities. They are being called upon to take on expanded roles and responsibilities in service delivery and community revitalization in a time of increasing social inequality. In response, they have become major innovators, continually creating new programs and policies that grow the social, economic, physical, and civic infrastructure of disinvested neighborhoods.

Technology plays an important role in enabling nonprofits to respond to social needs at this critical moment. The rise of information and communications technologies (ICTs) has created unprecedented opportunities for nonprofits. Computers and the Internet allow nonprofit organizations to perform fundamental functions—research, communications, public education, advocacy, fundraising, and program development, and service delivery—with ever-greater speed and efficiency.

The“early adopters” of emerging technologies offer compelling evidence that ICT innovations can strengthen the nonprofit sector. Unfortunately, such success stories are too few and far between. While many nonprofits have entered the 21st century with access to computers and some form of Internet access, many ICT innovations remain concentrated among a handful of organizations with high technology capacity.

Bridging the Innovation Divide: An Agenda for Disseminating Technology Innovations within the Nonprofit Sector (download pdf) examines this divide, presents findings from the field, and pushes forth a targeted, strategic, and creative agenda for closing it.

This looks to be a very useful template for thinking about developing more effective use of ICT in non-profits. The report attempts to answer three questions:

(1) What are the causes of the innovation divide?
(2) How and why do nonprofit organizations adopt
new technology innovations and assimilate them
into their work?
(3) What can be done to speed up the diffusion of
innovations within the nonprofit sector?

Worth a look to see how they do and how we might apply their answers to our experience. I'd be interested to see what readers think about this article.