Nonprofit organizations continually face difficult questions about how to meet vital social goals with extremely limited resources. ICTs are increasingly a component of such decisions. Anything that can reduce the burden of information processing and "back office" operations of a nonprofit might potentially free up resources for the mission-critical activities such as direct services or social activism. Funders who support nonprofits have also recognized that ICTs can help them collect and analyze data with which to calculate the outcomes of their investment more accurately.
Like schools, however, non-profits often fail to recognize that investment in ICTs implies commitments far beyond the initial cost of equipment. Computer-based systems can require development, customization, integration, training, maintenance, support, updates, system migration and business process reorganization. Each of these activities can be expensive and often require expertise not available internally.
Nonprofits must be careful not to commit to approaches that ultimately hinder their mission. Research on ICTs for nonprofits is sparse and difficult to locate. A number of recent initiatives cited in our bibliography, however, show great promise in providing practical advice and services to nonprofits in a way that minimizes their commitment to overblown, proprietary systems.
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