CIO Insight just published a piece called "The Accidental Techie" and they think your job is lonely and thankless. I got a little depressed reading this article, visions of accidental techies hunched over computers held together with duct tape, and mean spirited CFOs wagging their fingers at them lingering in my head. And while I take issue with the gloom and doom nature of the article (all the research I can get my hands on leads me to believe that small FOR profits face many of the same challenges, but nobody is writing articles about THEIR lonliness), I do think the article raises one incredibly important point of order:

"Yet regardless of size, nearly all charitable organizations are hindered by some major obstacles to technology investment. The most obvious is the pressure, both internal and external, to keep administrative and overhead expenses low, relative to what's spent on the charitable programs themselves."

A couple of days ago, the "Today I Cried" blog started to try to articulate the differences between for-profit and nonprofit IT work. To me, this quote is difference numero uno, and one of the most complicated issues we face. Trying to unpack some of why this quote really gets to me:

1. Sometimes I think that this idea - that nonprofits can't spend money that's not directly related to program delivery - is a convenient foil, a red herring. I'm dying for any numbers that can show me what small businesses (with related budget sizes) invest in technology. I honestly think the numbers wouldn't be that different. I think this is (to paraphrase Al Gore) a CONVENIENT TRUTH that justifies...

2. Thinking that we don't deserve better. There are a lot of nonprofits out there who honestly think that they SHOULD work in a damp basement with slickering flourescent lights. Like we all have to be selfless to the point of discomfort for our cause. this way of thinking really irritates me. You can do good AND have an ergnomically sufficient chair. But...

3. Donors don't seem to think that's the case. All kinds of stats out there show that donors want to see low admin/fundraising costs. And when forced to choose between the fall fundraising appeal mailing or new computers, it's not hard to guess which choice an ED would make. But how do we tackle this problem? Donor education? Or do we give up and try to figure out how to classify technology spending as program spending...

4. Which really, it is. Your social worker needs a laptop. Your food bank needs an inventory tracking system. This is not admin. This is program. Isn't it?