Flickr Photo: Steve WamplerIf you haven't already finished, you're probably smack dab in the middle of making the case for your 2009 IT budget. With all the upheaval over the last couple of months, every nonprofit is going to be asked to serve more, with fewer resources. That probably means you won't get funding for any non-essential expenses. 

But let's examine what essential means. 

In a tough budget setting like this, something is usually considered essential if the organization can't operate without it -- like rent, supplies for direct service, key salaries.  If you can't tie it directly to mission, out it goes.  Implicit in "essential" is also the idea that it doesn't cost more than it did the year before: if we're slashing the budget in any area, we can't possibly spend more in any area. 

It becomes all about doing more, with less. The mistake we make, I think, is when we focus too much on the "with less" part of the equation. 

It's easy for nonprofit leaders to slash technology budgets (assuming they have one). After all, databases don't feed hungry people.  But does focusing on the "with less" part help us do more? No. 

If you want to do more with less, you've got to focus on creating value, not just cutting costs. It's easy to look at that database development project as an expense you can live without in the coming year.  After all, you've operated without it up to this point.  What's one more year? 

But if your staff would spend 10 hours less a week monkeying around with data and data entry because of it, making the investment now means you free up 10 hours to do something more important -- like feed more hungry people.

So, when you're considering your 2009 IT budget, don't focus on cutting what you can "live without."  Instead, invest in the tools, services, and people that will help you do more with less.