The results of our technology service provider survey - the first phase of research in the TechImpact Project - are in! In late 2006 we surveyed tech providers across the country - the first step in the TechImpact research project to help us understand what technology assistance means for nonprofit capacity.

We wanted to understand:

• Who is providing technology assistance to nonprofit organizations? Who do they serve?
• What services do providers offer? What approaches do they use to deliver technology assistance?
• Where are technology providers located? Where are they delivering services?
• When do providers employ evaluation strategies to understand the effect of their work?
• How do providers implement strategies to foster key outcomes for organizations, and how do they successfully achieve those outcomes (e.g., improved efficiency and effectiveness)?
• How do providers measure the success of their projects?

We surveyed 540 individuals representing a range of individuals, technology firms and organizations, and management support organizations, and received 149 complete responses.

Here is what we found.

• Providers are primarily for-profit entities. The largest portion of our sample – almost half - were for-profit entities (about 44%). Just over one-third of the sample (36%) were individual service providers (solo practitioners). The remaining respondents (about 20%) identified as nonprofit organizations.

• Providers are experienced. The average respondent, whether organizational or individual, has almost a decade of experience providing technology assistance. However, many newer providers appear to have entered the field to serve nonprofits: 44% of respondents were established after the year 2000, while only 23% of nonprofit providers and 11% of for-profit providers were in existence at the start of the 1990s.

• They are found across the U.S. Providers are spread throughout the United States, with a slightly higher proportion of respondents based in the West (40%) and the South (25.6%). Most providers have only one office, but their reach varies – from the 29% who serve specific cities and counties to the 20% who indicate working internationally.
  

• Most providers are small shops. About half of respondent organizations report having 5 or fewer staff members, though most also utilize between 1 and 5 contractors. The majority of full-time staff at these organizations are technology service providers (vs. administrative support staff, providers of other capacity building services, etc.) About one-half of nonprofit organizations and two-thirds of for-profit entities operate with an annual budget of $1 million or less. Taken together with individual providers, who report mostly budgets of under $100,000, about three-quarters of respondents report an annual budget of under $1 million. This means that, including individual service providers (the majority of whom report budgets of under $100K), about three-quarters of respondents report an annual budget of under $1M.

• Clients cut across the entire nonprofit sector. Providers responding to our survey report working most frequently with nonprofit clients in the human services subsector. Other common client service areas include education and youth development, community organizing and advocacy, and arts and culture. These subsectors are also the ones in which respondents felt they had the most expertise – generally, as provider expertise in a particular subsector increased, so too did a provider’s frequency of contracts within the same subsector.
  

• Revenue is earned. The majority of providers rely entirely on contracts with clients for revenue. Two-thirds report no separate support from contributions or funders. Most respondents have short-term and inexpensive contracts – over half have an average contract size of under $10,000 and implement contracts over six months or less. Less than one out of ten providers overall average contracts worth over $50,000.

• What are providers working on? Respondents report that most often they are working to help nonprofit clients improve internal and external communication or to make service delivery and operations more efficient. They also emphasize using technology to improve collaboration within and outside of organizations and to build an organization’s ability to make decisions about future technology needs. Respondents are least likely to provide services in order to improve the management of financial or human resources or to improve services for the special needs of the client base. Further, few report regularly helping nonprofit clients use technology to evaluate their program results or effectiveness (about 35%).

• How do providers ensure success? We wanted to learn what strategies respondents utilize to engage clients in their technology projects and ensure project success. Here are a few highlights:

• Who is involved in decision-making? Existing literature has suggested that technology services are more likely to be understood, valued, and sustained if backed by leadership, so we asked providers how often they engage with leaders and other nonprofit staff. On average, we found that respondents regularly work with key decision makers. 62% of providers report working with CEOs or Executive Directors often or always. Overall, providers report most commonly engaging Program Directors, Managers, or IT/Technology Administrators (about 70% engage these staff often or always).
  

• How do providers assess client readiness? A majority of providers use multiple strategies to assess a nonprofit’s readiness for a technology project. Most often, respondents use informal approaches, like conversations with the organization about the proposed scope of the project. Providers less often use formal assessment tools like surveys to get information about the client. Smaller providers, providers with shorter contracts, and those who spend less time on-site with clients more often use formal strategies.

• How do providers ensure that technology projects are sustainable? Most commonly, providers will work to “meet clients where they are” in terms of staff and leadership comfort with and knowledge of technology. Specifically, respondents told us they often or always try to explain technology concepts in non-technical ways, pay attention to the culture at their client organizations, tailor their services to meet specific needs, and build training and support services into their projects. They incorporate project management components into their projects and strive to infuse technology into client organizations, by demonstrating how technology projects link to key functions of the nonprofit or helping clients understand their ongoing technology needs.

• Other strategies that might be viewed as helping clients plan for sustainable technology projects are much less common. Only about one-third of TSPs report often or always helping clients develop a technology plan or meeting with funders to ensure future technology funding. Further data collection and analysis may reveal whether these strategies are in fact integral to sustainability outcomes.

• How do providers evaluate their work? Providers by and large report that they are more likely to use informal methods to evaluate the success or impact of their own work. The most common evaluation methods reported include debriefing with a client throughout the course of a project (80%) or conducting observations at the client site (60%). A minority of providers report that they survey their clients after a project is completed (30% conduct surveys, 20% survey clients 6 months or more after a project is completed). About 30% create performance measures to evaluate projects against, and fewer (20%) use longitudinal evaluation processes (e.g. following a project over time). TSPs were least likely to engage an external evaluator (under 15%), with nonprofit providers somewhat more likely to use this resource.
  

What's next for the TechImpact Project? In April we will be surveying hundreds of nonprofit organizations who have worked with a provider over the past two years to get their view. We will also follow eight nonprofits engaged in a tech project over the course of a year.

When all said and done, the TechImpact project will provide a robust picture of how technology and technology service providers are impacting nonprofit organizations. We also hope to offer recommendations for best practices, as well as tools that can help providers, nonprofit clients, and funders understand and evaluate the effectiveness of technology services.