Nonprofits have always strived to leverage digital tools to advance their missions. The sector is famously scrappy—always finding creative ways to do more with less, even in the face of chronic underfunding and resource constraints. Despite these challenges, nonprofit professionals persistently seek out new technologies to better serve their communities and drive impact. NTEN’s Tech Accelerate is one such tool – a free assessment that helps nonprofits evaluate their technology adoption, practices, and policies across four key areas: engagement, infrastructure, leadership, and organization.
Last summer, I had the privilege of completing a student capstone paper, Contemporary Practices in Nonprofit Technology Use and Management: An Exploratory Data Analysis, that was a collaborative effort between NTEN and our University of Minnesota team, composed of Nick Bovee-Gazett and me. Our goal was to conduct an exploratory analysis of NTEN’s Tech Accelerate dataset. Our work included quantitative analysis, and a structured literature review to contextualize findings within broader nonprofit sector trends.
What the data confirms: Size, age, and staffing matter
Our analysis examined a dataset of Tech Accelerate assessments from almost 1,300 organizations spanning the past eight years. We found clear, consistent patterns:
- Smaller organizations (by staff and budget) report higher technology risk across all categories. Micro-sized nonprofits with fewer than one full-time employee trigger risk flags on 65% of survey answers, compared to just 34% among organizations with 150+ staff.
- Newer organizations face greater digital vulnerability. Nonprofits founded in the 2010s and 2020s show significantly higher risk levels than those established in earlier decades.
- Dedicated technology staff make a difference. While disparities were evident across multiple dimensions—size, budget, age—the number of technology staff employed by an organization appeared to have the biggest impact. Organizations with no tech staff averaged nearly 60% risk flags, while the rate among organizations with more than ten tech staff dropped to 28%. Investment in people—not just tools—appears to be the most effective lever for digital readiness.
These findings may sound familiar, but the granularity of the Tech Accelerate data brings some disparities lurking underneath into sharper focus. Fifteen individual assessment questions show risk flag rate differences of 50 percentage points or more between the smallest and largest organizations. These gaps aren’t just statistical—they’re indicators of structural deficiencies that shape how nonprofit staff perceive and self-report on their digital readiness.
Investment in people—not just tools—appears to be the most effective lever for digital readiness.
Repeat engagement appears to drive improvement
Our most encouraging finding was that organizations conducting multiple Tech Accelerate assessments over time tend to show improving scores. Among 181 organizations with repeat assessments, 61% reduced their overall risk flag rate, with average risk levels falling from 44.2% to 40.8%. The share of organizations in the lowest-risk quartile increased by 50%, suggesting that repeated engagement may support real progress.
This trend raises important questions: Are these improvements actually a reflection of substantive organizational change, and if so, what role does Tech Accelerate play in driving that change? While the data cannot establish causality, it points to the potential of self-assessment as both a diagnostic and developmental tool. Further research is needed to explore whether score improvements correlate with real-world outcomes and how assessment use or cohort participation contributes to that journey.
Cohort participation: A promising advantage
Since 2024, organizations participating in NTEN’s Nonprofit Tech Readiness cohorts have reported lower average risk levels than non-group peers. While pre-2024 data showed similar distributions, cohort scores have since diverged in a positive direction. This suggests that structured engagement and support through cohort programs may yield cumulative benefits, though more research is needed to confirm the link between participation and lasting organizational change.
Beyond the numbers: Technology adoption is not just technical
The evidence gathered in this analysis reinforces a critical lesson: technology adoption in the nonprofit sector cannot be treated as a purely technical exercise. Progress requires:
- Cultural change
- Leadership commitment
- Equitable governance
- Intentional alignment of digital tools with mission outcomes
Emerging technologies, especially AI, bring both transformative potential and new risks. The urgent need for clear policies, robust data hygiene, bias audits, and cross-functional governance structures is more apparent than ever. The sector stands at a critical juncture: opportunities for impact are expanding, but so too are the risks of exclusion, inequity, and strategic drift.
Toward integrated, intentional strategies
Meeting modern challenges requires strategies that weave technology into every layer of organizational planning and practice—strategies grounded in equity, informed by data, guided by community voices, and supported by sustained investment in people and systems. The path forward is not about adopting the newest tools for their own sake, but about building the technical, ethical, and organizational capacity to ensure that technology serves as a true enabler of mission and social good.
Organizations conducting multiple Tech Accelerate assessments over time tend to show improving scores.
The challenges are real, but so are the opportunities. By embracing integrated approaches, investing in people, and centering equity and mission, nonprofits can harness technology to lead.
Jason Samuels
he/him/his
Consultant, W4Sight, LLC
Experienced professional with a track record of leading IT systems change in the nonprofit sector. An expert at designing, implementing, and supporting information systems that strategically and effectively meet business needs.
