The Not-for-Profit Technology Plan

The not-for-profit has a vested interest in deploying technology to better internal business processes, increase efficiency, leverage economies of scale, and reduce operating expenses. However, non-profits are under exceptional pressure to justify spending that doesn’t directly relate to their cause, and IT could be perceived as a risky investment in rapidly obsoleting assets. So the challenge becomes a management problem: how to transparently relate technology spending to the strategic business plan.

Traditionally, this is accomplished through a written document called a Technology Plan. Usually a consensus-driven document, the Technology Plan articulates the role of technology to meet the organization’s objectives and describes the upcoming strategy for acquisition and deployment. It’s a blue-print document that can then be shared with stakeholders to explain technology spending in conceptual terms and often predicates short-run budget requests.

In researching this topic for a presentation to one of my graduate classes, I came across information for preparing technology plans for non-profits. I thought it would be useful to capture them here.

• Westchester Not-for-Profit Technology Council
  Excellent tech/strategy information from the perspective of a non-profit http://csis.pace.edu/wntc/resources/technology.htm
• Broad Non-Profit Strategic Plan w/o Tech Emphasis (1999-2002)
  The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
  http://www.nynjtc.org/stratplan2000.html
• Sample Tech Plan from Senior Corps Tech Center
  http://www.seniortechcenter.org/learning_paths/
  tech_smart/other_models/sample_technology_plan.php
• Specific Technology Plan – 2002-2004Monroe County Public Library, Indiana
  http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/general_info/techplan.html
• Specific Technology Plan – Georgia Public K-12 Schools
  http://techservices.doe.k12.ga.us/edtech/TechPlan.htm
• Specific Technology Plan – Chicago Black Data Processing NP
  http://www.bdpa-chicago.org/TechnologyPlan2005.doc

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