Why do nonprofit organizations need IT support?
As organizations that strengthen communities worldwide, non-profit organizations play vital roles in the social and economic well-being of the global and US economy. However, the reality is that not all organizations will reach or maintain success from creation. With the growing technology usage today, there are many options for IT support for non-profits to help small and medium businesses produce results for donors and stay efficient.
Non-profit organizations make up about 15% of the US economy – that’s 1.5 million organizations working towards the greater good! For non-profits in Texas, there are over 100,000 organizations or about 1 non-profit for every 4,000 people. Unfortunately, many non-profits face technology problems, causing them to trail behind. By addressing these concerns, the results of their work could multiply and help them grow in the long term. It’s essential to pinpoint all challenges and disruptions so you can tackle them head-on with technology.
1. Limited budget
Small-scale non-profit organizations may struggle with a tight budget, making it a priority to gain the greatest return on investment toward their social cause. Typically, non-profits reach out for IT support only when something breaks (often called the break-fix method), but that’s become an outdated method of tech support and can be costly in the long run.
2. Small-scale labor
While some non-profits have employees that keep the ship running, many depend on volunteers to churn out results. Allocating a volunteer to tend to the organization’s technology needs means one less person driving the ship. It’s best to allocate the best resources to support the cause instead of focusing on technology.
3. Lack of resources
With new technology constantly being pumped out, it’s a workload to stay up to date with the best productivity software for work. Lacking the right expertise can be detrimental to an organization because technology isn’t black and white. It’s even more challenging to find a tech-savvy volunteer you can count on 24/7 to address your non-profit’s cyber security concerns, fix broken software and hardware, and upgrade any outdated technology
4. Downtime
The challenge that all companies risk running into is downtime. Downtime costs time, money, data, and energy to get systems back up and running. If your company experiences downtime, it’s crucial to create a non-profit backup and disaster recovery plan to minimize the impact of downtime.
Outsourcing IT support for non-profits
Solving every IT challenge can be overwhelming for small businesses, so a route many take is outsourcing IT support. For non-profits, donors want to see results, and often non-profit organizations are too slow to adopt new technology. The National Center for Charitable Statistics notes that about 30% of non-profits will cease to exist after ten years. Repeatedly, we see that organizations that invest in technology end up making greater gains. This is because outsourcing non-profit IT allows people within the company to focus on the cause itself – not to mention having a robust cyber security strategy and experts to monitor, manage, and maintain your entire IT infrastructure.
Having reliable IT support for non-profits is the key to increasing exposure, raising funds, gaining more volunteers, and winning awards. IT partners often offer managed IT services, IT support, IT consulting, and more to take the weight of technology off the shoulders of non-profits. It’s taking the first step that can be daunting for many organizations, so we recommend researching organizations, whether it’s an IT partner in Austin or IT support in Dallas, to provide you guidance.
Supporting non-profits with technology
IT support partners offer non-profits in Texas a variety of solutions to overcome any challenge. Technology helps streamline systems, track donor data, and automate routine tasks that take valuable time away from non-profit volunteers and staff. These organizations leave much on the table when technology is left out of the picture because, often, non-profits don’t know which resources and options are available to them.
Start gaining expert IT support and access to experienced IT professionals, unlimited IT support, and managed IT services for nonprofits at Parried. As with anything, the first step to success is starting, so check out these free IT resources for non-profits, covering strategies from moving to the cloud, phishing, cyber security, and more.
