Staffing Information Technology is frequently a challenge for nonprofit organizations. Financial resources are typically limited, and hiring managers often feel overwhelmed and under-educated when it comes to IT. Determining where IT should fit into the organization, how many IT staff people are needed, and what those people should be spending their time doing can be difficult decisions.

In order to shed some light on these questions, NTEN and the Nonprofit Times teamed up to create the Nonprofit IT Staffing Survey. The results of this survey will be presented in two parts. The first report, "Nonprofit IT Staffing: Staffing Levels, Recruiting, Retention, and Outsourcing" focuses on the nature of IT staff and departments in nonprofits.

> Download the report for free!

Additional findings of the Nonprofit IT Staffing Report include:

• On average, nonprofits employ one IT staff member for every 26 employees.
• IT staff spend their time in much the same way, regardless of organization size or level of technology adoption. For the second year, the largest percentage of staff time, roughly 40%, is spent on desktop and application support.
• The average tenure for IT staff at nonprofits is 4.3 years. Tenures were longer for larger organizations and organizations that felt they had greater technology adoption.
• For the second year small nonprofits self identify lower on the technology adoption spectrum than larger organizations. Almost 50% of small organizations feel behind the curve.
  

> Download the report for free!

An additional report will cover Salaries & Budgets and IT Management & Planning in the near future.

Staffing the information technology (IT) function is frequently a challenge for nonprofit organizations. Financial resources are typically limited, and hiring managers often feel overwhelmed and under-educated when it comes to IT. Determining how much time and money to invest in information technology can be difficult decisions.

In order to shed some light on these questions, NTEN and the Nonprofit Times teamed up to create the Nonprofit IT Staffing Survey.

This second and final report covers "Budgets, Salaries, Training, and Planning".

> Download the report for free!

We conduct an annual Community Survey to find out more about who makes up the NTEN community and to get feedback about how we can best serve this nonprofit technology community’s needs.

The NTEN Community is made up of supporting members and participants in NTEN programs, events, or email lists, totaling just under 10,000 nonprofit and technology professionals. This survey was conducted in July 2007.

We received survey responses from 808 individuals, a little over half of whom were NTEN members. This report presents the demographic make up of the nonprofit technology community, including data about organization types, staff sizes, budget sizes, and job roles.

Key Findings:

> Communications and Marketing represent both the fastest growing constituencies in the community in terms of job roles and the biggest organizational challenges in terms of project area.

> NTEN membership reflects the general nonprofit technology community, but does not reflect the makeup of the general nonprofit sector.

Download the full report.

We asked, and you answered. We surveyed NTEN members and others in the nonprofit technology community to find out who you are and what you want from your professional association. You came back and told us what your needs are and how NTEN can meet them.

We surveyed 516 people, of which about half were NTEN members and all were involved in nonprofit technology in some way. We’ve summarized what you told us about who you are and what you need below. A more detailed synopsis can be found in the 2006 Community Survey Analysis (PDF).

Who You Are

Almost 60 percent of you work for a nonprofit organization and many others work for technology consulting firms (10.7%) and associations (7.7%). About a quarter of you are IT staff, while about 13 percent are Executive Directors/CEOs or consultants. We also have a lot (12.4%) of marketing and communications staff in our community.

Many of you work toward social change every day and share common goals with others in NTEN. The most common areas our members work in are education, human services, and public and social benefit organizations.

What You Need

From this survey we learned that you have very different needs depending on your profession.

New and Accidental Techies: You want information in non-tech speak, resources you can put to immediate use, and access to knowledgeable community you can tap into for advice.

IT Staff: You’re already tech savvy, but want some help staying on top of new trends. You want access to resources and training, and you want advice on how to convince management to fund technology.

Senior Staff: You want to know how technology can make your organization more productive and you want information to help you confidently work with vendors and make technology purchasing decisions.

Consultants and Vendors: You want technology news and information that speaks to the needs of nonprofit organizations – your clients. You also want to reach out to the nonprofits in our community and potentially work with them in the future.

International Organizations: Your top priority is being a part of a vibrant community. You want to connect with others in nonprofit technology who are located around the world and help each other out.

Want more details? Then download the full summary of our findings. If you’re not yet an NTEN member, join our community.

A report from Public Interest Registry

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Since 2003, Public Interest Registry (PIR) has managed the more than 3 million .org domain names. This report is aimed at explaining how the .org domain process works, what programs and service PIR has implemented in the last 2 years, and what PIR will be doing to strengthen the .org domain internationally in the future.

Public Interest Registry is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Internet Society to manage the .ORG domain. PIR's mission is to manage the .ORG domain in an exemplary manner while educating and empowering the global non-commercial community to more effectively utilize the Internet. PIR is based in Reston, Virginia.

• Whois .ORG: A Two-Year Report From Public Interest Registry (PDF, 14 pages)

Survey conducted and report prepared by Ed Batista, Holly Ross, and Liz Wakefield. Sponsored by NTEN.

NTEN recently conducted its second annual community survey to get feedback on NTEN programs and membership. The online survey was promoted directly to NTEN members, resulting in 271 member responses, and promoted to non-members via various nonprofit email groups, resulting in 292 non-member responses.

In this analysis, we explore the responses to specific questions and draw some initial conclusions from those results. In addition to reviewing the assessment, we encourage you to review the survey data.

Read the 2004 NTEN Community Survey (PDF, 12 pages, 220 KB) results.