Why an equity guide?
Nonprofit technology is marked by inequities within our organizations and our sector. You can see this in staffing and processes, and the way technology tools are implemented.
These inequities must be dismantled if we want to address our communities’ needs permanently. Whether you’re a user, builder, or funder, you have a responsibility to ensure the equitable use of technology.
Use this Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology as an active and regular part of your strategy discussions, policy review processes, and as a resource for evaluation.
The Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology has three sections. Through this guide, you’ll understand how to:
- Use technology within nonprofit organizations to further equity for staff and communities.
- Fund nonprofit technology to ensure successful, sustainable projects and encourage bold experimentation.
- Create and implement technology for nonprofits that disrupts the nonprofit corporate model and recognizes the nonprofit sector’s uniqueness.
NTEN focuses on supporting nonprofit staff in using technology strategically in racially equitable ways to meet their missions and community needs. It became clear that we needed a resource to guide equitable decision-making and investment at all levels. The global pandemic and the largest mobilization of protests for racial justice in history brought these issues into sharper relief. We anticipate this guide will evolve as it mirrors changes in society.
We acknowledge that organizations of different budgets and staff sizes may have obstacles to their capacity that make complete adherence to these guidelines difficult. Ultimately, these are technology-related guidelines, but technology does not and cannot succeed without an organizational culture that supports it. Similarly, to advance these equity-based guidelines, organizations need to adopt and operate with a commitment to ethics and equity across all their work areas.
Thank you to the community members who worked with us to create this guide. If you would like to join us in future work on this project, please email NTEN CEO Amy Sample Ward.
