As technology is becoming more useful, pervasive, and robust it promises new possibilities to nonprofit leaders for their organisations and the work they do. It can help them improve the impact of their work, save costs, and get better organised. It is therefore crucial that nonprofit leaders think about technology seriously, and pragmatically.

  1. The potential benefit of the tech they are employing The simplest and most effective way to understand potential benefits is to discuss them with other organisations that have been using the tech, in order to get a better sense of how much it has helped them.
  2. The maturity of the technology employed Technologies that do not have a mature ecosystem and a user adoption track record pose a very high outcome risk. Unless this risk has the potential for a significant reward in terms of impact, I would advise against using that tech.
  3. Your organisational capacity to adopt technology Without organisational capacity, the technology cannot help much.
  4. The total cost of ownership It’s important for organisational leaders to estimate the total cost of ownership and accordingly decide upon the extent of technology adoption (if at all).

Read the full article about tech for social good by Vivek Singh at India Development Review.