Denis Opudo
The latest 2018 Global NGO Technology Report indicates that Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have increased to employ different technological approaches in their operations. A Non-profit Tech for Good and non-profit operator of the .org domain, Public Interest Registry released the report.
Public Interest Registry surveyed 164 different countries from Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Australia and North America. They received responses from 5,352 Ngo workers.
From the report, it was clear that many NGOs use emails, websites and mobile technology in their operations. The NGOs also use social media and fundraising tools for security and data management. Africa’s NGOs reported better usage of websites. The report indicated that 74% of NGO from Africa own websites and 87% of these websites are mobile compatible.
The survey indicated that only 8% of NGOs use .com domain compared to 68% which use .org. Moreover, the research showed that 92% of respondents have a website for the organization. Besides, 87% of these websites have mobile compatibility.
The results also showed that 93% of respondents have a Facebook page, 77% twitter handle and 57% have YouTube channels. Moreover, 63% of respondents said that they communicate with donors via mail. However, 15% of respondents still use text messages while 18% use messaging apps. The messaging apps used include WhatsApp which accounts for 87%, Facebook Messenger at 52% while Viber takes 4%.
The study findings also indicated that currently, 72% of respondents accept online donations. This is a 5% increase from the previous year. However, only 55% of NGOs in Africa accept online donations.
Besides, 95% of respondents conquered with the idea that social media remains the most effective brand awareness technique. However, only 32% of NGOs globally have documented social media plans.
In line with communication, the survey showed that 45% of NGOs rely on customer relationship management (CRM) software. Besides, 64% of those who rely on CRM use cloud-based CRM.
From the findings, 25% of respondents said that they post on Facebook daily. However, 68% said that they post less than once per week on LinkedIn while 24% post on twitter 2-3 times daily.
It was clear that 80% of NGOs prefer Microsoft Windows operating system for their laptops and computers. Additionally, many NGOs use Android smartphones and tablets compared to Apple iOS.
The study further indicated that despite cybersecurity threats, only 41% of respondents use encryption technology for communication and data protection.
According to the founder of Non-profit Tech for Good, Heather Mansfield, the NGOs continue to rely on technology. Therefore, he said that the NGOs will get a better way for security and data management. Additionally, he said the NGOs felt the need to modernize their data. He also said it was the first time for them to report on security and management issues of various NGOs with their donors.
According to the CEO of Public Interest Registry, Brian Cute, the report goes beyond showing the importance of the internet to NGOs. He said that if integrated with other technologies, the internet initiates various changes. He added that the NGOs need to take the opportunity and utilize new technological trends.
