IT Strategy Question

I am a volunteer working for the a Charity on their IT Strategy, I have no experience of working for charity before, This has caused some problems.

I have got to the part where I have identified the existing situation and the proposed direction. I am about to look at candidate solutions, but I have problems on considering ways of evaluation these, as I usually use ROI, What should I use when working for non-profit orginisation?

The other observation I noticed is the problem of funding, causes problems with the buisness plan. How should I deal with long term options, or should
they be taken into account.

Any advice welcome?/thanx

Dave

dave,

roi is a fine format for evaluating technology projects as long as funding cycles, actual cashflow and recurring costs are clearly present in the analysis. charities can be very thin on operating cash, and thin on support for i.t. overhead as a line item in the overall expense budget. the best i.t. solutions for non-profits tend to have the least recurring expenses, even if there is a large upfront installation cost. sometimes "i.t. expertise" itself is a huge recurring cost to a small non-profit.

good luck!

[wr]

ROI = non profits is the mission goal(s) achieved
ROI = for profits is the profits achieved
so its still the same whether for or non profit..
A server does not know nor care who's data it minds (grin)

Sometimes you have to write 2 plans

1. Here is what what got and what we can do with it.
2. Here is what we need and what we can do with that.

or merge both and explain the advantages of the "what we need"..

I am not sure what you mean by long term options..
But as a rule I look at previous funding and try to work a matrix from that and add 25 % for hope and prayer LOL

Thanks Ozzie, and Will

The funding problem, I think Will answered it , most of the funding for previous projects projects has been on the short term, at the very most two years usually one year.

It is easier for non profit to get one off funding (capital type funding), but are shy on revenue funding.

I think I'm still going to have a problem equating service against cost. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your help.
Dave

One thing I've always done is go to the one who holds the purse strings (CEO, CTO, CIO, CFO, or, in your case, some sort of executive director) and ask how I can best help justify the purchase.

Once you get their input, revise your plan (xls sheet, etc) and then price out some other obvoius (obviously) inferior solutions. Make the decision a no-brainer!

The most important thing is to NOT show them the bare minimum that could get the job done. As soon as I've said something to the effect of, "Well, I suppose I could keep this network running by using chewing gum and string," I was given 25 cents, a pat on the head, and an "attaboy".

Hi Dave. I usually recommend that a nonprofit's technology plan look out into the same distance of the future as their strategic plan. If their strategic plan looks three years out, then so should their technology plan. The reason is that a nonprofit's technology plan is not just about the operations of an agency, but about having the best, most appropriate, tools to achieve their mission. Therefore, the technology solutions outlined in the technology plan should be tied directly to the goals and strategies of the agency's strategic plan.

Regarding the cost issues, you might want to think about a phased approach for implemention, prioritizing those things that can get implemented now, and then parceling the rest out over time. Cost will probably not be the only criteria used in determining what your phased approach should look like. Such things as training, and support and maintenance issues should also be looked at.

I'm sure that you're finding that a technology plan for a nonprofit has some significant differences than that of writing one in the private sector. I've been doing quite a lot of work recently in helping to clarify the distincitions between the two that I'd be happy to talk with you about off-list.

There are many great resources out there that are very specific about methodology for nonprofit technology planning, many of which can be found on TechSoup.

Please pardon my being a little self-promotional, but a book I authored entitled "Wired for Good: Strategic Technology Planning for Nonprofits" (Jossey-Bass) just got published. It is based on our work at the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits in Silicon Valley, helping nonprofits with technology planning. It might be a useful reference tool for you.

Regards,
Joni

***********************************************
Joni Podolsky
Project Manager, Consultant, Author and Trainer

jonipo@pacbell.net

Author, "Wired for Good: Strategic Technology Planning for Nonprofits," Jossey-Bass, March 2003. http://www.josseybass.com

I am a new member, and this is my first post, but perhaps I can add to the good suggestions already posted here.

Some potential alternative ways of quantifying the non-profit "ROI":

In general you might consider reducing the non-profit's non-monetary outcomes to "units of service" or something similar. Then by dividing the annual budget by the total units of service completed, you can project the non-profit's "return" in a social sense (ie. the cost per unit of service rendered.

For example, total annual operating cost per participant served (or proposal funded, or referral made or whatever is relevant to that particular non-profit)currently, compared with the total operating cost per participant after the plan is implemented.

If the plan results in a savings on a per participant served basis, you can then use that to project the "payback" period (ie, how long and how many served before you pay back the initial investment to implement the plan, and start realizing true savings in the provision of services.

Hope this is helpful

Greg

you get their input, revise your plan (xls sheet, etc) and then price out some other obvoius (obviously) inferior solutions. Make the decision a no-brainer!

I agree with rog completely!

I am in the same situation right now. Before I prepared my proposal, I threw together a spread sheet to give her 'otions', something everybody likes:) After she was able to choose which options she preferred I was then able to narrow down my ideas into two complete solutions, option 1 or option 2. I submitted the proposal in last week and I am awaiting a response.

Finding out about this site was absolutely terrific. I was prepared to purchase software from Symantec and they told me about this site on the phone. So I came here and wow. Techsoup will save them almost $4,000

whatever route you choose make sure there''s plenty of buy in from management and staff. keep plan flexible, you never know what''s going to happy tomorrow. once a plan is completed, chances are there will be funding out there.

to counter some cash and depreciation limitations, we use dumb terminals and leasing our servers to free up cash for other captital or operation needs. you might want to look at linux and other open sources.

I''ve yet to find a nonprofit that wants to go through anything approaching the kind of ROI analysis a large corporate client requires.

In my experience, I agree that tying IT strategy to overall mission is critical. That''s the only way to effectively prioritize. I have found that an IT strategic plan can often be used as a tool for obtaining funding. On the other hand, sometimes an unexpected funding source will bump up a low priority project to the top of the list just because money is available for it. That''s the nature of the nonprofit environment.