Shoe string IT: Growing ICT capability in the not for profit sector

4:00pm 17 September 2010

Somewhere in the last two years we passed a Rubicon; ICT is now essential to every organisation.

It may only be phones, web presence and e-mail. More likely there will be compliance issues arround data security, business continuity or auditablility. Increasingly enterprise level ICT services are needed and many organisations are struggling to make the changes their operating environments now require.

The Not-For-Profit (NFP) sector in New Zealand is NZ$9.8billion “industry” employing more people than the construction, transportation and utilities industries combined. Funding restrictions historically meant it’s ICT uptake has been slow compared to commercial sectors. However that now needs to change rapidly to meet increased competition and compliance requirements.

Unfortunately the charity dollar suffered more than most from the recent financial crisis and is recovering more slowly than consumer spending. So as Rutherford once pointed out “we haven’t got the money so we’ve got to think!”.

This presentation describes some of what the sector has been thinking about it’s ICT services and some of the innovations that have occurred as a consequence.

About Hazel Jennings

Hazel Jennings leads ICT at the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and Chairs the Auckland not for profit ICT Leader’s Forum.

Her professional passion is reducing workplace drudgery through the use of appropriate technology – freeing people to do creative and socially significant work together.