Chris Roesner, Director of Finance, EveryoneOn
I had the benefit of going to NTEN’s 2023 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) in Denver this month. There I convened with 2,000 nonprofit peers to learn about technology, digital transformation, digital inclusion, and to share about the struggles and the victories many of us share.
NTC was perfectly timed. I'm currently leading EveryoneOn through its own journey of digital transformation. As I write, RSM - a global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms - is kicking off an organization-wide technology assessment and road mapping project for EveryoneOn.
Thanks in part to funding from our long-time partners Best Buy Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York, we're beginning a first-time effort to document our current technology infrastructure, analyze our current IT needs and challenges, and frame our strategic technology goals around growth and impact. The result will be a two-to-three-year plan for how to develop an IT infrastructure and IT operations that will increase our efficiency, scale our work, and provide deeper insights into the impact our work is already having throughout the country.
Thanks to the folks at NTEN - a lean and mighty team like EveryoneOn - I was able to bring home key IT insights and learnings from their conference. Some of these can be applied immediately, some will help better inform our work toward deeper digital transformation, and some will help manage the integrity of our data throughout its lifecycle.
Here are some key takeaways for me from the conference:
There is low-hanging fruit - areas where EveryoneOn can make an immediate impact.
We're not alone in feeling under-resourced in our ability to adopt, maintain and leverage technology, and use our own data.
A handful of nonprofits are doing it right - making continued investments in people, systems and resources to keep abreast of and leverage the latest technologies.
Technology no longer belongs in a siloed IT department. Done right, IT is a fundamental ecosystem that marries the diverse functional areas of an organization to add tremendous insight and value to business operations.
There are vast blindspots in technology and data that if not considered, systemically exclude underserved communities, and contrary to our work, can broaden the digital divide.
As EveryoneOn embarks on our own path toward digital transformation, one thing is clear: it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s likely a two-to-three-year process and then continues through ongoing evaluation, tweaking and responding to new technologies and business needs. And it won’t sit with one staffer but instead take a cross-functional team dedicated to long-term success; success that’s defined by a common understanding of shared organizational goals. Oh, and funding - it’s going to take lots of funding.
I'm particularly excited about our work with RSM because the result will be, among other things, a comprehensive document that will clearly make the case for our technology investment and outline the platforms, systems, people, processes, budgets and timelines to make it a reality. With this information, we'll be empowered to begin speaking with partners who can invest in expanding the work of EveryoneOn and deepening the amazing impact our work has already proven to deliver, such as connecting over 1M people to affordable internet.
Do you have a passion for digital equity? Do you have professional IT skills? Are you interested in helping fund EveryoneOn’s digital transformation? Email us at support@everyoneon.org to learn how you can help deliver more high-speed internet, more low- and no-cost computers, and more digital skills trainings to those who need it most.