Non-profits can gain from a cloud technology leapfrog

How nonprofits plan the move to the cloud

News By Chris Brewer published 27 November 2024

The non-profit sector faces unique challenges and an online hub for data and services can provide a path out of current complexity

The non-profit sector is under pressure from all angles. Players compete with other good causes for donations and funding, they must stay in compliance with shifting rules, they must manage campaigns effectively and serve a large roster of stakeholders with a modest number of internal staff. And, just as much as any for-profit enterprise, they need to turn to technology for the automation, operational excellence and flexibility they sorely need.

And all the evidence we are seeing suggests that they are doing so. According to our survey in 2023, 59 percent of UK and US nonprofits say they are increasing technology spending and 23 percent say they are increasing that spend “significantly”. That willingness to invest includes core systems too with 57 percent planning to select or deploy a new ERP inside 12 months.

Having been developed with mostly modest budgets, non-profits need to modernize and reap the power of a technology leapfrog. Paper-based processes or data islands on piecemeal software offer a poor combination for attracting staff or for satisfying complex needs. As with any organization, the restrictiveness of legacy IT is a barrier and, as with most organizations today, non-profits are turning to the cloud for a unified approach to managing operations. Our experience is that for non-profits, moving core services to the cloud is a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’, and the cost of change is overwhelmingly outrun by the cost of not changing.

The benefits of continuous software improvements, program and data integration, universal accessibility and utility-based tariffs are an excellent fit for what nonprofits need today. But beyond these, cloud also offers an opportunity for process transformation and a path out of legacy.

Chris Brewer

Growth Director for Non-Profits at Unit4.

Best practices

For non-profits pondering IT change, our experience tells us there are some clear best practices to be observed.

Organizations must first have in place a vision of their future state and the reasons for transformation. They should also take a process-first approach where thinking is led by the need to make processes simpler and smoother. As holders of highly sensitive data, they need a clear plan for what data they need to collect, what they want to do with it and how to handle it safely.

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