A study from John Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies cited in the Chronicle of Philanthropy May 4th issue suggests that thirty-seven percent of agencies seeking grant funding for technology were successful in obtaining it. Only 25% were able to get grant funding for program development. The study found that the three most crucial items that agencies sought funding for were technology, program development, and staff development and strategic planning.

Except for one notable exception, technology headed the list of capital needs for nonprofits in all fields and of all sizes. Even among the small and medium-sized organizations, 84 percent reported a need for capital to finance new technology, and among museums and theaters it reached 95 percent of the responding organizations.

And how did agencies fare when attempting to raise funds?

…the two top ranked needs—technology and program development—ranked third and last in terms of success. Thus, while 91 percent of organizations indicated a need for capital to acquire new technology,only 37 percent reported success in raising such capital. Similarly, while 80 percent indicated a need for capital for program development,” only 25 percent were able to report success in raising the capital they needed for this purpose.

Of the successful organizations, housing and elderly service organizations were the most succssful in raising captial funds. Child and family service organizations were the least successful. Community development and arts/cultural organizations fell in between.

Links:
The study, “Investment Capital: The New Challenge for American Non-Profits” is online at the the Center’s web site. This is part of the Center’s Listening Post project.

Found in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (registration and subscription required).