Announcing the Nonprofit Trends Report, Second Edition

Nonprofits operate in a changing world, and a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Demand for more nonprofit programs and services is rising, as the world is threatened by climate change, natural and human-made disasters, humanitarian crises, political chaos, food insecurity, and so much more. Additionally, nonprofits of all sizes are facing growing expectations to provide transparency in how they spend their donor dollars, and to provide constituents more personalized experiences in the rest of their lives.

Eighty-five percent of nonprofits surveyed agreed that technology is key to the success of their operations. Technology can unlock the power of data while providing personalized experiences. It allows nonprofits to reach new audiences, serve more communities, respond to new challenges, or optimize opportunities. Nonprofits must embrace new tools to enable constituents to participate in their missions.

Salesforce.org conducted a survey of 725 nonprofit leaders to better understand the changing needs of nonprofits.

The second edition of the Nonprofit Trends Report has some helpful statistics on what nonprofits see as the challenges and opportunities they face today, and where they’re using technology to advance their missions. We believe technology for nonprofits should be affordable, break down silos, enable people to collaborate within and across organizations, provide flexibility in building custom solutions, and make it possible for organizations to capture, share, transfer, and access data when needed.

Key findings from the report include:

• People want to be involved in nonprofits’ work
  • 74% of nonprofits report that constituents’ desire to participate in their organization’s work has increased over the last five years.
  • Compared to the previous year’s survey, among nonprofits in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, we saw a year-over-year increase of 16 points in nonprofits saying that constituents’ desire to participate in nonprofit’s work has increased in the last five years
• Transparency and trust are still the keys to success
  • 69% of nonprofits say the demand for transparency regarding funding has increased at least moderately over the past five years.
• Demand for programs and services is rising in an increasingly volatile world
  • 75% of nonprofits reported an increase in demand for programs.
• Most nonprofits lack IT talent, vision and budget
  • 93% state lack IT or technical staff is a challenge to their organization’s adoption of new technologies.
• Technology helps connect nonprofits and their constituents
  • 85% of nonprofits surveyed said technology is the key to the success of their organizations.
• Capturing and leveraging data are continuous challenges for nonprofits
  • 75% of respondents say that how to measure and report data is a challenge.
• The largest focus for marketing is digital outreach
  • 85% use insights from their marketing and engagement data to target outreach and social media, website, and advertising are the top three focus areas.
• Fundraising teams have the highest adoption of basic CRM
  • 91% have a core CRM or are planning to use one, yet less than one third of development teams use mobile for staff or constituent experience.

More than ever, nonprofits have an opportunity to engage hearts and minds, inspire action and build impact. As expectations change, so must the social sector’s approach to serving people. To get all the detailed insights, head over to the Salesforce.org blog, and download the complete report today.