The 2022 State of Philanthropy Tech survey reveals surprising changes in the technology environment, practices, and perceptions of philanthropy since the last survey at the start of the pandemic in June 2020.
As the only survey tracking tech trends in philanthropy throughout North America, EU, and UK, this year’s survey conducted by the Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG) offers a wealth of information on the current state of technology in philanthropy from remote workplace trends to security breach rates and IT staffing ratios.
“The transition and preference for remote work in philanthropic institutions has been incredible to witness,” says Survey Committee Chair, Kris LeCorgne, Senior Business Systems Analyst, MacArthur Foundation. “With 77% of all respondents planning to be hybrid/remote for 2023 and beyond, the opportunities for continued digital transformation have never been more promising.”
Key trends include:
- 77% of respondents indicated that they plan to move to a hybrid/remote workplace model for 2023 and beyond. Corporate foundations are most likely (100%) to adopt a hybrid/remote model, followed by private foundations (84%) and then family foundations (81%).
- Funders continue to varying extents to support nonprofits’ ongoing response to the pandemic. Commitment to streamlining applications and reporting continues, but the trend to remove funding restrictions may have reverted—just 34% of grantmakers continue to remove funding restrictions, down from a high of 41% in 2020.
- After holding steady over the two previous surveys, the sector saw a significant improvement overall in the average IT staffing ratio.On average, respondents reported one IT person for every 12 staff members (12:1), an improvement from the 17:1 ratio reported in 2020. Community foundations see double the staffing ratio of private foundations.
- Just 43% of organizations shared that the person leading technology reports to the CEO or President.
- More technology teams than ever before are receiving DEI training. While the number of organizations offering no training whatsoever has decreased from 37% to 21% in 2022, private foundations remain an outlier with 30% offering no DEI training to staff in technology-related roles.
- Overall respondents reported significantly fewer cybersecurity breaches over the past two years, the first steady improvement since 2016. Just 12% of foundations reported a security breach in the past two years, down significantly from 22% in 2020.
- Fluxx, Foundant, and Salesforce are the three Grants Management Systems (GMS) with the highest usage among respondents; the use of a custom GMS has decreased significantly to just 5%.
“I’m heartened to see that philanthropy’s commitment to streamlining and support for grantseekers and grantees is sustained in 2022,” says Chantal Forster, Executive Director of TAG. “Moreover, this year’s survey illustrates an even deeper commitment to providing technical assistance and training as well as paperless payments and streamlining applications and reporting.”
The 2022 State of Philanthropy Tech survey, as well as the results presented here, were developed by the Technology Association of Grantmakers’ Survey Committee led by Kristopher LeCorgne, Senior Business Analyst at the MacArthur Foundation and Chantal Forster, Executive Director of the Technology Association of Grantmakers.
Committee members include:
- Tess Hanrahan, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
- Shelly Espich, Greater Cincinnati Foundation
- Erin Peterson, Klarman Family Foundation
- Alyssa Ford, Tech Impact
Additional analysis and editing were conducted by Tech Impact.