Considering the rate at which IT evolves today, the decision to delay modernization efforts by just a couple of years can put nonprofits in a position where they are failing to meet the baseline expectations of employees, donors and the people they serve. Additionally, emerging technologies often offer powerful new ways for organizations to optimize their impact with limited resources by enhancing operations, improving employee productivity, increasing engagement with constituents and maximizing revenue from donations. 

AUTOMATION: There has been no escaping the hype around AI — generative AI tools in particular. According to BizTech magazine, many nonprofits are already leveraging AI solutions to analyze donor data and predict giving patterns, resulting in more targeted and effective fundraising campaigns. These tools include AI-powered chatbots, which can provide 24/7 support to donors, volunteers and constituents, helping to reduce the burden on staff. Chatbots can answer basic questions about programs and donation processes, provide updates on ongoing initiatives and even help schedule volunteer shifts. For organizations operating across international borders, automated translation features can dramatically expand their ability to serve populations in other countries while minimizing language barriers. Additionally, many nonprofits have begun to leverage Microsoft’s Copilot AI tool to streamline communications and content creation. AI-enabled PCs with neural processing units help power these use cases; they also support improved battery life and cybersecurity features for employee laptops.

ANALYTICS: So much of nonprofits’ ability to carry out their work depends on successful fundraising. As with any other type of marketing, organizations are constantly trying to apply lessons from previous campaigns about what has worked and what hasn’t. An effective data analytics program can supercharge this work, allowing nonprofits to scrutinize the ROI of past campaigns, uncover hidden trends and apply those insights to future fundraising initiatives. In addition to its predictive power, data analytics can help development leaders tailor their campaigns to specific donors — a capability that can have outsized returns for organizations where a small number of gifts account for a sizable portion of the overall budget. Just as important, analytics tools can help flag donors who are at risk of reducing their support, allowing organizations to proactively strengthen these crucial relationships and avert financial crises.

IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT: The addition of emerging technologies such as AI, analytics, virtual reality, augmented reality and the Internet of Things requires robust monitoring and management. An IT service management platform such as ServiceNow can keep a technology environment operating at full capacity — even for organizations with smaller IT staffs — helping to monitor and maintain growing IT stacks while ensuring consistent service levels across all systems. Nonprofits face unique ITSM challenges, such as the need to support both paid staff and volunteers, seasonal fluctuations in system demands and the demand for superior availability for donor-facing systems. Additionally, nonprofits must carefully track their technology costs and usage to maintain transparency with donors and board members and show that IT investments are achieving their intended outcomes. Effective ITSM platforms provide essential capabilities, including clear visibility into systems performance, automated detection of any issues, and self-service portals for routine requests.

Cybersecurity has become a top-of-mind IT concern for organizations in practically every industry, with cyberattacks such as ransomware growing exponentially over the past decade. According to IBM, the average global cost of a data breach reached $4.9 million in 2024, a 10%  increase over the previous year and the highest total ever. This sort of hit can be debilitating even for Fortune 500 companies with multibillion-dollar budgets. But for small and medium-sized organizations — including many nonprofits — a particularly destructive cyberattack represents an existential threat. While no cybersecurity strategy is bulletproof, proactive investments in security technology and training give nonprofit organizations the best chance of protecting their data and systems from attack.

REGULATIONS, COMPLIANCE AND TRUST: Nonprofits need to safeguard their data, not only to prevent a costly breach but also to avoid running afoul of government regulations, failing to meet grant-specific compliance guidelines and spoiling the trust of their donors. The National Council of Nonprofits advises organizations to adopt and honor privacy policies that are clearly articulated and communicated to all stakeholders. “Be sure that your policies comply with all applicable laws — and review the policies annually to ensure continued compliance,” the organization writes. NCN also advises against buying and selling donor lists, as donors frequently complain when they are inundated with appeals from multiple nonprofits after giving to one. “Buying or selling contact information is one of the fastest ways to have someone declare that they’ll never donate another dollar to your organization again,” NCN notes.

DATA PROTECTION AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT: Modern cybersecurity has moved beyond the “castle and moat” model that dominated for decades, in which the network perimeter was hardened to keep away outsiders. Today, variables such as remote work, guest Wi-Fi, file sharing and cloud use require that internal IT resources be made available to those sitting outside the organization. As a result, a growing number have adopted a zero-trust architecture, which verifies every user and device before granting access to a given resource. It can be tricky to balance the competing priorities of security and access, and an effective zero-trust architecture is typically made up of many moving parts, such as identity and access management tools, secure access service edge solutions and endpoint management platforms.

BUILDING A SECURITY-FIRST CULTURE: Protecting nonprofit data requires more than state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions. Staff and volunteers must also be trained to spot and report potential attacks. This is especially true for social engineering attacks such as phishing, in which hackers send phony emails to trick people into handing over their login credentials, paying fake invoices or clicking on malicious links. Gone are the days when most phishing emails could easily be spotted due to glaring grammatical mistakes and formatting errors. Today, attackers use sophisticated spear phishing techniques, impersonating employees’ bosses and close contacts. Along with training, nonprofits must invest resources into policy development, incident response plans and disaster recovery testing. These are all areas where a trusted third-party technology partner can be instrumental in lightening the load for nonprofit IT staff while providing additional peace of mind.