One of the most valuable services they provide is data of how organizations across the nonprofit sector are using technology. They conduct regular surveys and research, and publish regular reports which are available for free download on their web site. Samples of reports available include:

• 2008 CMS Satisfaction Survey
• 2007 CRM Satisfaction Survey
• Nonprofit IT Staffing: Staffing Levels, Recruiting, Retention, and Outsourcing
• Nonprofit IT Staffing: Budgets, Salaries, Training and Planning
• Getting Your Systems Talking: A Framework to Evaluate APIs and Data Exchange Features

At Darim, we find that the Jewish community, in general, lags behind both similar for profit and non profit organizations in their use of Internet technologies, social media strategies and data management. There are wonderful notable exceptions, but Darim’s work focuses largely on helping Jewish orgs get a leg up on how they use these powerful tools.

While we often compare our work to other similar organizations in our community, it is important to step outside the Jewish community from time to time to see how our work and investments compare with other nonprofit organizations. Salaries and education of IT staff, how centralized or distributed the tasks are among staff, what ongoing training or professional development is offered, etc. The NTEN reports offer a window into the broader nonprofit community, showing the trends of both small and large organizations.

A new report on IT staffing is due in January and you’ll find a link to it here on JewPoint0!

Check out some other interesting articles and resources on IT staffing:

• Beth Kanter on “How Much Time Does It Take To Do Social Media?”

• Case study from the US Holocaust Museum on how much time it takes to staff their IT strategy

• Download the report: “Judaism 2.0: Identity, Philanthropy and the New Media” by Gail Hyman and published by the Jewish Funders Network.