How nonprofits can embrace digital growth

A few years ago, I found myself working into the evening. All the other staff had gone home except for one. It was quiet, the way that an office gets when the sun goes down and the hum of the day recedes. I felt the kind of pause that comes before someone asks a question. I don’t know if he stayed late to ask the question, or if it was spur of the moment, but it was one that every person in nonprofit life asks about social impact growth at some point:

How do you do this?

He was new to the world of policy and advocacy. He hadn’t known that there would be so many losses and that opposition to sustainability could be so fierce, so cynical. It rattled his confidence. He was cowed.

I told him my truth — not eloquently, but honestly:

You want the things you want more than you fear the things you fear.

You want clean water more than you fear saying the wrong thing; you want gender equity more than you feel intimidated by a difficult task; you want social equity more than you avoid dealing with distasteful people.

Growth, in our work, doesn’t come from making challenges go away. Our organizations and our work largely exist to confront bad, hard, scary stuff. We get through this by setting our sights on something more important.

Personal worries shrink in the shadow of something greater.

This lesson doesn’t just apply to mission work; it applies to the day-to-day tasks and skills we use, including digital growth.

Nonprofit organizations and movements have always involved all sorts of management work that you never see reflected in social change narratives. In the present day, this means digital growth.

How we do our work matters. Behind the scenes work matters. As AIDS activist Gil Gerald said: “I was an accidental leader. I saw myself as somebody who could do the stuff that the charismatic leaders didn’t do … We need a constitution. We need by-laws, right? I was willing to do the paperwork.”

Be willing to do the (digital) paperwork

In 2024, social impact work requires digital growth. The “paperwork” of our world includes bits and bytes and digital tools.

We need technology to create change.

You cannot manage a team or participate in government without technology.

You cannot reach the public, raise funds, or manage money without technology.

The technology you choose and the way you use it reflects your organization’s values and changes your impact: word processors, email software, contact databases, website and project management tools, graphics software, social media tools, bookkeeping systems, and phones, will all be critical tools you use behind the scenes for your work.

Myths and realities of digital growth

“But I’m not a techie person!” you might be saying right now.

Nonsense. Like all types of growth, no one is born “good” at technology. We don’t even know how to use your legs or burp for ourselves. Everyone has the ability to learn.

“I’m not tech-savvy” is just one of several myths that disempower social impact workers and hinder efforts to strengthen communities and grow social impact.

Some of these others may ring a bell:

Myth: “Technology” is a thing.

Reality: Technology is not a thing, it’s a concept. There’s a big difference between a computer (and what you can do with it) and a drill – both can work towards your project; however, one opens more worlds than the other.

Myth: Some people are just better at technology.

Reality: Whether “some people” means young people, nerdy people, men, or anyone else, don’t buy into stereotypes.

Myth: Technology is someone else’s job.

Reality: Every department and every role in an organization uses digital technology. It’s everyone’s job to choose it and use it.

Myth: Nonprofits should use cheap technology.

Reality: Anything worth doing is worth doing well, as my mother would say. If your work matters, then your tools do, too.

Myth: Technology is unsavoury.

Reality: Yep, some tech companies and tech leaders do bad things. Yep, some forces for evil use technology to manipulate people into believing and doing harmful things. Refusing to learn how those tools are being used and why they are working isn’t noble. Dreams of sustainability and equality won’t come true if you don’t understand what you’re up against.

Don’t be cowed

Don’t buy the lie that you can’t do something, that skills don’t matter, or that details will take care of themselves. Digital growth means embracing challenges, even when they seem daunting.

The world is changed by actions, not (just) ideas. Actions requires tools to support them. You can’t act without technology.

Read More

• If you’d like to know more about digital growth capacity in the nonprofit sector, this recent survey highlights some of your peers’ challenges.
• If you’d like a glimpse into the way some folks systematically – and ruthlessly – exploit digital networks to achieve political goals, this article from Politico will fire you up.