May 3, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Nonprofits & Technology: Emerging Research for Usable Knowledge
edited by Michael Cortes and Kevin M. Rafter
New communications and data technologies, such as text messaging, blogs, wireless products, and Web sites, can improve efficiency, effectiveness, and organization — but not for the many nonprofit groups without enough money or skills, according to the 17 contributors to this volume, which explores if and how charities use technology and how they can better take advantage of such innovations.
Organized into four sections, the studies presented in this book examine the technological capacity of nonprofit organizations, obstacles charities face in adopting technology, the potential benefits of new technology, and approaches to improving its use.
In a chapter titled “Barriers to Information Technology Usage in the Nonprofit Sector,” Peter Manzo and Bill Pitkin find that donor restrictions on gifts, lack of information-technology guidance, and untrained staff members present challenges to many charities. The authors suggest four ways to overcome those obstacles, including integrating information-technology planning into other planning efforts so that it is not considered “an independent exercise” unrelated to mission and goals.
Other chapters look into technology and volunteer recruitment, online advocacy efforts, grass-roots organizations, and civic engagement.
Publisher: Lyceum Books, 5758 South Blackstone, Chicago, Ill. 60637; (773) 643-1902; fax (773) 643-1903; lyceum@lyceumbooks.com; http://www.lyceumbooks.com; 189 pages; $32.95; ISBN 978-1-933478-06-7.
