Five Biggest Fears About the Effect of the Digital Divide on Nonprofit Organizations

1. As newer, more expensive software and top-of-the-line communication technologies emerge, small service-based organizations are struggling just to keep up with yesterday’s communication trend. It is easy for an organization to fall apart and be left behind if it continues to rely solely on word of mouth, door to door canvassing and mailings to garner interest from the local, regional, and national community.

2. Nonprofit organizations often do not have the funds to hire a professional Web site designer, nor do they always have people on staff who are knowledgeable about Web layout and HTML codes. These two factors help to contribute to the lack of appeal and loss of interest for potential volunteers and members to the organization. People are easily turned off by Web sites that lack sophisticated and professional layouts because they are often associated with a lack of useful and interesting content.

3. It can be very difficult and cumbersome for small nonprofit organizations to not only complete and file all the proper governmental paperwork at the state and federal level, but to also work at securing a domain name and a quality company that will provide adequate server space for a Web site. There are so many online companies out there that advertise low rates and promise to provide top-notch services to these small organizations. If they are not careful in completing the proper research, organizations can find themselves locked in a situation where the binding long-term agreement is filled with loop holes, where the overall cost is too high and where the server space is not large enough to host the ever-changing needs of the organization.

4. Larger organizations, which tend to be the most successful, are becoming more and more like corporations everyday with marketable services and products. They often use these new communication technologies in order to create more interactive and informative Web sites. Some are even able to perform monetary transactions online in order to secure donations. The less work for the donor, the more likely he/she will be willing to give. This puts smaller organizations at a great disadvantage because they are unable to compete with these fashionable “trademarks.”

5. If this is a problem that organizations here in the United States have to deal with, what does this mean to emerging groups and organizations in developing countries? These organizations exist in an environment where technology has only begun to be accessible and many times, they have to deal with restrictive laws and control over the Internet and its content.