Nonprofit Organizations and the Digital Divide

“Digital divide” often refers to the gap between people who have access to or knowledge about communication technologies and people who don’t have a similar type of knowledge or access. With the emergence of newer technologies, it makes one wonder what overall effect this has on the gap. Reports often talk about the digital divide in terms of demographic information. Researchers have more than overwhelmingly proven that race, class, age, education level and citizenship play a large role in the digital divide. Simply stated, minority communities are impacted the greatest because they don’t have the same forms of advantages and privileges that mainstream communities utilize everyday.

Can we think about other types of minority entities? What about small organizations that are trying to compete in the ever evolving world of communication technologies? Nonprofit organizations are greatly effected by the digital divide because they far too often don’t have the money or the knowledge to properly utilize the latest communication technologies. These organizations work so hard to get their message out to the surrounding community that they sometimes forget the importance of regional, national or even global visibility. As well, it can be difficult to rely on the knowledge of volunteers to fulfill these types of expanded communication roles and needs.

There are many activists and organizations worldwide that don’t have Web sites or access to other forms of digital communication and therefore have to rely heavily on the help of umbrella organizations to spread their message. For example, the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, founded by Fannyann Viola Eddy, depended upon other organizations to share with the world that Fannyann had been brutally raped and murdered at the end of September 2004 while working late one night in the office of SLLAGA.

As executive director of Operation FREEDOM, a small nonprofit organization struggling everyday to have its voice heard above the “noise” of the Internet, I understand first-hand the importance of utilizing communication technologies and how difficult it can be to increase visibility even when access to such communication technologies is available.