New Report: CTC’s as Nonprofit Technology Assistance Providers

Posted by on December 19, 2003

[posted to the CTCNet-Philadelphia listserv]

Over the past several years, much discussion has taken place in the nonprofit sector and particularly in the community technology movement around the evolving roles of community technology centers (CTC). One idea that has received significant attention is whether CTCs may expand their roles to act as nonprofit technology assistance providers (NTAPs).

With the support of the AOL Time Warner Foundation, CompuMentor took a closer look at this issue and published its findings in the report “Exploring New Roles for Community Technology Centers: Can CTCs Serve as Nonprofit Technical Assistance Providers?” CompuMentor’s interest in this subject came from two vantage points. First, as an NTAP we understand there is a very large unmet need in the nonprofit sector for technology support services. Second, as a provider or services and technical assistance to CTCs, we know that sustainability is a huge challenge.

The key findings of the report, conducted by Rem Hoffmann, include:

* Although CTCs are perceived as tech-savvy organizations, they may not have the capacity to function as NTAPs.

* Technology skills are only one of five categories of qualifications necessary to serve as an NTAP. Others are mission congruency, business capabilities, the ability to subsidize the cost of providing service, and position in the community. While a number of CTCs meet some of these qualifications, very few meet all or most of them.

* NTAPs reported that fundraising to subsidize the cost of providing services was critical to succeeding. The report found that it costs much more to provide these services than nonprofits are able to pay, which directly contrasts the perception that CTCs acting as NTAPs can generate earned income to support their other programs.

There appears to be a small subset of CTCs that can offer NTAP services. The paper concludes with a recommendation to conduct further research of new models for NTAPs and CTCs to partner to deliver services to community-based organizations.

The report is available for download at http://www.compumentor.org/ctcstudy/

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Sarah Hawkins, Program Associate, TechSoup.org.
CompuMentor
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