New Survey Reveals How Charities Use Social Media – Public Interest Registry

New Survey Reveals How Charities Use Social Media – Krystin Williamson. The Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit operator of the .org domain, and Nonprofit Tech for Good today released the results of the “2018 Global NGO Technology Report.” The third annual report analyzes how charities and non-governmental organisations (NGO) use social media, worldwide web, email and mobile technology, and online fundraising tools, as well as manage data and security.

The report details the key findings from a survey of 5,352 NGO respondents from 164 countries across Africa, Asia, Australia & Oceania, Europe, North America and South America. The report provides insight on the online and mobile communication tools NGOs around the world use to promote general awareness, communicate with core audiences and raise funds from donors, as well as an analysis of those online tools and comparisons of regional usage. New findings this year also uncover how NGOs implement data management and security software.

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Key findings from North America include:

• 98 percent of NGOs in North America have a website with 88 percent being mobile compatible
• 86 percent of respondents accept online donations
• Only 10 percent of NGOs use messaging apps to communicate with donors. Of those, Facebook Messenger is the platform of choice (68 percent), followed by WhatsApp (32 percent) and Snapchat (10 percent)
• 97 percent of NGOs use Facebook, 85 percent use Twitter, 63 percent use LinkedIn and 61 percent use Instagram
• Of NGO respondents in North America, 49 percent indicated using Apple iOS on smartphone/tablets, which is the highest reported percentage of use among all regions
• Regarding data security, 46 percent of North American NGOs use encryption to protect their data and communications, 5 percent higher than the global average
• Of those using encryption for security, 37 percent say it’s to protect organizational information (global average is 32 percent), 26 percent say it’s to protect the privacy of email communication (global average is 23 percent) and 38 percent say it’s to protect to protect donor information (global average is 29 percent)

“The findings from the 2018 report confirm that NGOs worldwide are rapidly expanding their use of technology and with increased reliance on technology, comes increased data management and security needs,” said Heather Mansfield, founder of Nonprofit Tech for Good. “For the first time, this year’s report provides benchmarks for managing and securing organizational and donor data. NGOs lag behind the private sector in this area and by providing benchmarks, we hope to inspire NGOs to modernize their data management and security practices.”

Key findings globally include:

• 92 percent of respondents have a website. Of those, 87 percent are mobile-compatible, a 9 percent increase from 2017
• 68 percent of survey respondents noted that their organisation uses the .org domain, compared to 8 percent that use the .com domain
• Email dominates as the preferred form of communication to donors, with 63 percent of respondents regularly sending email updates, but 18 percent use messaging apps and 15 percent regularly send text messages to supporters
• 72 percent of respondents accept online donations, an increase of 5 percent from 2017
• While 95 percent agree that social media is effective for online brand awareness, only 32 percent of NGOs worldwide have a written social media strategy
• Facebook leads global use as the highest social media platform with 93 percent of respondents having a dedicated page, followed by Twitter (77 percent) and YouTube (57 percent)
• 25 percent of NGOs post daily to their Facebook page and 24 percent Tweet two-to-five times daily, yet 68 percent of NGOs post to LinkedIn less than once per week
• 80 percent of NGOs worldwide rely on Microsoft Windows operating system for desktop/laptop computers; on smartphones/tablets global Google Android use outweighs Apple iOS
• NGO respondents indicated using Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software to manage communications with donors (45 percent), and of those, 64 percent use cloud-based CRM
• Only 41 percent of global respondents use encryption technology to protect data and communications

“The annual Global NGO Technology Report not only shows how the internet can help organisations communicate and collaborate with stakeholders, but how it can serve as a powerful force for change when coupled with various technology tools,” said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry. “This is an important research initiative, bringing together partners from various industries to ultimately support organisations around the world as they seek to better understand and take advantage of technology that can help them actualizing their important social missions.”

The Global NGO Technology Report is supported by various global partners that encourage the participation of NGOs in the survey – particularly those located in emerging nations – to ensure a diverse, balanced understanding of how NGOs worldwide use technology. Partners include Al Qasimi Foundation, Arab Foundations Forum, Blackbaud Institute, CIVICUS, CONCORD Europe, Estudio de Impacto, Greater Public, Infoxchange, iWith.org, Museu da Pessoa, Nigeria Network if NGOs, Philanthropy Circuit, Tech Trust and TechSoup. For more information on the survey’s findings, methodology, and to download the full report (also available in Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish) and graphics, please visit: http://www.techreport.ngo.

About Public Interest Registry

Public Interest Registry is a nonprofit organisation that operates the .org top-level domain — the world’s third largest “generic” top-level domain with more than 10.3 million domain names registered worldwide – and the .ngo and .ong domains and OnGood community website. Public Interest Registry also operates four Internationalized Domain Names to support and encourage local language use of the Internet. As an advocate for collaboration, safety and security on the internet, Public Interest Registry’s mission is to educate and enable the global noncommercial community to use the internet more effectively, and to take a leadership position among internet stakeholders on policy and other issues relating to the domain naming system. Based in Reston, Virginia, USA, Public Interest Registry was founded by the Internet Society (internetsociety.org) in 2002 and is celebrating 15 years of .org management in 2018.

About Nonprofit Tech for Good

With nearly 100,000 monthly visitors and more than one million followers on social networks, Nonprofit Tech for Good is a leading social and mobile media resource for nonprofit professionals. Created and managed by Heather Mansfield, Nonprofit Tech for Good focuses on providing valuable, easy-to-understand information, news, and resources related to nonprofit technology, online communications, and mobile and social fundraising.

Media Contact:
Krystin Williamson, Allison+Partners for Public Interest Registry
[email protected]
(619) 342-9383

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