Irish Non-Profit Organisations have embarked on an excitingDigital Transformation journey in support of the sector's wider reform and renewal agend.a This coincides with the ambitious plans of the technology industry to deploy its Artificial Intelligence capabilities to tackle societal problems. This research investigated the current in-use experiences of AI-based and related systems in various non-profit organisations both in Ireland and internationally to determine how a non-profit organisation can become more effective and strategic in its journey to fully leverage technology. The qualitative research approach employed a series of exploratory practitioner-based interviews guided by Grounded Theory methodology to examine the technology barriers and challenges faced by the non-profit sector. The findings revealed some inspirational exemplars of practice but also found that a comprehensive transformation of the sector facilitated by emerging technologies remains outstanding, frustrated by challenges including limited funding, resource constraints, skills gaps, donor reporting requirements and sectoral tendencies to 'reinvent the wheel'. The practitioner interviews also highlighted discontinuities and a lack of synergy between the digital transformation ambitions of the sector and the Corporate Social Responsibility programmes of the technology sector.
1.1
Irish non-profit organisations (NPOs) have commenced an ambitious reform and
modernisation journey as the sector seeks to recover from recent scandals . The sector is working to
transform its operations and service delivery to drive efficiency and to leverage the
possibilities afforded by digital channels and other emerging technologies such as Artificial
Intelligence (AI). This technology-led imperative, which has been described by Peppard [
Three primary factors inhibit Irish NPOs in executing on the digital transformation agenda: 1.2.1
Research by The Wheel [
Public Perceptions: Low Trust, Expectation to see donations spent at front-line
The Charities Institute of Ireland [
The budgetary and low trust contexts noted serve to exponentially increase project risk and to amplify the potential reputational consequences of a major failed project initiative . These are factors which have coalesced to necessarily foster a relatively cautious and risk-averse management stance to strategic technology investment within the Irish NPO sector to date. 1.3
Based on the above, the primary research question examined was as follows: How can nonprofit organisations leverage the transformational opportunities afforded by digital and emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, for social good? 2
Analysis into related works highlighted this area of investigation as a critical but hitherto under-examined topic in the research literature, especially in an Irish context. The areas of previous work noted below provided a theoretical grounding informing the qualitative investigation undertaken. 2.1
In Burt and Taylor’s case study [
Volkoff and Strong [
The degree of strategic alignment between functional ICT teams andthe leadership team
within NPOs often serves as a major enabler (and predictor) of successful digital
transformation. Collins [
A detailed s urvey of the literature was undertaken, and a representative sample of individual relevant organisations was chosen to identify existing exemplars of practice which can inform the wider sector’s transformation journey. Notwithstanding an acute awareness of the growing potential of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and data science to support NPOs in working to address societal issues, it rapidly became clear that completed deployments of emerging technologies which had been fully mainstreamed into the core operations of the NPOs were relatively rare. The reasons for the limitedadoption of AI and other emerging technologies and some solutions to address this are explored further in the sections that follow. However, before examining the research data in detail, some promising sectoral ‘green shoots’ from the wider NPO sector are briefly noted here: • • • • •
Friends of the Earth launched the highly successful Great British Bee Count
programme [
Technology companies such as Microsoft and Google are partnering wtihthe World Bank, U.N. and global relief organizations to use AI to predict future disasters which will require humanitarian aid and to streamline the planning and logistics processes which underpin the rapid delivery of emergency aid.
NetHope, a technology focussed partnership between global NPOs and the
technology industry, has launched theNo Lost Generation [
The primary research methodology used a qualitative interview approach to develop a
practitioner-centric view of the current status, challenges and opportunities faced by the Irish
NPO sector on its journey to leverage the power of digital technology, a research area which
has not been extensively explored or documented to date. As the topic was not well
documented to date, a qualitative approach informed by Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss
[
Using the Irish Charity Regulator’s Public Register of Charities [
With the consent of participants, the interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and analysed using Dedoose, a Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) tool. Reflective memos were created by the primary researcher after each interview to record and explore the emerging insights from the data. A recursive approach was used so that the data emerging in early interviews highlighted new research themeswhich in turn informed the nature of the topics explored and the selection of participants in later interviews.
The interviews conducted for this research revealed a clear consensus thatemerging technologies including AI can and must radically transform hownon-profit organisations deliver services, manage operations and engage with stakeholdersin order for the organisations to remain relevant in the modern economy.Interviewees saw a strategic imperative for the sector to modernise, with developing their technology capability linked as a pivotal support pillar to the wider sectoral reform agenda. As the research interviews progressed, various operational challenges and resource constraints in executing digital transformation as well as a variety of fascinating solutions came to light. 5.1
Considering the range of NPO organisations investigated for this research, it became clear that they were at very different stages in planning their technology journey. S ome had welldeveloped technology plans linked to the overall strategy, while at others, the development of an ICT strategy has commenced but remained incomplete. This state of being “between strategies” was noted at several organisationsand the resulting lacuna incubated a cautiously incremental technology strategy which served as a holding position while waiting for a leadership mandate for more radical technology transformation to emerge. Interview participants noted that resource constraints and operational challenges meant the sector would have to follow and belatedly emulate the private sector’s technology journey, especially in relation to automation andAI. Conversely, it was noted that the timing of this journey could also potentially enable them to “leap-frog” larger enterprises as they would not need to migrate legacy applications.
Each participant was asked to benchmark their own organisation against the wider sector, which yielded fascinating results. Those organisations which had a cautious technology strategy were quick to accentuate their modest achievements while the most innovative organisations were also those more likely to understate their own technology journey, highlighting gaps, resource constraints and outstanding areas of work. This indicated that those organisations which had the most advanced understanding of the transformative potential of emerging technologies were also those who were the most likely to conceptualise their long-term technology journey as evolutionary, open-ended and a work-in-progress. 5.2
Interviewees also noted that the organisation’s historical experience with technology investments directly impacted on the willingness of the Board or Leadership team to commit substantial resources to technologyinvestments. Failed previous projectscast a long shadow over the organisation’s futuretechnology ambitions while successful exemplars created a mandate for more transformative and ambitious undertakings. Where an organisational impetus for further automation emerged, this frequently coincided with a change within the senior management team. This worked most effectively where energetic visionary leadership was matched by an innovative and creative technology team which focussed on strategically supporting the wider business and growthobjectives of the organisation. Cross-referencing the interview data with the strategic plan documents for the ten organisations was revealing. In the published strategic plans , two organisations made no reference to technology; four included a one-line technology reference without specifics; two more noted some specific initiatives while the final two included a comprehensive list of their technology project priorities within their strategic plan. 5.3
Many interviewees saw the head of the technology function being represented on the leadership committee for their organisation as increasingly critical to ensuring the alignment of their technology capabilities with the broader execution of the organisation’s strategy. However, to date, it had only happened at the four largest organisationsexamined in the research. There, it was noted that the elevation to the leadership team afforded the technology executive extended opportunities to engage in ongoing dialogue withexecutive peers concerning the capacity of technology to add value to strategic initiatives.In this regard, the most enterprising and progressive technology leaders across the organisations emphasised that one of their most valuable contributions to their organisation was to act as what one interviewee termed ‘horizon gazers,’ an activity which was perceived as a strategic remit to maintain a constant weather eye on the ev-ecrhanging technology landscape to identify technology opportunities which the organisation could exploit and to align these to the organisation’s overall strategic implementation. This vital function of ICT teams is particularly apposite in relation to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and data analytics. 5.4
Inevitably, a significant challenge concerned thelack of funds required to invest in technology. As noted above, the sector relies on government grants which are rarely structured to encourage or support long term transformational strategic projectsA. related barrier noted was a constant requirement to demonstrate the prudent use of donated funds and grant income which can make it difficult to finance major technology initiative,sespecially for strategic projects which necessitated costly external consulting. As one interviewee noted: “Our sector is driven so heavily by the demands of our donors. When you buy an iPhone or a Ford car you don't tell Ford that you want to know exactly how much they funded in overheads in making that car. Our sector has the unique challenge to actually do that.” 5.5
The need to comply with funder requirements could also directly block or inadvertently inhibit the organisation’s desire to upgrade its technology processes. Several organisations provided examples of funder compliance requirements to simultaneously update two information systems- the internal and the funder -mandated systems- with the same data. Another case concerned an Irish international aid organisation which had successfully piloted a fully digital beneficiary payments system using blockchain. The success of the pilot had clearly demonstrated the feasibility of the digital solution and the project benefits in terms of auditability, fraud reduction and security over the current paper process. However, the initiative had stalled because of the funder’s requirements for the organisation to continueto provide paper-based evidence of payments via beneficiary fingerprints. 5.6
Participants noted the benefits of collecting improved data in assessing the effectiveness of each programme area, helping to drive decisionmaking and resource allocation. Participants at two different Irish NPOs had built an activity tracking system on their CRM platform. Prior to this, neither organisation had a comprehensive means to measure the overall impact of their local programmes. When they began formally and consistently gathering this data, they discovered that the real quantum of their activity was considerably higher than previously estimated. Referencing trust and reputational issues, interview participants highlighted data capabilities as enabling the construction of a clear narrative to show the beneficial impact of their activities, noting particularly that developing a compelling graphical visualisation of their impact can be extremely valuable in bringing activity data to life. 5.7
There was palpable excitement among the interviewees about the opportunities presented by the technology sector’s donations of technology to non-profits. The software donation programmes meant that the licensing cost of new technology had largely been removed as a financial barrier. However, the internal teams often still faced challenges in getting funding for the additional consulting and professional services to support the implementation of the donated technologyplatforms. Limited budgets and small teams necessitated team members acting as technology generalists with a paucity of specialist technology roles. Each of the large technology companies have significantCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and philanthropy programmes to support the NPO sector, primarily via software donations. The Irish charities examined were all availing of the non-profit Microsoft NonProfit Cloud programme which makes Office 365, SharePoint a nd other related tools available to charities free or at a substantial discount, with partnerships with Google and Salesforce also noted as significant support relationships, particularly among the larger global organisations. Consistent with the literatuer, several organisations had sought to build partnerships with the technology companies to explore technologies such as AIand data science, viewing this as an exciting opportunity to fuse the sectoral knowledge of NPOs with the proprietary product knowledge of the technology sector but the NPOs noted disappointment that the initiatives had largely failed to deliver on the expected potential. 5.8
A striking finding was that there was limited dialogue or collaboration around technology between the Irish non-profit organisations even though many of them were using identical technology platforms. Allied to this, the need for sectoral research on the reasons for the prevalence of failed and compromised technology projectsemerged as a critical requirement so that the underlying causes can be identified and addressed. This was noted as a tricky and sensitive area for the sector where greater transparency and openness are needed. 5.9
Participants noted that the sector had longer lead times for technology project delivery than the private sector. As well as funding challenges, this was because of the slower consensusbased nature of decision making in NPOs as well as a lack of specialist business analysis skills within some of theorganisations. Setting clear, realistic and achievable project objectives for the available technology resources to deliver on was viewed as vital to success. Bearing in mind the difficulty of ICT teams delivering new technology projects while also having a requirement to support the delivery of ICT operations and manage legacy technology, interviewees noted the benefit of disaggregating the technology function into discrete functional sub-units which focussed on ICT operations and on project delivery respectively. 5.10
Irish NPOs have long been innovative and agile in designing adaptive responses to societal issues. A unique characteristic is the prevalence of volunteers, often retired from the workforce, who may have less familiarity with technology. This requires a more inclusive, participative and nuanced approach to implementing technology.Multiple interview participants stressed the importance of early meaningful engagement with relevant stakeholders to establish a clear and shared sense of purpose about the expected deliverables for the project. The existence of a supportive business champion outside the technology function was frequently cited as a critical enabler of project success. This was especially valuable where the project sponsor had the local knowledge and organisational standing to clearly articulate and “sell” project benefits in terms that were comprehensible and meaningful to local teams while also having the vision to maintain an unrelenting focus on driving the overall delivery of the project objectives.
A common phenomenon observed was that the deployment of a technology- based solution across the organisation often inspired a broader initiative to standardise processes which had previously been ad-hoc and subject to local variation. All interview participants recognised the necessity of piloting new solutions which afforded project teams the capability to demonstrate an early prototype, to test the fit and scalability of the proposed solution and to assess the performance in some of the challenging field -based scenarios encountered, an informal and iterative approach which echoes Agile approaches to technology delivery. 5.11
However, some of the larger organisations noted that an unstructured technology approach to project initiation and portfolio management could be a recipe formounting chaos, increasing the overall levels of project and governance risk if unchecked. As their IT delivery capabilities progressively matured and became better resourced, they found it necessary to formalise IT planning processes to maximise business alignment and reduce project risk. Several organisations had implemented highly effective ICT Governance or Change Boards where representatives of the operations and technology leadership teams came together to prioritise projects and align technology plans to the overall organisational strategy, particularly where technology requirements to support operations exceeded available resources. An interesting and unforeseen finding emerging from the interviews related to the fact that the most innovative (and disruptive) technology initiatives within NPOs often took place well away from core operations. This created challenges in mainstreaming even relatively straightforward pilot projects. The reasons for this somewhat siloed approach to technology innovation differed across the sector. A primary explanation was the understandable need to avoid negative or disruptive impact on key operational activities as well as to take advantage of partnerships and funding opportunities so as to foster and publicly demonstrate a culture of innovation. However, even where the pilot projects were overwhelmingly successful, a clear plan to leverage and operationalise this new capability on a wider operational scale was often missing and thepost-pilot mainstreaming approach had often not been explicitly addressed or prepared for during the planning of the pilots. 6 6.1
A limitation of the research findings is that they represent the individual views of the participants who were interviewed, rather than the considered position of the organisations for whom the individual participants work, or a comprehensive picture of the entire NPO sector. While the research yielded valuable original data, and demonstrated the effectiveness of Grounded Theory as an effective exploratory research approach, further validity and rigour could have been added to the research by extending the approach to combine qualitative interview data with an additional quantitative usrvey covering all of the non-profit organisations in the sector. Awider survey could possibly have served as a confirmation exercise once dimensions of the research topic had been initially scoped through interviews. 6.2
Notwithstanding the limitations noted in section 6.1 above, many of the findings (for example, concerning leadership issues, strategic alignment as well as funding and data issues) proved remarkably consistent with the international research examined in the literature review. However, the research also revealed some new insights concerning discontinuities between the technology sector’s CSR initiatives and the needs of the NPO sector as well as challenges in mainstreaming successful innovation projects into the NPO’s core operations which had not been examined in detail within the literature to date. Thisunderscores the considerable and original value of the interview datagathered, the full richness of which can only be hinted at in this short paper. It represents a sincere and accurate articulation of practitioner experiences within NPOs concerning their recent technology implementations, albeit firmly situated at a single point in time and primarily within the specific context of the Irish non-profit sector. A welcome and positive direct outcome of the research has been the establishment of new knowledge sharing structureswhere technology leaders within the Irish NPOs meet to collaborate and share insights from their technology journeys. It would be very worthwhile to delve deeper into the unexpected disconnect identified between the technology sector’s CSR programmes and the NPO’s technology and modernisation agenda. A full understanding of the underlying causes of this discont inuity remained quite fragmentary at the conclusion of this research. Additionally, a more comprehensive analysis of best practice exemplars from larger international NPOs would be likely to provide a range of implementation insights and repeatable modalities of practice which smaller Irish NPOs could emulate in their digital journey with AI and other emerging technologies. 7 7.1
Critically, an unambiguous correlation emerged from the intervidewata between the amount of progress that an organisation had made to date in its journey towards digital transformation and the extent to which it had implemented effective processes to align the work of the technology function with the overall strategy agenda of the organisation. 7.2
It was notable, too, that there was a disparity between the technology maturity and ambitions of smaller and larger organisations. International and larger IrishNPOs were much more likely to appoint a CIO role to lead the technology function, granting this role membership of the executive leadership team. Where this had happened,it was correlated directly with the level of strategic technology awareness and ambition, and with the progress made to date on the implementation journey at those organisations. This finding is entirely consistent with previous research in the literature (in particular Jaskyte6][) which highlights the importance of executive support for the digital agenda. 7.3
Capacity building as an urgent prerogative within the sector surfaced frequently in the
interviews. There are plentiful models from the international NPO sector such as the NetHope
skills framework [