Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit operator of the .org, .ngo and .ong top level domains, and Nonprofit Tech for Good have released the results of their 2018 Global NGO Technology Report.  This third annual report analyzes how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide utilize web, email and mobile technology, online fundraising tools and social media, 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. It 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.

Some of the key findings globally include:

• 92% of respondents have a website. Of those, 87% are mobile-compatible, a 9% percent increase from 2017

• 68% of survey respondents noted that their organization uses the .org domain, compared to 8% that use the .com domain

• Email dominates as the preferred form of communication to donors, with 63% of respondents regularly sending email updates, but 18% use messaging apps and 15% regularly send text messages to supporters

• 72% of respondents accept online donations, an increase of 5% from 2017

• While 95% agree that social media is effective for online brand awareness, only 32% of NGOs worldwide have a written social media strategy

• Facebook leads global use as the highest social media platform with 93% of respondents having a dedicated page, followed by Twitter (77%) and YouTube (57%)

• 25% of NGOs post daily to their Facebook page and 24% Tweet two-to-five times daily, yet 68% of NGOs post to LinkedIn less than once per week

• 80% 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%), and of those, 64% use cloud-based CRM

• Only 41% of global respondents use encryption technology to protect data and communications

Heather Mansfield, founder of Nonprofit Tech for Good, said, “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. 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.”

There is much more data in the full report, including breakdowns on how NGOs use technology in the various regions around the world.