Canada’s Charities Have a Tech Problem

Pick a charity, any charity, and you’re likely to find a vastly under-resourced setup. Non-profits rely on donors who want their dollars to go directly to benefit the causes the charity supports. That often means fewer employees and less than luxurious offices for charities. Unfortunately, it can also mean a dismal jumble of technology. 

A 2021 CanadaHelps survey of 1,400 charity leaders found that most believe digital adoption is important but 55 per cent say they either lack the funding or skills to do it. The same survey found that 58 per cent of charities with less than $100,000 in annual revenue (that’s 50 per cent of all charities) have no plans to put digital into their everyday operations. 

In analogue times, a low-tech setup might have been okay. But no business can operate effectively today without proper technology. So why do we expect the charities we support to go without? 

In 2016, that’s a question Charles Buchanan, then an executive vice-president of sales and marketing at a fintech company, asked after visiting a large agency serving newcomers to Calgary in his capacity as its board chair. The charity’s technology system was abysmal, he says. “It was just thrown together over the years. It was not planned. It was not supported. It was not safe. It was not efficient and not effective.” 

Having spoken with board members at other non-profits, Buchanan learned that poor technology systems were common among non-profits. He started volunteering with charities as a technology adviser, but the need was overwhelming. “We saw one organization that had a washer, a dryer and a server all in the same room,” he recalls.

So he quit his fintech VP job and launched Technology Helps, a social enterprise that provides IT and cybersecurity services and support to non-profit and social good organizations, allowing them to better serve their clients, save money, make better use of data for fundraising purposes, and generate compelling reports for donors. 

“These organizations are on the frontlines doing hard, important work. They deserve to have great services. [They’re] keeping us safe. They’re educating kids. They’re helping vulnerable people,” says Buchanan, who holds an MBA from Smith School of Business. 

Finding a fix 

So, what needs to happen to equip more non-profits with the right digital-age technology? One change Buchanan wants to see: longer-term funding for non-profits. A lot of funding cycles are for one year, he explains. “That means agencies live year-to-year, applying to foundations to get funding and continue doing their work. They don’t know if they can serve their community in the same way if their funding gets cut,” he says. That makes it difficult for non-profits to plan for investments in technology. 

Buchanan also advocates for a shift in the culture of how donors want their funds used. “When you donate to a charity, you want 100 per cent of that to go to what you call ‘the cause,’ ” he says. “You don’t want any of that to go to infrastructure and administration, which technology is a part of.” He wants funders and donors to view themselves as investors instead. “We have to start seeing these organizations differently . . . We have to believe that we’re investing in management and competent people who are doing things for the benefit of the community.” 

Better technology doesn’t just help non-profits; it helps their clients. When charities don’t have proper systems, their clients suffer. For example, newcomers seeking language classes are advised to register with multiple agencies to improve their chances of getting in. But those agencies don’t often co-ordinate with one another, Buchanan notes. “Being in a new country, not speaking the language, and having to fill out forms and be asked the same questions over and over again, I can’t imagine the sheer frustration they feel.” Unified data systems within and between agencies would reduce the barriers immigrants face. 

Charities also often help their clients with technology. Tina Dacin, Stephen J.R. Smith Chair of Strategy & Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, studies social entrepreneurship and innovation. She has seen the impact that inferior technology can have on people in need. “You might have four kids at home, but one computer is shared amongst the whole family.” 

Dacin says that charities can play an important role not only in getting technology to people who need it but also in instruction. “It’s a great opportunity for community organizations to come in and hold classes to bring people up to speed.” Without having proper technology themselves, the assistance that these organizations can provide to vulnerable groups suffers. 

Encouraging signs 

Buchanan is hopeful that donors are starting to understand how vital technology is for non-profits. He shares the example of a charity given funding to implement new software, but no money for the monthly subscription needed to use it. Technology Helps was firmly behind the agency’s decision to decline the funding. “That money would be wasted,” Buchanan says, likening it to giving someone a car without providing them with the means to buy gas. Luckily the funding organization re-evaluated the grant and gave money to support the ongoing maintenance of the new software.

Buchanan also cites the Northpine Foundation, a philanthropic organization in Toronto that offers multi-year funding to groups it supports. It’s an outlier from the standard yearly model. Buchanan hopes that a cultural perspective shift will provide a much-needed update to the way charities are viewed. 

“Many social agencies are technology companies that offer a social service, as opposed to a social service that uses technology because they’re 100 per cent tech,” he says. “We need to recognize that the world has changed.”

A version of this article first appeared in Smith Magazine.