Survey uncovers tech-savvy nonprofits in China

Recently-released results of a survey on internet usage among Chinese nonprofit organizations reveal the vital role that information and communication technology (ICT) plays in the day-to-day work of many nonprofits. The results suggest that tech-savvy organizations see the internet as an important way of promoting their mission.

Although the findings should not be considered representative of Chinese NGOs in general, since the survey itself was conducted online, the 401 questionnaire responses indicate a vibrant cross-section of nonprofit sector that is comfortable with using the internet. 90% of respondents had high-speed internet connections, 94% used instant messaging (QQ, MSN, etc), and 97% rated websites as an "important" or "very important" source of information.

Almost 80% of the respondents considered establishing and maintaining an organizational website to be "important" or "very important", although not all of them (only about 60%) had registered a domain name at the time of the survey. The internet presence of these organizations is not limited to merely static websites, though, with 56% maintaining their own blog, and 49% running online forums.

The report shows a promising trend for nonprofit technology in China. Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence suggests that there are still many organizations that lack computer and internet skills, and the authors of this report express a wish to expand their scope of research in the future to encompass more of these organizations too.

For more information or to download the full report in Chinese, please see the announcement on NGOCN (link in Chinese).

The survey was a joint project of the MIT Net Media Action Lab, the Knowledge Management Institute at the University of Science and Technology of China, the Institute for Civil Society at the Sun Yat-sen University, NGOCN and Friends of Nature.