Survey: Non-profit Organizations Not Yet Adopting New Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With the majority of headlines focusing on Facebook and Twitter these days, one would expect budget-stretched companies to take advantage of these free tools. However, a recent survey of more than 500 non-profit staff members and volunteers finds organizations are slow to adapt.

The survey, conducted by Zoomerang, an easy and cost-effective online survey tool, provides insight into the technologies being utilized by non-profits for operational and marketing purposes.

According to the results, 40 percent of non-profits do not have a website and 68 percent do not use social media to help market or run their organization. Looking ahead, an additional 47 percent indicated they plan on using websites for marketing purposes and 27 percent plan on adding social media channels.

"We see the adoption of today's cost-effective feedback tools as an area of opportunity for non-profit organizations who are often challenged by limited budgets," said Alex Terry, General Manager of Zoomerang Online Surveys and Polls. "We understand the unique challenges of non-profit and educational organizations and are proud to offer these groups discounts on our product. Non-profits should take advantage of these new methods to spread the word, particularly with the plethora of free tools on the market."

Among the cost-effective options for non-profits to consider are new methods of increasing awareness, such as the social media and feedback tools previously mentioned.

The findings also indicate that many non-profits still rely heavily on donations through traditional means, including mail (checks or forms), in-person collection points and events as the top methods at 68 percent, 47 percent and 47 percent respectively.  

"While a majority of the non-profits surveyed indicated that they prefer to use traditional methods for collecting donations, they are looking for new opportunities," Terry said. "The charitable efforts around the Haiti disaster showcased mobile's impact and we encourage more non-profits to fully take advantage of the power of mobile."

In fact, just 5 percent of those surveyed collect payments via mobile technology. Additionally, only 27 percent use websites for donation collection while 10 percent use PayPal and 9 percent use other online options to collect donations.

For more information on the survey and its results, visit http://www.zoomerang.com/non-profit-survey-results-2011/ to view the report in its entirety.

Also, for more information on Zoomerang's non-profit discounts, visit http://zoomerang.com/signup/.

About Zoomerang

Zoomerang was introduced by MarketTools in 1999 as the world's first Web-based survey tool. Zoomerang surveys and polls are fast, easy-to-use and powerful. Millions of individuals and thousands of businesses, non-profits and educational institutions trust Zoomerang to help them make more informed decisions with minimal cost and effort. Zoomerang provides customizable survey templates for the most common questions including customer satisfaction, meeting feedback, product feedback, event planning, online voting and hundreds more. Zoomerang customers can take advantage of Zoomerang Sample, a panel of more than 2.5 million consumers ready to take surveys, and professional services including expert survey design and survey programming. For more information, visit www.zoomerang.com.

About MarketTools, Inc.

MarketTools is the leading provider of software and services for market research and enterprise feedback management (EFM). The company is focused on providing leading organizations the actionable customer insights they need to make better business decisions that lead to high-value business impact. As the first company to make online surveys widely available on the Web, MarketTools continues its market leading position by providing the broadest range of powerful, accurate and integrated customer insight technologies that empower companies to become the most customer-centric organizations in their industries. MarketTools' premier portfolio of technology-based insight brands includes CustomerSat™, TrueSample®, Zoomerang®, ZoomPanel® and ZoomPanel Tech™.

MarketTools is a privately held company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco and European headquarters in London. For more information, please visit: http://www.markettools.com.

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SOURCE Zoomerang