“None of our software talks to each other easily. We have to pry out information to compare. We don’t have an accurate count of how many supporters we even have names and addresses for.”

While organizers express a readiness to embrace emerging tools, dissatisfaction with their current technology experiences creates a major obstacle to progress.

As shown in Figure 1, a majority of organizers (59%) indicate they feel frustrated, at best, with their technology efforts.

Surprisingly, funding levels do not emerge as a strong factor in positive attitudes toward technology efforts. Notably, more than one-third of respondents from organizations with annual budgets of over $4 million report either being frustrated or struggling with technology.

When asked about their frustrations, organizers report that their software possesses insufficient features, comes with inadequate training, and lacks integration with other systems:

• 45% feel uninformed or frustrated about what technology they need or how to get it.
• 61% complain that their tools don’t share data with one another. When given the opportunity to respond with open comments, organizers literally howled about the lack of integration between their tools.
• More than 50% report that their tools do not have all the features they need for successful daily operations.
• Those organizations that spent the least money on software and online tools rated their satisfaction the same, on average, as those that spent the most. This finding suggests that financial resources are not the bottom line when it comes to satisfaction with technology, and that other factors have equal or stronger impact on organizations’ sense of their own success.

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