When it's time for Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence to report back to its funders, a staffer counts by hand on a piece of paper: How many women did the non-profit serve from San Jose? How many between the ages of 25 and 35? How many Asian-Americans?

At the Franklin McKinley Education Foundation, based just six miles away, donors simply get passwords to a secure Web site. They can see any time that, for example, the foundation has served 6,000 families and the most requested service was dental care.

The stories of these two groups show the potential and the pitfalls of technology for non-profits in Silicon Valley. The challenge is not simply getting a hold of computers -- it's also making the best use of them. More than half of local non-profits in a recent survey cited training as their top technology need, and fundraising software and tech support weren't far behind.

Both Next Door and Franklin McKinley are led by executive directors who joined their organizations in 2001 and made technology a priority. But the results are starkly different: Next Door just updated its Web site and still struggles with databases. The education foundation, meanwhile, has developed a Web-based tool so successful that other non-profits want to use it.

"Computer and network technology is becoming more mission-critical for non-profits,'' said Joni Podolsky, author of "Wired for Good: Strategic Technology Planning for Non-profits.'' But, she added, many groups are constrained by budget problems and funders' requirements, making it difficult for them to experiment with new technology.

Limited e-mail

When Kathleen Krenek moved to Silicon Valley from Washington, D.C., to take over as executive director of Next Door, she expected advanced technology. "I thought everybody would have all the bells and whistles,'' she said.

Instead, only three of her employees even had e-mail. And when the IT contractor tried to expand the e-mail system, it went down for a week.

Krenek hired a half-time IT specialist who helped the group get donated computers from a variety of groups for every employee and an Exchange server for e-mail.

But they still need software to better manage the non-profit, which offers housing, legal help and counseling to battered women. Instead of counting on pieces of paper the demographics of the almost 11,000 people served annually -- a task that takes 30 percent of one employee's time -- Krenek wants a database that could sort clients by age, race, ZIP code, income level or any other information a funder requested.

The group also needs more advanced accounting and fundraising software.

The problem, of course, is money -- not just how much the group has, but the restrictions on spending it.

More than half the group's $2.7 million budget comes from more than two dozen different government grants. An additional 25 percent comes from private foundations.

Krenek estimates that more than three-quarters of her group's money is designated by funders for very specific purposes. Technology is generally considered an administrative expense, something many funders don't want to pay for. The budget for computer maintenance also pays for repairs to the appliances in the shelter and transitional housing the group runs.

Although Krenek said Next Door has gotten some corporate donations of technology, many local companies focus their giving in other areas, such as education.

"We're not on their radar,'' she said.

And about six months ago, Next Door had to lay off 12 employees because of government funding cuts. Now the board wants to create a reserve fund -- a worthy goal, but one that makes it harder to find money for technology, Krenek said.

Even when a non-profit gets the latest technology, the ongoing costs -- in both time and money -- can be daunting.

Donated computers may be all different brands, making repairs more difficult. A volunteer may put together a great Web site or database that employees don't know how to fix or update.

"If you can't afford a back-up system to back up your database, then think very hard about setting up a database,'' said Marnie Webb, director of TechCommons for CompuMentor, a San Francisco non-profit that helps other non-profits with technology.

And even though many non-profits would like to make better use of technology, it's often an afterthought compared with the group's main goal.

"Their mission isn't to document their database,'' Webb said. "When they're making choices about their time, they're almost always going to make the choices that are very directly related to their mission.''

Because of all these obstacles, said author Podolsky, hand-tabulating demographic information may actually be "a very reasonable choice.''

"It's not an efficient choice,'' she said. "But given the lack of resources, that might be the best choice.''

Next Door is forging ahead. It just relaunched its Web site to allow for online donations. A board member donated money for the improvement after funders said the site didn't project a good first impression of the group.

But the latest challenge: "We're going to have to learn HTML so we can go in and update it,'' Krenek said.

Change of focus

It's been easier at the Franklin McKinley Foundation. When Muhammed Chaudhry took over as executive director, the group had an annual budget of about $150,000. Under his leadership, the foundation has changed its focus to helping low-income families get the services they need for their children to arrive at school prepared to learn.

The budget has grown to $1.7 million, primarily as a result of two grants that provided $600,000 apiece this year: one from the Knight Foundation and one from First 5, which distributes tobacco tax money.

Technology is central to the group's mission of providing efficient connections between families and services, and Chaudhry has hired people who are enthusiastic about it. Staff members use laptops and a wireless network. They have frequent technology training sessions. Salesforce.com donated its online service for the foundation to track its fundraising.

"We're using technology as our infrastructure, but it's really helping us make better decisions,'' Chaudhry said.

Although the staff spends a lot of time on technology, less than 5 percent of the group's budget goes for tech, Chaudhry said. The main Web-based tool was developed primarily with employee and volunteer time. The group got money to hire a full-time technology manager "because funders see the value in it,'' Chaudhry said.

The group's greatest fundraising growth is coming from companies and individuals in the tech industry.

"Entrepreneurs are very numbers- and innovation-driven,'' Chaudhry said. "We fit in very well with that.''

Chaudhry said his foundation is learning that even advanced technology presents challenges.

First he had to sell the staff on the benefits of Web-based tools. Now he has to be sure he's using the right measures of progress with those tools. He's working on a plan to call families to assess the quality, not just the quantity, of a staffer's work.

And Chaudhry is moving carefully when it comes to automating some parts of his organization. It would be more efficient to make videos of the advice they give families, but Chaudhry worries it might not be as effective at getting the message across and gaining families' trust.

Similarly, his staff members often don't use their laptops when making visits to families' homes. Those visits are about relationships, Chaudhry said. "We've held back in certain areas.''

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/ 12217444.htm

For more information about the Franklin McKinley Education Foundation, call 408.283.6153 or visit www.fmefoundation.org.

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