Some Great Technology Grants For Your Nonprofit Organization
Donations, fundraising campaigns, ticket sales, and membership subscriptions are all necessary for nonprofits to succeed. Nonprofits rely on donors and fundraising campaigns in order to meet their goals, give back to their communities, and drive their mission statement.
However, when donation and ticket sales aren’t enough, what other methods of fundraising can you rely on as a nonprofit? Grants!
Both public and private grants are great ways to build your budget, make up for failed donor campaigns, and ensure you’re on track to reaching your annual goals.
What is a technology grant?
In 2023, it’s more important than ever for nonprofits to access software that can help track, store, and manage data to develop future strategies. Whether you’re managing a CRM or homing your marketing strategy to reach potential donors, you need the right tools and technological infrastructure to manage your donor ecosystem.
Technology grants can provide you with the funding or resources to attain important software and build up your digital networks. They can also help nonprofits dedicated to improving digital education, STEM initiatives, or tech philanthropy.
Technology vs computer grants for non-profits
Technology grants have a much wider scope than computer grants. Technology grants can be given because certain nonprofits need to improve their tech network, or they can be provided when a nonprofit supports an important field within the tech world.
Computer grants are awarded to important organizations that need better computers to upgrade and manage their networks. The difference is important because most nonprofits need a lot more than hardware to thrive as an organization, and a computer grant may not offer everything you need to succeed.
What technology grants look for when awarding funds to nonprofits
So how do you know what to include in your application? And what are grants looking for when they award nonprofits?
There are a few best practices that nonprofits should follow when seeking a tech grant. Although your specific application requirements might change from grant to grant and organization to organization, the following list should apply to most grants and applications.
- They want to know how you’re going to use the technology, and what kind of impact that use will have.
- They want to know what kind of achievements or successes you’ve had in the past.
- They want to know how your project aligns with a great mission or objective.
- They want to know what kind of impact your nonprofit will have on your community.
- They want to know that you have a plan for using the technology and reaching your goals.
- They want to know what STEM initiatives, education groups, or other organizations you partner with.
Some great technology grants to apply for this year
Not sure where to start with technology grants? The following
Salesforce Power Of Us program
Salesforce is one of the largest CRM SaaS providers out there, and its Power Of Us program provides free or discounted CRM technology to over 40,000 nonprofits and educational institutions. ACME is proud to partner with Salesforce for a seamless API integration for seamless membership, donation, and ticket sale management.
Change Happens Foundation
The Change Happens Foundation is dedicated to supporting science and technology organizations committed to social change. Organizations have been awarded for supporting STEm programs and educational initiatives in impoverished communities.
Technology Initiative Awards
If your nonprofit has a tech-related idea that will advance your mission, you should apply for the Technology Initiative Awards. The grant recognizes nonprofits that want to make a positive impact on their communities through technology initiatives. From building software and producing data sets to leveraging predictive analytics, the Technology Initiative Awards will provide $10,000 in support to nonprofits who meet their requirements.
Verizon Grant
Verizon provides a grant to nonprofits that focus on building digital equity, climate change, and human rights issues.If awarded with a grant, 20 percent of your earnings can go to tech-related costs, including data networks, hardware, software, and other resources. New applications are on an invite-only basis, but you can contact your local community relations manager to see if you’re eligible.
Cisco Product Grant Program
Cisco’s Product Grant Program donates up to $50,000 in networking technology to first-time applicants. Cisco aims to help nonprofits improve efficiency, productivity, and scalability as an organization. It focuses on organizations with mission statements related to social causes, including access to education, natural disaster relief, and economic empowerment.
Why planning is so important for tech grants
Each of these grants has its own set of guidelines, expectations, and application processes. If you try to write a one-size-fits-all statement of purpose or mission statement, your application probably won’t get very far.
Grants have a number of guidelines and eligibility requirements. If you don’t read those requirements closely, you could spend hours applying for a grant only to learn you weren’t eligible to receive the grant in the first place.
Putting in the time and effort to apply for the best grants will ensure you pick grants that align with your mission, offer the best awards, and fit your eligibility.
How ACME can help with tech grants
ACME ticketing has its own ACME nonprofit grant program for organizations that work toward health and human services, hunger, veterans, and supporting diversity and inclusion of all abilities.
On top of that, we provide an all-in-one donor, member, and ticket management technology for all of your digital needs as a nonprofit. With ACME, you can leverage customer data better, plan events with ease, stay on top of member trends, and more.
ACME’s seamless nonprofit management solution makes it easy to apply your technology toward your mission statement–which means it makes it easy to explain how ACME will bring you closer to your goals when applying for a grant.
Click here to learn more about how ACME can get you closer to your grant goals today.