Grantmakers Information Technology Survey Report 

III. Snapshots by Foundation Size  

D. Small Foundations Snapshot (less than $10 million) 

There were 77 respondents with assets less than $10 million in this snapshot (Table A 1).  

Surprisingly, a greater percentage of small foundations (13%) than medium foundations 

(5%) reported having in house technical support (Table A 2). Unlike medium and large 

foundations, the most common person responsible for technology in small foundations is 

the executive director/CEO, with 38 percent reporting that the executive director/CEO 

was responsible for technology. A fair number (22%) of foundations reported that the 

finance/ administrative staff was responsible for technology and similar to medium 

foundations, a small percentage (3%) reported that volunteers were responsible for 

technology systems. This is common for nonprofits but surprising for foundations.  

Person Responsible for IT (n = 76) *

1   In house technical staff (full or part time) 

2   Finance/administrative staff 

3   Executive director/CEO 

4   Consultants 

5   Volunteers 

6   Other 

* n = number of respondents 

Consistent with all sizes of foundations, the primary role and responsibility of the 

information technology director was network administration (89%). About 37 percent to 

59 percent of respondents also described the role of technology staff in their organization 

to include responsibility for telephone systems, participating in organizational strategic 

planning and researching new technologies.  

Similar to large foundations and medium foundations, few small foundations (between 

one tenth and one fifth) reported that IT staff was responsible for sharing knowledge with 

IT staff in other organizations, providing assistance and advice to grantees and 

recommending solutions to grantees.    

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