Experiencing Good Tech: Introducing the Jim Joseph Foundation’s Technology Strategy for Supporting Grantees
September 1st, 2026
I joined the Jim Joseph Foundation as Program Director, Technology Strategy because I believe our sector is at a pivotal moment. It has always been challenging for nonprofits to harness the right tech tools. They’re expensive, complicated, and are often not geared towards nonprofit use. And now AI and the rapid pace of change is making it even more challenging. A decision made in the morning about which software to use, and how to implement it, may feel wrong by the afternoon.
In this complex climate, our grantee-partners (and all nonprofits) deserve a technology infrastructure that matches the ambition of their missions: engaging young people, strengthening communities, training educators, providing meaningful learning, and preserving and reimagining tradition. My role, and the reason I joined the Foundation a year and a half ago, is to help make that happen—to work alongside our grantee-partners, understand their unique needs, and support them in building their technology capacity to do their best work and achieve their outcomes.
I have spent my career helping nonprofits better leverage technology for increased impact, and I have a fundamental belief in two things:
- Technology is a critical part of any business, especially for nonprofits
- Nonprofits aren’t fully supported to leverage #1
Unfortunately, technology is not always viewed as a critical asset and, when it is used, often does not run well or is not properly deployed to support impact. As a result, many nonprofit professionals simply haven’t experienced “good tech” in the workplace. In my various professional roles, and at the Foundation today, I’ve helped organizations understand what “good” looks like and then worked with them to develop a strategy and plan to get there.
The critical starting point for this support is understanding the current state of technology for each organization. I’ve deployed this approach wherever and for whomever I’ve worked. More than just learning about specific systems an organization uses, I want to understand who’s responsible for technology, how often it is discussed at leadership meetings, what the governance process look like, and more.
To understand this at a high level, the Foundation has developed a Technology Maturity Assessment that asks a series of questions of multiple stakeholders, including the CEO/Executive Director, the “tech lead,” and two or more professional team members. The results are then analyzed to develop a maturity score, accounting for the quantitative answers as well as the free-form qualitative responses (see sample below).
I then review the report with the grantee to establish a baseline of understanding, and a plan to move forward. Sometimes the engagement is to provide a basic sounding board around how the organization can advance its technology strategy. Other times, it involves a targeted intervention like supporting a systems implementation or a cybersecurity review. In a few cases, we work with outside experts to develop plans for comprehensive technology upgrades across the organization. In all these scenarios, the Foundation is committed to supporting both assessment and technology project implementation.
This approach reflects the Foundation’s commitment to relational grantmaking, through which we aspire to serve as true thought partners with our grantees. The tech space is rapidly evolving and many of us are trying to learn and keep pace. The more we can help foster a culture of knowledge-sharing, asking questions, and problem-solving together, the better off our entire field will be.
So far we have worked with 20 of our grantee-partners on the Technology Maturity Assessment and are currently supporting ten projects, with more on the horizon. We also just completed our first AI Learning Cohort – over 140 people across 24 grantee-partners participated. Our goal is not to push the use of AI, but rather to help our grantee-partners understand what AI is and the different ways it can be leveraged. Then they can decide if and when it’s right for them.
These efforts are only the beginning of our technology support strategy taking shape. We look forward to providing continued support, and to learning alongside our grantee-partners engaged in this work. As we do so, we will continue to share new learnings and insights to help advance the broader field.
David Goodman is Program Director, Technology Strategy at the Jim Joseph Foundation.