Advancing Tech Equity in Our Sector: Introducing NTEN’s 2025 Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology

Are our technology practices helping or harming the communities we serve? As digital tools become more deeply woven into every part of nonprofit work, from client services and communications to data collection and decision-making, it essential that we pause and ask this question.

It's a question that guides Technology Stewardship: just because we can, should we? And if we are, are we being intentionally inclusive by design?

NTEN’s newly updated Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology gives you some useful starting points. Designed specifically for nonprofit staff, funders, and technology providers, the guide helps organizations centre equity, especially racial equity, in how we use, fund, and create technology.

Whether your team is selecting a new CRM, implementing AI tools, or receiving a tech donation, the guide offers practical and actionable guidelines to ensure that these decisions support justice, inclusion, and community power.

Why this matters to Immigrant and Refugee-Serving organizations

For organizations working with Newcomers, technology can be a lifeline or a barrier. The guide speaks directly to the real-world challenges many of you face, such as:

• Ensuring language and accessibility in digital training and communication tools.
• Navigating funding pressures that force quick tech adoption without community input.
• Addressing the harms of surveillance and data misuse, especially in vulnerable communities.
• Designing remote and hybrid work practices that support diverse staff needs.

The Equity Guide acknowledges that not all nonprofits have the same resources, but it provides scalable practices rooted in community accountability and systemic change. It recognizes that equity in tech is about more than tools, it is about power, process, and participation.

What’s Inside

The guide is divided into three major sections:

1. Using Technology: Equitable policies for staff training, hiring, equipment access, remote work, and constituent involvement in tech decisions.
2. Funding Technology: Guidelines for funders to support sustainable, inclusive, and experimental tech work in nonprofits — not just flashy projects.
3. Creating Technology: Standards for vendors and developers building tools for the sector, emphasizing accessibility, transparency, and community impact.

How You Can Use It

This guide is not a checklist. It’s a living document meant to guide your technology strategy, policy, hiring, budgeting, and evaluation. You can:

• Start conversations with your team about how tech is helping or hurting equity in your organization.
• Advocate with funders for more flexible and meaningful tech support.
• Influence technology creators to consider your community's lived experience in their designs.

NTEN also also released a companion resource with 28 questions to help your board engage in meaningful conversations about technology.