Survey on Local NGOs’ IT Application 2011

1. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service The University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme Microsoft Hong Kong Limited Survey on Local NGOs’ IT Application 2011 Dr Robert T. Y. CHUNG Director of Public Opinion Programme, HKU June 8, 2011

2. Research Background • Objective: To understand the current applications of information technology (IT) in local NGOs, including infrastructure, practical application, mode of subsidies, information security and future development, etc. • POP has consulted Microsoft and HKCSS in designing the questionnaire while POP enjoyed full autonomy in fieldwork operation, data collection and data analysis. POP takes full responsibility for all findings reported. • The research methodology and all survey findings will be open for public consumption.

3. Contact Information Date of survey: April 14 to May 5, 2011 Target population: Representatives of local NGOs who are involved in decision making of IT policies, contact list was provided by HKCSS Survey method: HKCSS invited 385 agency members to participate in this survey via email, then the contact list of 88 interested organizations was given to HKUPOP to conduct telephone interviews Sample size: Representatives of 74 out of the 88 organizations completed the telephone interviews, the cooperation rate is 84.1%, accounting to 19.2% of the total agency members Standard error: Assuming no response bias, at 95% confidence level, the sampling error of all percentages should be no more than +/-10.4 percentage points

4. Categorization of Organizations * The 2009 categorization was based on the information of Year 2008-09, and that of 2011 was based on the information of Year 2009-10. Survey of 2009 was conducted by HKCSS.

5. Position of Respondents Base= 74

6. 1) Basic IT Infrastructure and Application

7. Steady development of IT infrastructure within the organizations interviewed 2009 Mean: 121 Error: +/-45 Median: 30 Base: 101 2011 Mean: 165 Error: +/-79 Median: 48 Base: 72 [Q1] In the past year, how many PCs and laptops in total were in use in your organization?

8. Half of the organizations need to send staff work outside office with computers, 70% equipped with the system/facilities required [Q4] Do your staff need to use PC for work outside the office? (Base=74) [Q5] [Only askthose who answered “Yes” in Q4] Can the current IT system/facilities support your staff working outside the office (e.g. to remote login the organization’s application system)? (Base=37)

9. More than half organizations do not fully utilize many IT software application systems [1] [2] [3] [4] (Base =74) (Base =103) [Q6] What kind(s) of IT software application system does your organization use now?[Interviewer to read out items 1-7, order to be randomized, multiple responses allowed] [1] Option in 2009 survey read “Administrative / financial management”; [2] Option in 2009 survey read “Knowledge management” ; [3]and [4] are new options in 2011 survey ** Different is statistically significant at p<0.01 level.

10. Nearly half organizations are considering to purchase / update Membership Management System (Base =74) [Q7] Which IT software application system(s) you are considering to purchase / upgrade in your organization?[Multiple responses allowed]

11. Quite some organizations do not have other security measures except the basic anti-virus system (Base =74) [Q9] What kind of measures does your organization have to protect the servers / application system? [Interviewer to read out items 1-6, order to be randomized by computer, multiple responses allowed]

12. 2) IT Funding and Subsidies

13. Upward trend observed for the no. of organizations which has reserved budget for IT development [Q10] Over the past year, has your organization set aside a specific amount of resources for improving IT facilities or increasing its applicability? (Base =74) [Q13] Will your organization set aside a specific amount of resources for IT development in the year of 2011/12?

14. Organizations’ recurrent expenditure and government grant / subsidy are major sources of IT funding [1] (Base =37) (Base =33) [Q12][Only ask those answered “yes” inQ10] What is the major funding source(s) of this expenditure?[Interviewer to read out items 1-5, multiple responses allowed, ordered by importance level, 1 meaning the most importance] [1] Option in 2009 survey was “Lump sum grant from the Government”

15. Government grant / subsidy remains to be regarded as the most useful subsidizing mode [1] [2] Percentage of the most conducive (Base =74) (Base =36) [Q14] What mode(s) of subsidy would you consider to be most conducive for the IT development within the social welfare sector?[Interviewer to read out items 1-5, multiple responses allowed, ordered by conducive level, 1 meaning the most conducive] [1] Option in 2009 survey was “Lump sum grant from the Government” ；[2] New option in 2011 survey

16. Opinions are split if one has to choose between “a lump sum” or “continuous” subsidy (Base =74) [Q15 Which of the following mode(s) of subsidy would you consider more suitable for the operation and development of the social welfare organizations? [Interviewer to read out items 1-2, order to be randomized by computer, single response only]

17. 3) Evaluation of Overall IT Performance

18. Most regard the IT duty “software and system development” as very important but lacking resources / time / manpower (Base =74) [Q17] What kinds of IT related duties do you think are the most important to your organization but does not have the resources / time / manpower to handle or execute? [Interviewer to read out items 1-6, multiple resources allowed]

19. Organizations appear less satisfied with the IT infrastructure and applications [Q18] Please rate your satisfaction level towards the basic IT infrastructure (e.g. software/ hardware) of your organization using 0 – 10 marks, in which 0 represents very dissatisfied, 5 represents half-half while 10 represents very satisfied [Q19 Please rate the satisfaction towards current status of IT applications of your organization using 0 – 10 marks, in which 0 represents very dissatisfied, 5 represents half-half while 10 represents very satisfied. [Q20] In general, please rate how much your organization is in need to improve the current IT facilities using 0 – 10 marks, in which 0 represents no improvement is needed at all, 5 represents half-half, 10 represents improvement is urgently needed. [Q21] Please rate the sufficiency of resources used for improving IT facilities allocated by your organization using 0 – 10 marks, in which 0 represents totally insufficient, 5 represents half-half, 10 represents very sufficient. * Difference is statistically significant at p<0.05 level

20. Lack of IT specialists / knowledge / funding is the biggest IT related challenge to the local NGOs (Base =74) [Q22] What do you think is/ are the biggest challenge(s) related to IT development in your organization?[Do not read out answers, multiple responses allowed]

21. 4) “Cloud Computing” Awareness

22. 70% have heard of “Cloud Computing” (Base =74) [Q23] Lastly, have you ever heard of the term “Cloud Computing” before this interview ?

23. 30% organizations believe “Cloud Computing” can effectively solve their problems of IT development (基數=74) [Interviewer to read out: “Cloud Computing” basically refers to different users/organizations sharing resources and information through the internet, replacing the use of hardware to store files and information. As a result, one can reduce the workload of IT management, cut budget and increase efficiency.] [Q24] Do you think that “Cloud Computing” can effectively solve the problems of IT development that your organization is currently facing?

24. In-depth analysis of the opinion on “Cloud Computing”

25. Nearly 2/3 of respondents are willing to participate in a territory-wide donor and volunteer management system (Base =74) [Q25] If there is a territory-wide centralized management system for donors and volunteers, that is, the social welfare organizations involved in the system can share/obtain data and information on an internet platform, will your organization be willing to participate?

26. Conclusion • There is a steady development in IT infrastructure of the NGOs interviewed, but satisfactory level towards various IT related aspects has slightly dropped as compared to the 2009 survey. Their biggest challenge identified is the lack of IT specialists, knowledge and funding. • More than half organizations have not fully utilized IT to help manage their operations. Many organizations apply no any other security measures except basic anti-virus software. • Both “Lump sum” or “Continuous” funding modes got supporters, depending on the types and scales of organizations. The Government should build in more flexibility. • Representatives without IT background generally have no idea how “Cloud Computing” can tie in with their organization’s future development, the big discrepancy with that of IT specialists reconfirms the importance of hiring IT specialists to handle IT. • Most representatives welcome the setting up of a territory-wide centralized donor and volunteer management systemand they are willing to participate in this system.

27. The End For detailed report, please visit http://hkupop.hku.hk