Nonprofits Will Get Tech Advice, Tools to Better Serve Charlotte

CHARLOTTE – NPower Charlotte Region will help more than 60 nonprofits transform how they use technology to solve community problems with a new $2.75 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The three-year grant will increase the reach of nonprofits by providing technology and support services that promote agency collaboration, electronic data sharing and organizational innovation.

“Nonprofit leaders are the most passionate, creative, and informed people tackling our community’s toughest challenges,” said Chris Meade, NPower’s executive director. “They deserve the best tools and technology to serve our community.”

The Powered By NPower Community Technology Initiative will include:

* IT Forums – Tech Seminars led by local experts focusing on the tools nonprofits need to more efficiently serve Charlotte and Mecklenburg;

* Collaborative Work Groups – Work teams of local organizations that will develop technology solutions to address common problems shared by nonprofits;

* Tech Help Scholarships – Funding in the form of scholarships to help non-profits stabilize and maintain their IT infrastructure, so that they can focus on serving their clients.

NPower also will strive to ensure agencies have compatible software so that they can more easily work on joint projects.

“Technology can truly transform an organization’s efficiency and ability to effect change,” Susan Patterson, Knight Foundation’s Charlotte program director, said. “All of Charlotte will benefit from our local organizations’ ability to better address the community’s most pressing problems.”

Since its founding in 2003, NPower Charlotte Region has served more than five dozen agencies and raised more than $3.5 million in cash and in-kind technology donations for greater Charlotte.

About NPower Charlotte Region

NPower Charlotte Region is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit technology consultancy that works exclusively with 501(c)(3) organizations. NPower Charlotte Region is part of the national NPower network and serves the 14 county region surrounding Charlotte, NC. NPower works with nonprofit organizations to improve current technology and implement needed technology programs to achieve improvements that enable them to better serve their clients. NPower Charlotte Region was launched in 2003 with funding from Microsoft, Accenture, Bank of America, Duke Energy, Wachovia, Foundation for the Carolinas, The Duke Endowment, the United Way of Central Carolinas and the Arts & Science Council.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.