Thank you to the 68 organizations who helped complete the 2010 Vermont Nonprofit Purchasing Survey! Responses came from a wide variety of organizations (social services, advocates, arts, housing) and yielded very useful results, which we will help Common Good Vermont to develop a “sponsorship” package that meets the purchasing profile of the nonprofits in our state. The winner of the $100 Staples gift certificate is Sara Kobylenski, Executive Director of Upper Valley Haven! Congratulations Sara!
A preliminary read of the survey results indicate that Vermont nonprofits:
- Purchase a variety of marketing resources (including advertising, web development and video) but maintain a strong preference for printed materials and print advertising. This is also supported by high levels of spending on shipping and postage.
- Are very interested to learn about new office supply vendors and group purchasing opportunities.
- Want to find out more about green technology tools and resources (recycled materials, paper and energy reduction, hardware recycling).
- Allocate a portion of their communications budget to video conferencing, webinars and audio conferencing.
- Invest in computers, software and security as a matter of course.
- Budget modestly for other “on-line” services such as contact management, volunteer tracking and email platform–but remain interested in learning about new offerings.
- Spend substantial amounts on professional services with the bulk of their dollars dedicated to insurance and accounting services.
- Invest in their own capacity, especially fundraising, marketing and board development.
- Seek access to new training opportunities–with a particular interest in short trainings, webinars and workshops (for which they will budget up to $500).
