BridgeTECH Preview: Your Digital Infrastructure Is Your Strategic Plan

Jon Thompson

Jon Thompson interned on the team that invented one of the first CRMs for the nonprofit industry when he was in high school. Though he spent part of his career in political communications and international trade treaty game theory, he now seeks to discover how technology can advance philanthropy. 

After a role in international relations for the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, he wanted to continue that work in the U.S.

“Most people in that line of work come from hard power (think military), so I sought to learn soft power as a competitive advantage,” he said. “This led me to the nonprofit CARE (where the term “care package” comes from). It was at CARE that I started getting hooked on philanthropy and the industry has been stuck with me since.”

Since then, his nonprofit career has spanned Phoenix Children’s Hospital, SEIU, Feeding America, Ocean Conservancy, and U.S. Military Academy. He currently serves as the associate vice president of philanthropic strategy and technology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Thompson will present at this year’s inaugural BridgeTECH, a tech-focused event for nonprofit executives, fundraisers and marketers on Aug. 2 at the 18th annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference. In the session, “Your Digital Infrastructure Is Your Strategic Plan,” Thompson, along with Katrina A. VanHuss, CEO at Turnkey for Good; Jamie Bearse, president and CEO at ZERO: The End of Prostate Cancer; and Tami Caesar, chief operating officer at National MS Society, will discuss typical misses in aligning the strategic plan, operational plans, and digital infrastructure.

NonProfit PRO caught up with Thompson to learn more about his work in nonprofit technology and why she’s so passionate about technology’s role in nonprofits.

What impact has technology had on your nonprofit?

At its most simple, technology is leading the way we will double philanthropy. We are using technology to build pipeline in more scalable ways with better impact, we are using it to connect people to our mission in more meaningful ways, and we are using it to change the paradigm so we are focused on lifetime value over cost per dollar raised. 

What is the biggest struggle nonprofits have with technology and how has your nonprofit overcome that struggle?

The biggest struggle is structural. Most nonprofits think of technology in two bucks: “Here is an email. Please give me money.” Or, “Here is a report on where your KPIs are at.”

But if you can zoom out and ask the question, “How does technology advance philanthropy?” then it sets organizations up to see how they can improve the impact of their mission but also to combine technologies in unique ways that can fundamentally change its relationship with its constituents. It’s because of this lens, that the Children’s Hospital is able to do leading work in [artificial intelligence], big data, augmented reality, distributive rendering and more. 

Why is it so important for nonprofits to embrace technology regardless of staff size, revenue, overhead misconceptions, etc.?

I love the quote from Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” We get so hung up on the cost of technology that we reject all solutions to a business problem than just the one that might be out of reach. At the end of the day, technology gives us scale, reach and focus for our business problems. In nearly every case, the right technology [and] strategy has the optimal ROI. It's only a matter of being creative enough to see the solution through the noise.  

What will you be presenting at BridgeTECH and why are you passionate about the subject? 

I will be on two panels — one talking about structure and organizational dynamics to improve efforts through technology and another getting into how we are using AI and big data to fundamentally change how we build and optimize pipeline. 

Join Us at BridgeTECH

Thompson, VanHuss, Bearse, and Caesar share how digital infrastructure paves the way for your organization’s strategic plan at BridgeTECH on Aug. 2 at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Sign up for BridgeTECH and the Bridge Conference by selecting the "BridgeTECH + Bridge" option.