Institutional Funding and Management Commitment

By Eric Johnson, World Bank Institute (WBI); Sherine Ghoneim, Economic Research Foundation (ERF); Margaret Nyrambura Ndung'u, EcoNews Africa; Sangeeta Gupta, The Energy and Resources Institute (formerly the Tata Energy Research Institute) (TERI)
May 2001

Most organizations enter into the world of the Internet either by accident (i.e., someone volunteers to build their Web site), or through a minimal investment in staff time or by contracting a vendor to build a basic "brochure" site. Once this step has been taken, management must make a decision as to how strategically important the Internet will be to the organization, and therefore, how much of the annual budget will be assigned to this activity.

Management support

The commitment of upper management to the support of Web projects varies considerably across CSOs. Some directors see the Web as irrelevant to their work, and may not even see the need for a modest Web site. Other groups have made strategic investments in building their internal capacity in Web management to take advantage of the potential impact of the technologies and to explore new funding opportunities.

As the organization's lead fundraiser, executive directors and presidents must also decide which projects they will try to sell to donors. If they do not understand, or see the importance of such projects, it will be extremely difficult for them to attract funding. Lack of management support also makes it difficult for project managers to fundraise on their own, as donors often look at the commitment of management as a criteria for funding.

Signs that your manager is serious about the Internet:

• she/he asks if material is on the Web site, or how many hits you are attracting;
• an intern is not the one managing your Web site;
• the Web is an issue on a board meeting agenda;
• the Web is included in the communication strategy; and
• your organization does not pay for Internet time by the minute.

Example

In the case of the Economic and Social Research Foundation in Tanzania (ESRF), their Executive Director has invested in the potential of the Internet by supporting staff in acquiring relevant skills and attending events that allow for the potential development of new initiatives. ESRF is one of the very few CSOs in Africa which is running a database-driven country portal (http://www.tzonline.org). With this product as a feature service, ESRF is well positioned to market their services and attract additional Internet projects.

Paying for Web management

While the cost of Web development and management can possibly be recovered through project funding, it is unlikely to be the case. And seeing as most donors tend to prefer project funding, management must be prepared to pay for at least part of these expenses as an element of overhead costs. Given the wide variety of technologies available today (and the range of cost), management must decide how important their Internet infrastructure is, and how much of their institutional budget should be committed to this expense.

If your organization is lucky enough to have donors that provide institutional as opposed to project support, management will have greater flexibility in budgeting for Web management. This opportunity should be embraced both with respect to staff and technical expenses. Proposals should include sufficient funds for the purchase, maintenance and upgrading of equipment, as well as funds to pay the salaries of staff which maintain technical systems and perhaps even content. In the latter case, editorial staff could be budgeted for under the heading of outreach, external affairs or publishing functions. These are areas which project funding does not generally contribute to.

The dream scenario

In order to ensure that Web-related expenses are always covered, management could put into place a policy that requires that every proposal submitted for funding includes a line item for Web dissemination and management. While this is not common practice today, it is an option that could ease the burden of covering Web costs out of general overhead. It may not be popular with project managers, but it will help them to understand the true time and resource commitments that accompany posting materials on the Web. Too often, people take for granted the time required to just "put it up on the Web."