On a weekday morning in suburban Maryland, a behavioral health therapist logs into her dashboard before meeting her first client. The screen displays real-time caseloads, treatment plans, and risk alerts. One name flashes yellow—a client whose recent history suggests heightened hospitalization risk.
Rather than waiting for crisis, the therapist addresses this proactively. This moment illustrates how thoughtfully designed digital systems don’t replace human care; they sharpen it.
The challenge is that in many nonprofit organizations, “leadership feel that interaction and interpersonal ability should drive their business, and data plays a lesser role,” said Jignesh Dalal in an interview with NPQ.
Dalal is president and CEO of Vesta, a behavioral health nonprofit based in Maryland with a reported revenue of $19.5 million on its 2023 Form 990 filing. In recent years, Vesta has begun to transform care through a combination of careful data management and organizational empowerment.
The Current Landscape
Nonprofits face unique digitalization challenges. The 2022 Nonprofit Trends Report sponsored by Salesforce found that 74 percent of nonprofit leaders agree that digital transformation is important, but only 12 percent have achieved “digital maturity.”
This gap reflects systemic barriers including limited funding, resource constraints, and organizational culture resistance. Security concerns add complexity—41 percent of NGOs participating in a CyberPeace Institute survey in International Geneva reported cyberattacks within the last three years.
However, proper measures can reduce risks through robust encryption, access controls, and backup systems. And despite challenges, there are substantial opportunities. More than half of organizations surveyed worldwide with advanced data analytics capabilities reported increased revenue in 2022, according to a study conducted by the research firm Forrester.
Understanding both business needs and technical capabilities eliminated the technology knowledge barriers that often slow digital initiatives.
A Blueprint for Transformation
Vesta’s success at integrated technology into its operations demonstrates that nonprofits can overcome typical barriers by combining leadership with both technical and mission expertise, implementing transparent data systems that build trust rather than control, and adopting an experimental mindset that prioritizes rapid iteration over perfect planning. This offers a roadmap for the 88 percent of nonprofits that are still struggling to fully integrate technology into their operations.
Key to organizational transformation is the ability to analyze changes from both a technical and business model perspective. As Dalal explained, “My background is basically coming from finance and IT….[Because of] my ability to zoom in and zoom out of the detail and then get the big picture…we didn’t have to convert the business language to IT language. I understood both sides of it, and that helped us to make much faster progress.”
This dual perspective of understanding both business needs and technical capabilities eliminated the technology knowledge barriers that often slow digital initiatives.
Infrastructure as Foundation
Vesta built a hybrid server system combining Microsoft architecture with cloud-based storage. This enabled the nonprofit to retain control over its own data. Staff-generated information became permanently accessible, transparent, and secure. They layered in business intelligence tools like Microsoft Power BI, giving clinical teams live dashboards to track compliance, outcomes, and caseloads. This move from a reactive to a predictive services approach represented a fundamental shift in mission delivery.
Vesta’s technology implementation differs from traditional strategic planning. As Dalal detailed, “We experiment a lot. We don’t go through a lot of formal strategic planning processes….We throw like 10 rocks knowing that one or two of them is just going to work well. So rather than focusing on getting a perfect plan, we just experiment.” The possibility of wasting limited nonprofit resources on failed experiments, Dalal indicated, “is worth the risk.”
Predictive Analytics in Action
In its process of implementing more advanced digital capacity, Vesta’s focus has been squarely on service delivery and client outcomes. “I don’t think as much about digital or information technology—I think more about data,” Dalal said. “If you come through that lens, then you figure out what technology is the best way to manage it. Technology is a means to an end, but the end is really data-oriented decision making.”
This predictive approach extends beyond individual cases. A 2025 article in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence noted that AI has played a critical role in speeding response to natural disasters including fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Additionally, the article’s authors noted, “Predictive analytics models help aid organizations like the World Food Programme and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) streamline supply chains, reduce waste, and ensure that resources reach those in need without unnecessary delays.” A challenge of these models, however, is that they can amplify existing biases and produce false predictions that could lead to discriminatory treatment or missed crises for vulnerable populations.
Transparency Is Central
Transparency anchors the entire system. Expense reports—including the CEO’s—are open to staff. Supervisors, clinicians, and IT personnel access the same information. Trust isn’t just promised; it is built into the infrastructure.
Leadership structure matters. Relying solely on tech leaders is usually a mistake, as they tend to prioritize tech solutions over human-centered approaches.
As Dalal explained, “By keeping it open, it is so much easier because people just don’t commit fraud or anything like that because all the data is available for everyone. It makes it harder for people to hide anything.” This is why, Dalal, argues, transparency is not just a nice-to-have for digital systems, but an essential element that makes the other benefits of technology possible.
Six Evidence-Based Principles
The case of Vesta illustrates six evidence-based principles guiding effective nonprofit digital transformation:
- Treat Digital Systems as Core Infrastructure
Data and technology aren’t an add-on; they are the backbone of service delivery. The Pathways Community HUB program in Ohio, for example, integrates health and social service records so every provider sees the same client story.
For organizations to successfully integrate digital systems as core infrastructure, leadership structure matters. Relying solely on tech leaders is usually a mistake, as they tend to prioritize tech solutions over human-centered approaches, creating cultural resistance from clinical staff who feel disconnected from decision-making.
Dalal says it is important to find leaders who can bridge business and IT worlds. As he put it, “If the head of the organization doesn’t necessarily have the IT background, then at least the CIO or CTO needs to be very close to the decision-making process.”
- Safeguard Data While Unlocking Its Potential
Data must be protected and purposeful. In Los Angeles, a public school data system project, created in collaboration between the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the USC Center on Education, Policy, Equity and Governance, used analytics under strong consent and privacy safeguards. The key lies in balancing accessibility with security, ensuring staff can access necessary information while maintaining the highest data protection standards. Dalal asserts that “security by protecting privacy unlocks [data’s] potential.” In other words, people will only feel secure in using the technology if they are confident that privacy is protected and their data is secure.
- Focus on Effectiveness, Not Just Efficiency
Analytics help nonprofits understand not just what they’re doing, but how well they’re achieving their mission. For example, the Central Texas Food Bank shifted beyond counts of services delivered to measuring nutrition outcomes.
At Vesta, Dalal says that by analyzing hospitalization patterns and clinical factors, clinicians are able to identify clients most likely to be at risk of hospitalization and provide early intervention. Each avoided hospitalization spares clients trauma, keeps recovery on track, and saves money.
- Build a Digitally Literate Workforce
Digital transformation requires investment in people investment. The State of Illinois behavioral health system invests in data training, so clinicians can act on predictive alerts confidently. Staff effectiveness is tied back to how the system is initially structured. As Dalal said, “The key to buy-in and literacy is transparency.”
- Balance Scale with Agility
Successful organizations implement changes incrementally, allowing adaptation while maintaining a mission focus. Housing Court Answers, a New York housing nonprofit, uses an AI assistant to schedule repairs. But this is not applied mechanically; human beings oversee the AI assistant’s recommendations and course correct when necessary. As Dalal observed, adjustment is constant: “If it does not work, move on and try something else.”
- Shift from Reactive to Predictive Service
Vesta’s predictive model enables the nonprofit to, as Delal put it, “Prevent fires instead of putting them out.” More broadly, nonprofits, by analyzing patterns and risk factors, can identify at-risk clients and intervene early.
Implementation Considerations
While data and technology hold promise for improving nonprofit operations, organizations should recognize their limitations. Technology lacks judgment, contextual understanding, and empathy—human factors critical for nonprofit success.
Successful implementation requires combining technological capability with human insight, ensuring predictive tools enhance rather than replace professional judgment and relationship building. Nonprofits ready to embark on digital transformation should follow several best practices to guide their efforts:
- Assessment and Planning
Document organizational functions, including strengths and weaknesses.
- Stakeholder Engagement
Involve individuals from all levels in planning. This inclusive approach ensures technological changes align with actual workflow needs and organizational culture.
- Leadership and Communication
Ensure leadership is visible and communicating clearly throughout the process to help all stakeholders understand rationale for change and expected outcomes.
- Goal Setting and Measurement
Define specific, measurable transformation objectives. Create return-on-investment metrics tracking how digital initiatives affect mission fulfillment, fundraising, and volunteer engagement.
The Imperative for Change
The evidence is clear: Responsible digital transformation can help nonprofits better fulfill their missions.
The future belongs to nonprofits that can harness digitalization responsibly.
Organizations that successfully navigate this transformation bolster their capacity in key areas: delivering care that is both personalized and scalable, anticipating crises, attracting staff eager to use modern tools meaningfully, and building transparency into everyday operations.
Data and technology should never eclipse the human side of nonprofit work, but they can and should strengthen it. The most effective transformations combine technological capability with human insight and expertise.
Trust and effectiveness are the cornerstones of organizational success, so thriving nonprofits will be as transparent with their data as they are steadfast in their values. The future belongs to nonprofits that can harness digitalization responsibly by creating systems that are transparent, effective, data-driven, and compassionate.
