Segment 2 | About your organization
Size, focus areas and operating context
This segment profiles the organizations represented in the survey, outlining their type, size, thematic focus and operating regions. It also looks at the main forces driving change, how quickly organizations adapt, and how they approach emerging technologies. These foundations shape everything that follows and influence how change is led, resourced and absorbed across the sector.
Organization size & type
The survey sample is weighted toward smaller organizations, with over 40 percent of respondents coming from nonprofits of 20 staff or fewer and fewer than one in five from organizations with more than 1,000 staff.
The distribution of organization types across size bands follows expected patterns: local and community-based organizations dominate among smaller nonprofits, while international NGOs appear mainly at larger scales.
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Pattern insight:
Size clearly influences the rhythm of change. Smaller nonprofits describe agility and proximity where decisions move fast and everyone feels the impact. Larger organizations show the other side of growth with more layers, more coordination and slower adaptation.
Mission focus areas
Respondents represent a broad sweep of nonprofit missions. The most common areas are poverty alleviation and economic development followed closely by community development, human rights and social justice, environment and climate action and education. Significant shares also selected disaster response and humanitarian aid, advocacy, governance and public policy and health and medical services.
Many organizations work across several of these fields, reflecting the interconnected nature of nonprofit missions.
Drivers of change
Across the sector funding shifts stand out as the single most common trigger for change. Yet the specific pressures differ by size. Smaller nonprofits often respond to immediate crises or programme opportunities while large ones are more likely to face operating model redesigns, digital transformation and compliance demands.
In the smallest organizations, funding changes dominate (53 percent), with crisis response (33 percent), programme launches (27 percent), culture (27 percent) and digital transformation (27 percent) also notable.
In the largest organizations (more than 5,000 staff), funding changes remain top (84 percent), but operating-model redesign (79 percent), digital transformation (68 percent), crisis response (68 percent) and regulatory compliance (58 percent) feature almost as strongly.
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Pattern insight:
The forces driving change shift with organizational scale: from immediate funding and crisis pressures in smaller nonprofits to system redesign and compliance demands in the largest.
Adaptation speed
A clear size-related gradient appears in adaptation speed. Smaller nonprofits are more likely to adapt quickly, mid-sized organizations cluster around moderate speeds and the largest organizations lean slower, with “very quickly” responses disappearing entirely.
This difference highlights a tension seen throughout the dataset: the systems that allow large organizations to scale also make change slower.
Engaging with emerging technologies (including AI)
Most nonprofits are still finding their footing with new technologies. Four in ten say they are beginning to explore possibilities while only one in five report having a clear strategy.
Smaller nonprofits (1–5 staff) are most likely to have no clear position (28 percent) or only discussion without action (11 percent). Among the largest organizations (more than 5,000 staff), none report “no position” or “only discussion,” and 42 percent report a defined strategy.
This pattern mirrors many others in the data where readiness rises with resources but innovation often starts small.
Segment 2 reflection
The organizational profile shows a sector anchored in small-to-medium nonprofits yet spanning the full range of sizes and mandates. Funding volatility remains the dominant catalyst for change, but digitalization, compliance and strategic redesign increasingly shape how larger organizations evolve. Differences in scale also influence adaptation speed and readiness for technological shifts, setting the scene for the leadership and cultural dynamics explored in the next segment.