SBC Excelerator Fact Sheet

SBC Excelerator Fact Sheet

About SBC Excelerator

·  SBC Excelerator is a competitive grants program for projects that use technology to improve nonprofit organizations. Introduced in 2002, the SBC Foundation contributes several million dollars each year from its annual giving budget to the SBC Excelerator program for projects that use technology to build stronger communities.

·  In 2003, more than 680 organizations received SBC Excelerator grants:

·  52 percent for community development projects

·  24 percent for education projects

·  17 percent for health and human service projects

·  7 percent for arts and culture projects

·  SBC Excelerator grants in 2003 were distributed to programs that serve diverse racial and ethnic groups:

·  25 percent African-American

·  18 percent Hispanic

·  4 percent Asian-American

·  1 percent Native American

·  SBC Excelerator supports programs in communities throughout the SBC 13-state operating territory, as well as Washington, D.C. These states include: Arkansas; California; Connecticut; Illinois; Indiana; Kansas; Michigan; Missouri; Nevada; Ohio; Oklahoma; Texas; and Wisconsin.

·  In 2002, SBC contributed nearly $95 million, through corporate and foundation giving, to a variety of projects that are designed to increase access to information technologies, broaden technology training and professional development, and effectively integrate new technologies.

·  In 2003, SBC Excelerator will provide funds for technology integration to strengthen nonprofit organizations in the areas of education, community development, health and human services, and arts and culture.

·  A listing of the 2003 SBC Excelerator grant recipients is available at www.sbc.com/foundation.

The Need for SBC Excelerator

According to a 2002 technology access survey, sponsored by SBC:

·  Community Based Organizations (CBOs) say that technology is critical to their success:

·  78 percent say that it will give them the ability to reach people and change lives

·  69 percent say that it will empower their clients through education and training

·  66 percent say it will improve the quality of programs and services

·  57 percent say it will raise the measure of success

·  CBOs’ greatest obstacles to benefiting from the latest technology include:

·  Lack of financial resources (68%)

·  Having to teach themselves the latest information technology (IT) advances (85%)

·  Current equipment does not support the latest software (40%)

·  Limited to peer tutoring to master the latest IT advances (83%)

·  53 percent of CBOs say upgrading to high-speed Internet access is a priority

·  58 percent of America’s CBOs see lack of time and training as the biggest barrier to leveraging IT and the Internet for their organizations, while 39 percent cite lack of hardware and software as the primary barriers