Tell a Friend About the From Access to Outcomes Report • Please enter information below or return to the previous page. • Email addresses should be of the form:                  recipientname@somewhere.com • Email addresses will not be disclosed to any third parties. • Only green text and your message will be sent in the email. * Indicates a required field. Your name: * Your email address: * Recipient's email address (for multiple addresses separate by commas): * Subject: FWD: From Access to Outcomes report by Morino Institute Message: This information was forwarded to you from the Morino Institute website by << your name >>. Comments from << your name >>: (Use box below to add to the message) Priority:   High Low CC Yourself:   Yes No Return Receipt:   Yes No --------------------------------------------------------------- From Access to Outcomes: Raising the Aspirations for Technology Initiatives in Low-Income Communities A report by the nonprofit Morino Institute (www.morino.org), published July 2001. For more information and the complete report visit, www.morino.org/divides EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: From Access to Outcomes represents an ambitious effort to channel, redirect, and augment the energies that are being devoted to closing the digital divide. From Access to Outcomes makes the case that technology must not be seen as an end in itself. Although most initiatives aimed at closing the digital divide have focused on expanding access to new technologies, the report concludes that providing access alone is rarely as effective as it is well-meaning. The report finds that initiatives in and by low-income communities are far better at producing meaningful change when people apply technology with tangible economic, educational, and social end results -- or outcomes -- in mind. Key conclusions of the report include: • The lessons corporate America has learned about integrating information technology into its operations and strategies can be helpful to nonprofit organizations struggling to do the same. • No matter how impressive the technology or how well-intended the motives, technology initiatives imposed on a community by outsiders are often ineffective. • Investments in technology must go far beyond funding for hardware, software, and wires. For most projects, no more than one-third of the funding should go to technology itself, leaving more than two-thirds for developing programs that help people and organizations understand and apply the technology. • To achieve meaningful national outcomes rather than just a set of small, isolated victories, federal and state governments should do more to provide frameworks and incentives to help focus philanthropic resources and stimulate private-sector investment in low-income areas. • New philanthropic models, including social venture funds and social investment funds, could help to expand dramatically the investments in technology-related initiatives. • To spark widespread change in low-income communities through the targeted use of technology, it will take well over $10 billion a year in additional technology-related investments. As steep as this price tag may seem, the cost of inaction almost certainly would be larger than the cost of action. © 2002-2004, Morino Institute --------------------------------------------------------------- From Access to Outcomes was produced by the Morino Institute (www.morino.org), a foundation that works to strengthen organizations serving the children of low-income communities. The premises of the report were refined with the help of dozens of top thought leaders in the fields of learning and technology who participated in an online discussion forum hosted by the Morino Institute from November 2000 to April 2001. For more information on this online discussion forum and the report itself, please visit www.morino.org/divides .