Since its inception, PTP has offered grants to community organizing groups. We consider this to be a critical part of our program offerings because it provides a unique funding stream for innovative models of technology use in community organizing.

The organizing groups that we collaborate with often remind us of the need for more funds for technology. We learned the same thing when we did the research for our report "From Exclusion to Inclusion: Strengthening Community-led Organizations with Effective Technology." Just as the constituences they serve are not benefiting fully from technology's promise, community-led organizations (CLOs) working in marginalized communities face scarcity-caused "organizational digital divide" that limits their ability to obtain and utilize available technologies.

As the report states:

"CLOs cannot achieve their goals, much less reduce digital inequality in their constituencies, unless the "organizational divide" is addressed and overcome.

CLOs are chronically under-funded-they tend to be the last groups to get funding in flush times and the first to be cut in times of scarcity. As a result of both the absence of needed resources and the insecurity of funding from year to year, it is difficult for CLOs to maintain and expand their traditional organizational infrastructure, much less the [information and communications technology] (ICT)infrastructure they need to be effective.

On balance, ICT has exacerbated rather than alleviated resource demands on CLOs- acquiring and maintaining technology is expensive. A decade ago technology costs simply were not a significant percentage of the budgets of most CLOs. Today, annual expenditures for all the costs associated with ICT are substantial. Our research indicates that the annual budgets of most CLOs have had to increase significantly to accommodate the day-to-day demands that ICT makes on an organization. Each year most CLOs:

• Purchase hardware and software
• Designate substantial staff time for the installation and maintenance of equipment and ICT systems
• Hire technical assistance providers
• Attend ICT trainings

These are not minor expenditures, and they cannot be put off for very long without undermining the effectiveness of an organization.

This grants program cannot fill the funding gap by itself. It is designed to build models of strategic technology use that can be replicated throughout the community led organizing field and lay the basis for overcoming the organizational digital divide.