The way nonprofits and social impact organizations do their work has changed dramatically. Today, nearly every aspect of their mission — from advocating for human rights to delivering essential community services — depends on digital systems. This shift has created new opportunities to serve more people, build power, and drive systemic change. But in this moment, when political and social forces are increasingly hostile to those fighting for equity and justice, it also introduces new risks.
At a time when book bans silence marginalized voices, new laws target LGBTQ+ rights, and racial justice movements face backlash, digital threats aren’t just a technical problem. They are an existential challenge for organizations working to protect the most vulnerable. Cyberattacks, surveillance, misinformation campaigns, and even funding restrictions are being weaponized to disrupt essential work. For many, digital security is now about more than privacy — it’s about survival.
Protecting digital systems means rethinking how we approach security. It’s not just about firewalls and encryption or regulatory compliance; it’s about ensuring that technology strengthens the resilience of the people and movements behind it. It means designing systems that protect activists, safeguarding community data from exploitation, and ensuring that digital infrastructure can’t be used to silence or harm those it was meant to support.
At its core, digital resilience is about upholding the values that drive social impact work — justice, equity, and collective care. In this moment, when the stakes are higher than ever, we need to build technology that not only withstands threats but actively strengthens the power of those fighting for a better world.
Digital Resilience in Action
At Software for Good, we believe digital resilience isn’t just about security — it’s about protecting movements, communities, and the ability to keep doing essential work in an increasingly volatile world. We help organizations build resilience in three critical areas:
Safeguarding Community Trust
For many social impact organizations, trust is everything. Communities share sensitive information — health records, legal histories, personal details — because they believe it will be protected. That trust is sacred, and keeping it safe is both a security challenge and a moral responsibility. We build systems that prioritize both privacy and accessibility, ensuring that information is protected while remaining available to those who need it.
When Minnesota needed to rapidly distribute over $70 million in emergency housing assistance during the pandemic, we partnered with HousingLink to create a system designed with dignity and security at its core. Instead of collecting excessive personal details, we built a platform that gathered only what was absolutely necessary — reducing risk while making the process more humane. Every unnecessary data point we didn’t collect was one less vulnerability that could be exploited. The result was a secure, streamlined platform that processed over 70,000 requests and helped more than 63,000 households stay housed in a time of crisis.
Ensuring Essential Services Stay Online
Communities depend on nonprofits and advocacy groups for services they can’t get anywhere else — whether that’s healthcare, housing support, or legal aid. But when digital infrastructure fails, the consequences aren’t just inconvenient; they can be devastating. We help organizations create backup systems, continuity plans, and alternative access points so that when challenges arise, people still get the support they need.
As the legal landscape around reproductive healthcare continues to shift, we’ve worked with abortion funds and reproductive justice organizations to build resilient, independent digital infrastructure. We focus on ensuring these organizations can continue coordinating essential healthcare, even as political attacks escalate. This includes creating systems that are decentralized, adaptable, and resistant to external interference — because no organization fighting for human rights should be at the mercy of a tech platform’s changing policies.
Defending Organizational Independence
Many social impact organizations rely on third-party platforms for essential work — email services, donation platforms, cloud storage — but what happens when those platforms change their policies, restrict access, or raise prices? For organizations serving marginalized communities, sudden platform restrictions can mean lost funding, silenced voices, or interrupted services. We help organizations design systems they can control, reducing dependence on any single provider and ensuring their ability to operate on their own terms.
For Resmaa Menakem’s Black Octopus Society, building resilience started with a fundamental decision: choosing a platform that would allow long-term control over content and community data. Instead of locking his transformative teaching work into a custom system that could create future dependencies, we helped evaluate platforms based on technical strength, adaptability, and alignment with his values. The final choice, Mighty Networks, ensured that Resmaa retained full ownership of his content while maintaining independent backups. If policies changed, his work wouldn’t disappear. By integrating his content across multiple channels, we built additional layers of protection, ensuring that his teachings on somatic abolitionism remain accessible — no matter what shifts in the digital landscape.
Our Approach to Digital Resilience
At Software for Good, we know that digital security isn’t just about technology — it’s about protecting people, movements, and the essential work of social impact organizations. As organizations rely more on digital tools, they face new challenges — but also new opportunities to strengthen their work. With decades of experience, we’ve developed an approach that prioritizes resilience, trust, and mission-driven technology, ensuring that vital work continues without interruption, without compromise, and without fear.
Security That Strengthens Mission-Driven Work
Put Relationships First – Security should never create barriers to connection. We design protection that strengthens relationships, ensuring communities can engage, advocate, and receive support without fear.
Learn From Experience – The best security solutions come from deep listening. We work with organizations to understand how they operate, what their communities need, and how technology can serve — rather than disrupt — their mission.
Turn Risks Into Opportunities – Digital tools can be a source of risk or a force for resilience. We help organizations embrace technology in ways that enhance security, expand access, and amplify impact.
Protect the Mission, Not Just the Tech – Security should never be a burden. By handling the technical complexities, we free teams to focus on their real work — whether that’s organizing communities, providing direct services, or advocating for change.
When we approach digital protection with care, strategy, and an unwavering commitment to justice, we create something far more valuable than security alone. We help organizations build power, sustain movements, and deepen their impact in the communities they serve.
How We Can Help: Digital Resilience Consulting
Through our Digital Resilience Consulting services, we provide mission-driven organizations with the expertise and tools to strengthen their digital infrastructure, ensuring they can continue their vital work without disruption.
Our services include:
Risk & Resilience Audits – Assessing vulnerabilities in digital systems, data security, and platform dependencies.
Security & Privacy Strategy – Designing policies and technical safeguards to protect sensitive information and maintain community trust.
Continuity & Backup Planning – Ensuring essential services remain available through redundancy planning and infrastructure resilience.
Technology Independence Consulting – Reducing reliance on single platforms and ensuring long-term control over critical systems.
Training & Capacity Building – Equipping teams with the knowledge and skills to maintain and adapt secure, resilient systems.
Our approach ensures organizations are not only protected from immediate threats but also positioned for long-term sustainability, growth, and impact.