Executive technology leadership, without the full-time overhead.
Get the strategic guidance of a seasoned CIO — sized to fit your budget and your organization's stage of growth.
Most associations and nonprofits reach a point where technology decisions have outgrown the person making them. A Fractional CIO from 501Works gives your organization senior-level technology leadership — someone who has sat in the CIO seat, run association technology teams, and made (and learned from) the same build-vs-buy, staff-vs-vendor, and platform decisions you’re facing now — without the cost or long search of a full-time hire.
What a 501Works Fractional CIO does for you
- Technology strategy & roadmap: A clear, prioritized plan that ties your technology investments to your organization's actual goals — not just this year's budget cycle.
- Budget planning & ROI evaluation: Help building a defensible technology budget, and a framework for evaluating whether past and proposed spend is paying off.
- Vendor and contract negotiation: An experienced advocate at the table when you're signing (or renewing) AMS, CRM, or infrastructure contracts.
- IT governance, security & compliance: Practical oversight of the policies and safeguards your board and auditors expect, without hiring a full security team.
- Board and leadership reporting: Translating technology decisions into language your board and executive director can act on.
- Staff mentoring: Coaching for the person or team currently “wearing the IT hat” so institutional knowledge doesn't leave when they do.
How engagements work
- Advisory retainer: A set number of hours each month for ongoing strategic guidance and as-needed decision support.
- Interim CIO: Full leadership coverage during a search, reorganization, or unexpected departure.
- Project-based: Focused engagement around a single major decision — a system migration, a security review, a board technology presentation.
Why 501Works
501Works CIO James Marquis has spent more than 30 years leading technology for associations and nonprofits, and was a featured panelist on The CIO Hour’s “Hired Guns: Fractional C-Suites” session — where he and three other fractional executives broke down exactly when fractional leadership makes sense, how engagements should be structured, and what it costs. You’re getting a CIO who has already had this conversation in public.
Schedule a 30-minute fit call to talk through your organization’s technology leadership gap.
