KYOTO -- The proliferation of the Internet is spurring many groups to aggressively try to keep up with sweeping changes, and nonprofit organizations are no exception.

Making full use of the Internet would be a great advantage to NPOs, which often face shortages of money and staff, according to Reiko Asano, an expert in NPO management who serves as executive director of the Sustainable Community Center Japan, a Kyoto-based NPO.

But Asano, who returned to Japan in 1997 after spending 12 years in Seattle and earning a master's degree in not-for-profit leadership at Seattle University, was shocked to find many NPO staffers in Japan still cannot use the Net.