The Vision for a New TechFinder

Overview
For much of the past decade, TechFinder.org served as a resource to help nonprofits identify
technology service providers who could address needs, solve problems and deliver new
solutions, from lT infrastructure to online communications to database and information
services.
TechSoup Global and NTEN decided to retire TechFinder in 20l0, and Aspiration was given
the TechFinder data with an invitation to create a next-generation version of the service.
Aspiration is proud to be heading up efforts to get TechFinder back online, under the working
name New TechFinder (NTF). And we promise we'll come up with a better name.
This documents lays out Aspiration's overall vision for NTF, including:
Background on Aspiration's current programs and services
The role of NTF in Aspiration's overall strategy
Ways in which community participation will shape the platform vision and
implementation
Current thinking on an implementation strategy
Descriptions of target users for the new platform
Likely supported features, subject to community feedback
The underlying technology vision
Prospective funding and business models
For ongoing information about the project, see
http://www.aspirationtech.org/programs/ntf
where we'll be posting latest information on the platform, and where you can learn how to
follow and participate in the project.
Background
Aspiration is a unique and trusted nonprofit technology assistance provider. We work to
connect all the stakeholders in the nonprofit software supply chain, and drive dialog about
how to deliver greater value and utility to nonprofit software users while also giving them more
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
say in shaping the tools they use.
Our programs and services focus on:
Strategic consuIting and advising to funders who underwrite nonprofit and NGO
technology development;
Product management and community strategy services to platform and tool
developers, helping them to apply more user-centric and community-driven
approaches in developing their offerings;
Decision support services to nonprofit technology managers and decision makers,
with a focus on long-term sustainability;
CoIIaborative knowIedge sharing events built around dialogs focused on end users
and that put techies in service to nonprofit mission and real-world needs;
Empathetic end-user training, mentoring and support designed to deliver on-
demand and just-in-time guidance to address needs and issues as they arise, while
also helping Aspiration gather market intelligence on gaps and deficits in available
nonprofit software.
ln support of these offerings, Aspiration maintains two knowledge aggregation sites to
document available resources and proven best practices:
SociaI Source Commons (SSC, www.socialsourcecommons.org), is the most
comprehensive inventory of nonprofit and NGO-related software tools available online.
The site is based on a "who's using what" model of software discovery, and supports
creation of tool lists for use in documenting processes and tool sets.
Answr.net (www.answr.net), is an interactive question-and-answer platform providing
best practices, context and how-to's on a range of nonprofit technology questions and
practices. We also publish our processes and templates for use by others in
supporting effective use of technology in the nonprofit context
We are extremely excited about the ways in which NTF will complement and bolster our
current efforts and offerings.
RoIe of NTF in Aspiration's OveraII Strategy
NTF will serve as the third component in Aspiration's online platform model, providing a
services directory to complement existing knowledge resources.
The three sites will be integrated via open APl's (Application Programmer lnterfaces), so that
NTF data can be displayed on SSC and Answr pages. The suite of resources will strive to
address the three fundamental nonprofit support questions:
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
SociaI Source Commons: "What soltware |s ot there to spport or work?"
Answr.net: "How do l se |t ellect|ve/v?"
NTF: "Who can he/p me dep/ov and se |t?"
lntegration between the sites will provide additional contextual benefit to users:
When looking at a software tool on SSC, a listing of service providers who support that
tool will be displayed, with links to NTF profiles and reviews.
When viewing an question or topic on Answr.net, a listing of service providers who
offer services relevant to that topic will be displayed, with links to NTF profiles and
reviews.
ln addition, NTF will operate as a stand-alone destination for addressing nonprofit technology
service needs and queries, much like the original TechFinder.
Community participation
Aspiration believes that all nonprofit technology development projects should be driven from
the outset by the users who will ultimately employ the solution.
As such, we are inviting broad participation as we design and build out NTF. Channels on
which we will engage the broader community will include:
NTF Discussion Iist (lists.aspirationtech.org/ntf): We'll route all visioning and planning
discussions through this public list in order to invite input and let others check our
thinking;
BIogging (www.aspirationtech.org/ntf): We'll think out loud as we move along the path
from concept to reality;
SociaI media (twitter.com/ntf): lf it is relevant to NTF, we'll Tweet it;
Periodic conference caIIs ( www.aspirationtech.org/ntf/calls): As circumstances
warrant, we'll host NTF conference calls to discuss priorities and plans;
EmaiI announcement Iist (ntf@aspirationtech.org/www.aspirationtech.org/ntf): For
those who just want to be updated periodically on major milestones and participation
opportunities, the announcement list will provide a low-traffic way to track the project.
As part of our community-driven strategy, we are engaging a bright, talented and diverse NTF
advisory group. Members of the group already include include, alphabetically by first name:
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
Aba Mason, LASA, London England
David KrumIauf, Pierce Family Foundation, Chicago USA
Doug Jacquier, ConnectingUp, Melbourne, Australia
Josh Senyak, NPO Technology Consultant, San Francisco, USA
Peggy Duvette, WiserEarth, San Francisco, USA
Additional members pending
A number of the above advisors are affiliated with projects and resources that complement or
overlap with anticipated NTF functionality, and a central topic in ongoing advisory group
discussions is how NTF will properly complement and integrate with existing offerings within
the US and across the globe.
We also heartily invite the contributions of designers, hackers and other skilled community
members in sketching, wireframing and prototyping NTF, and will leverage this support to
release early and often and prioritize project direction based on feedback.
Overall, we welcome and encourage anyone interested in realizing NTF to join us in this
effort, contributing whatever time, knowledge and skills you have to share.
ImpIementation Strategy
Rather than trying to be all things to all nonprofits, we plan to initially develop NTF with a
focus on specific service markets in specific locales.
Our objective is to prototype the core platform features, especially with regard to searching,
rating and reviewing of service providers, before scaling to cover all technologies and broader
geographic regions.
While our technical and regional areas of focus will be greatly informed by community
engagement moving forward, possible initial deployments may focus on services centered on
technologies such as:
Open source content management systems (CMS), such as Drupal, Joomla! and
Wordpress
Constituent reIationship management (CRM) systems, such as Salesforce.com and
CiviCRM
Likely and possible geographic hubs for initial focus include:
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Washington DC
New York City
Chicago
These areas represent some of the higher-density locales for both nonprofit technology
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
service offerings as well as areas with high participation in both offline and online nonprofit
technology communities.
From a development standpoint, we plan to follow best practices for iterative and agile
prototyping. We will publish minimum viable versions of the platform and solicit feedback early
and often.
Target users
NTF is being developed with specific user audiences in mind:
Nonprofit technoIogy decision makers needing information on who can provide
services to support their efforts.
Nonprofit technoIogy service providers wanting to reach potential clients and raise
awareness and visibility of their offerings.
Additional audiences we are engaging to see how we might provide benefit to include funders
of nonprofit technology and nonprofit technology assistance providers who do not themselves
offer consulting.
Supported Features
The following is an initial draft of "user stories", which are short statements describing how
NTF will provide value to users.
These are provided to drive dialog and feedback about the NTF vision, and will be prioritized
and re-factored based on community feedback. The features listed are a superset of what will
be exposed in any initial prototype.
Nonprofit staff will be able to:
Search or browse for technoIogy services by:
TechnoIogy keywords, such as CRM, networking, web development
Service needs, such as fundraising, advocacy, design, and strategy
Location, including city, state or zip code, and longer term, country
Ratings, based on feedback from NTF community members
Reviews, contributed by NTF community members
Languages spoken, in order to benefit non-English-speaking organizations.
Programmatic speciaIizations, such as focus on arts organizations, health and
human services, human rights or education.
View newIy Iisted service providers by any of the above criteria.
Rate a service provider they have worked with on a simple scale such as
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
l) Would definitely use again
2) Might use again
3) Probably would not use again
4) Definitely would not use again
Write a review of a service provider.
Add a new service provider to the database, or update information about an existing
record.
Maintain a profiIe that allows them to:
Receive notifications of new service providers of interest
lndicate service providers they strongly recommend
Publish their wish list of pending un-met service needs
Technology service providers will be able to:
Maintain a service provider profiIe which:
Displays organizational description, URL and contact information
Allows designating an existing online identity, such as Facebook or Linkedln, as the
primary point of identity
Lists social media links and others points of online engagement
lndicates areas of focus and supported technologies
Delineates geographic coverage
Lists NTF users who recommend their work
Lists testimonials offered by NTF users
Explains any nonprofit discounts or other pricing options
Receive notification
When they are reviewed by NTF users
About how many times their profile is viewed
Make announcements of new service offerings and special discounts
TechnoIogy Vision
NTF will be realized as a two-component architecture:
A FaceIess web data service that exposes an open APl (Application Programmer
lnterface) to enable web sites to query and display NTF data;
A PubIic-facing web site that supports display and editing of NTF data in concert with
the other features described above.
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
The decoupling is designed to enable specialized mashups of the data, including
geographical subsetting and mobile applications. This architecture will also enable maximum
flexibility in integrating with SSC and Answer.net.
NTF will be based on industry-standard free and open source software technologies and will
support open standards including RSS and OpenlD.
The original TechFinder suffered from usability issues. NTF will be designed with usability and
user-friendliness as primary objectives. To achieve this goal, we will follow a "when in doubt,
leave it out" philosophy of feature prioritization.
The platform will be designed from the outset for localization, in order to support later
deployment in other languages and locales.
ln additional, all NTF code developed will be published under a Free and Open Source
software license.
Funding and Business ModeI
Aspiration is following a multi-pronged approach to building and maintaining NTF. This
section provides a thumb-nail sketch of potential revenue streams, and sustainability will be a
primary topic of conversation as we continue to refine the plan for the New Techfinder.
We are self-funding initial concept development and early prototyping with earned
income generated in other programmatic areas of our work. We anticipate investing up
to $l5,000 of startup capital and up to $20,000 of staff time in order to bootstrap a
simple prototype version of the NTF platform
We are seeking grant funding in order to bring the platform to scale, and will be
applying for grants ranging from $25,000 to $200,000 to achieve that goal.
We are exploring a range of mechanisms to fund operations by combining revenue
streams:
Revenues generated from the site itself, through mechanisms as premium listings
and referral fees
Additional grant funding
Donations from NTF users, who will be actively engaged both on the platform and
through associated communications
Earned income generated across all our programs and services
Google Adwords
Strategic lottery ticket acquisition
We have self-funded Social Source Commons for 5 years, and Answr.net for l.5 years. Our
organizational technology capacity enables us to minimize development costs and maximize
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g
invested funds in all our technology endeavors. We are optimistic we can make NTF a
sustainable and thriving venture.
At every step of the project development, we will consult actively with allies and advisors to
craft a believable, sustainable business model for NTF, and we welcome suggestions, ideas,
and tough fiscal love from any and all who care to contribute the same.
Summary: A Focus on VaIue and Empowerment
Aspiration is honored and excited to be spearheading NTF efforts, and we consider it our
responsibility to deliver a compelling resource to the social change sector.
We will do this by facilitating a community-driven effort to build NTF, focused on providing
value to nonprofit technology consumers by empowering them to find appropriate services
and assess their quality and relevance for specific technology needs.
ln coupling NTF with the best practice resources of Answr.net and the context-setting
inventory of Social Source Commons, our passionate vision is to enable a better-informed
nonprofit technology services marketplace where consumers feel in control of their destiny
and solution providers are accountable to the organizations they serve.
ln the bigger picture, technology is but a means to an end in the programmatic work of social
change organizations, and we hope to demystify the sourcing and delivery of technology
services in order to save those organizations and activists time and money, so that they might
more fully focus on their missions of positive social change.
We welcome you to join us in realizing this vision.
www.aspirationtech.org/ntf
info@aspirationtech.org
S a n F r a n c s c o No n p r o f t T e c h n o o g y C e n t e r , 1 3 7 0 M s s o n S t . , S a n F r a n c s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 3
P h o n e : ( 4 1 5 ) 8 3 9 - 6 4 5 6 n f o @a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g www. a s p r a t o n t e c h . o r g