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What Kind of Apps Would Your Foundation Build?

[Source: Philanthropy 2173, by Lucy Bernholz; January 26, 2010]


I admit it - I tossed the question out onto Twitter as a bit of a lark. I was preparing for a presentation to 50+ of America's largest community foundations and I've been thinking about Apps quite a bit (not only because of the new Apple Tablet due out tomorrow) because I was about to declare Apps as Buzzword 2010.1.

Most of what I will talk about has to do with ways that certain technologies (and the expectations/behavior they allow) are shifting philanthropy, the shifting sands of social businesses, policy opportunities, intersections with the public sector, new ways of organizing for change, Nonprofit Data Scorecards - the stuff I write about here.

As my plane landed I sent out this Tweet "What could a community foundation App do?"

Whoa. The smarties of Twitter responded. A flood of ideas came along, here are some of them:

  • Maps of local grantees so I could give or volunteer when I was near them
  • Outcome reporting
  • App to manage my donor advised fund
  • Create a "we have, we need" for donor advised funds
  • Mix data on community needs with opportunities for me to take action
  • Push out notices of funds available and deadline reminders
  • Match grantees needs with volunteers - a community "Craigslist"
  • Algorithmic review of the chances my proposal will meet the guidelines
  • Find the nearest program officer
  • Accept and immediately respond to micro proposals
  • Map projects in community (not grantees) and allow grants to them
  • Crowdsourced needs assessments and focus groups

So, clearly I touched a nerve. Is anyone already doing this? Does The Extraordinaries want to set up a line of business building Apps for community foundations? (hint, hint). Can Community Foundations launch projects through The Extraordinaries? As usual, Beth Kanter has a great write up of "do good" apps and Britt Bravo provides another list.

I can't help but notice how many of the ideas suggested above use "place" as a key piece of data - leading me to believe that claims about "location" as the new platform, and apps like FourSquare as the new big thing - might be real. What Beth Kanter calls "Foot Traffic Philanthropy" - certainly

So - what kind of apps would (will) your foundation build? What kind of apps would (will) your foundation use?

And, enjoy, the first new buzzword of the new decade, Buzzword 2010.1 - Apps.

 

Lucy Bernholz is the founder and President of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. a strategy consulting firm for philanthropic institutions and individuals.