August 2003 TSC Update

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Seamless processing, a priority of the Technology Initiative, will move into actual development soon, on the heels of a vendor selection made in August. See the subcommittee report below for more details on this decision that swings the TI into an exciting new phase of its work.

Closing of the Funding Syndicate's initial round will take place September 30, 2003. Full details are on the CFA web site If your foundation is not ranked in the largest 50 who were originally solicited for funding, this document also explains how you can participate in the Technology Steering Committee Funding Syndicate. Funding Syndicate (FS) contributions have reached $3.75 million from 36 community foundations. This represents 94% of the funds needed for the $4 million Technology Initiative.

Online discussions continue around Technology Initiative issues. "Leave no CF staff or board member behind" could be the motto of these timely briefings.

Technology Steering Committee*
Technology Initiative and Funding Syndicate Update
August, 2003

Seamless Processing (Kit Conroy, NY Community Trust, chair)

A vendor has been selected to provide the seamless processing requirements of the Technology Initiative, allowing community foundations to electronically link investment management and custody information to their core systems.

Subcommittee Chair Kit Conroy said, "The Seamless Subcommittee was excited to find a vendor that has a ready-to-use solution for our field. Avoiding the development of new software puts us months ahead in our work," says Kit Conroy. "Early adopters who have planned for this service will be able to implement it this fall. Others will benefit by their experience and the case studies that emerge."

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (Noah Wasmer, East Bay CF, chair)

The CRM subcommittee has approved a list of business needs that will soon be translated into a request for information (RFI) to be sent out to potential vendors. The subcommittee has agreed to review a selected group of CRM vendors and filter them into a manageable number to receive the RFI.

API and Development Standards (Greg McMillen, The Central Indiana CF, Tracy Peck, The Arizona CF, co-chairs)

The subcommittee continues to working closely with MicroEdge/NPO on their initial API proposal to narrow the time line and cost estimates. Links to core system data coming from other TSC subcommittees is being factored into this process.

Brulant, a Cleveland-based consulting firm, is at work defining technology platform standards for all subcommittees and is also providing a valuable second opinion on the MicroEdge/NPO API proposal. The subcommittee has also been gathering as much information as possible on existing business processes and Brulant is working on aggregating that data to understand how comprehensive it is.

Web Presence (Tom Hay, Pittsburgh Foundation, chair)

This subcommittee has completed reviewing results of the CFA survey on Web site use in the field as a way to identify key issues and determine next steps. At their next committee meeting they will look at the competitive analysis being prepared by CFA and reviewing business needs for this area of work.

*The Technology Steering Committee (TSC) is co-sponsored by the Community Foundations Leadership Team of the Council on Foundations and Community Foundations of America. The Technology Initiative is a series of integrated and prioritized development activities to build community foundation technology readiness, capacity and infrastructure over the next three years.

These updates are part of a communications effort to keep colleagues in the field informed about the TSC's work. Information in these documents may be freely distributed by TSC members providing that: 1) precise language in the updates is used (for clarity and consistency); 2) the TSC attribution language (provided to the left) is included; and 3) readers are referred to source documents on the COF or CFA Web sites.