"It's a go!" says Chairman Sid Hartman of the Technology Steering Committee. As of April 25^th, $3.3 million has been committed by 33 community foundations.

• To date, participants in the Funding Syndicate include: Arizona, Baton Rouge, Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Denver, Foundation for the Carolinas, Fremont, Central Indiana, Kalamazoo, Kansas City, Louisville, Marin, Memphis, Southeastern Michigan, Minneapolis, National Capital Region, New Hampshire, New Haven, New York, Oklahoma, Peninsula, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rhode Island, Richmond, Rochester, Saint Paul, San Diego, Seattle, Venice and Winston-Salem.

• $3.3 million represents approximately 85% of funds needed for full implementation. A few decisions remain to be made at board meetings between now and early June. Preliminary indications are that these final grants will bring the total to approximately 95% of the $4 million needed. This puts the field in excellent shape to implement most, if not all, of the Technology Initiative projects.

An Operations & Procedures memorandum governing the Technology Initiative and Funding Syndicate operations has been approved by the TSC and is attached for your review. This document is being issued broadly as the first element in a comprehensive communications program that will inform our colleagues of the activities of the TSC and its subcommittees. As a part of this communications program, a series of educational opportunities will be provided in the coming months. The TSC urges you and your staff to participate in as many of these as possible. The speed of eventual technology implementation for your foundation will be greatly improved if your staff and board are prepared and have thought through the issues in advance.

Subcommittees are organizing their work plans and identifying precise business needs to allow service providers to develop proposed solutions. Priority attention, based on a staged development schedule, is being paid to the following subcommittees: Development Standards (as this committee's work product is required to drive software architecture); Seamless Processing, and CRM and API Interfaces. Other subcommittees will phase into action by summertime. 

That our field has come together around the Technology Initiative so quickly and cohesively is a source of great pride for all involved and bodes well for our field's future. Because the TSC is committed to a carefully thought-out process that is urgent, speedy and open we need you and your staff to stay tuned-in, to participate in educational opportunities as they are offered and to speak up when you need information or clarifications. Together we can make our plans a reality.