Philanthropy is a two-sided coin. Charities carry out mission-based work. Foundations fund and coordinate mission-based work. Things work best when the two sides are well aligned, and technology is an important area where we can do that.

Lisa Pool's Technology Affinity Group and Laura Quinn's Idealware are two organizations doing good work to make that happen. TechSoup also has a resource area for software donations.

I find it strange, however, that one side of the philanthropy coin seems to get the lion's share of attention — nonprofit technology. I know that by the numbers, there are far fewer foundations than nonprofits in the U.S. (94 percent charities versus 6 percent foundations), and most foundations are relatively small.

Indeed, 98 percent of private foundations have less than $50 million in assets. In other words, foundations need tech support as much as anyone.

The Technology Affinity Group

As someone interested in online communities, I've been following the work of the Technology Affinity Group (TAG) for some years. Here's the way the organization describes itself:

"TAG is a membership organization of foundations that promotes the understanding of how information and communications technology can help its members further their philanthropic goals."

TAG is an active community of five hundred and fifty foundation techies who:

• Discuss foundation technology on the TAG listserv and blog
• Hold a yearly conference
• Organize regional meetings
• Attend webinars
• Complete an annual survey of foundation technology -- among other things.

You can learn more about what TAG has to offer on its members benefits page. The organization has its roots in a Council on Foundations initiative and has been led from the beginning by executive director Lisa Pool. Lisa does an excellent job, quietly working in the background to deliver a steady flow of information to members' screens.

Foundation techies can (and do) ask any type of question on the TAG listserv, from the very specific to the broadly strategic, and nearly always get an informed answer from a member on the same day.

TAG has a very reasonable yearly membership fee and nonprofits are welcome to participate. TechSoup has been a member for the last three years. If you'd like to see who participates, have a look at TAG's leadership page.  I suspect it's one of the best kept secrets in foundation technology.

Idealware

One of the worst-kept secrets in foundation technology is Idealware, a Portland, Maine-based nonprofit organization that works both sides of the philanthropy coin — grantee and grantmaker — and does both well. Founded and led by Laura Quinn, Idealware does in-depth and impartial software reviews for TechSoup and NTEN, runs webinars for TAG, and presents at all the major philanthropy conferences. Here's a sampling of some of their free reports:

A Consumers Guide to Grants Management Software: This is the second edition of their comparative review of twenty different grants management packages, including Closerware GrantMaker, Foundant Grant Lifecycle Manager, MicroEdge GIFTS, WESTAF GrantsOnline, and ZoomGrants.

The Consumers Guide to Integrated Software for Community Foundations: This is a comparative review of software systems tailored to the work of community foundations with multiple donor-advised fund accounts. It covers applications like Bromelkamp Community Pearl, ChesterCAP Dotche, FusionLabs GrantedGE, MicroEdge FIMS, and Stellar Technology Solutions iPhi Suite.

Streamlining Online Grant Applications: A Review of Vendors: This is a comparative review of seven online grant application vendors against a set of essential features for online applications and reporting.  

A Funders Guide to Supporting Nonprofit Technology: 10 Ways to Build Your Grantees' Technical Savvy: This is a very recent report focused on the ways foundations can use technology to increase grantee effectiveness. It also addresses the longstanding reluctance of many foundations to fund grantee technology out of concern over ongoing costs. The study includes case studies on how nonprofit technology capacity building is being done well. Like all of Idealware's work, it's a free publication.

In Search of Better Data About Nonprofits’ Programs: One of Laura Quinn's recent pieces for MarketsforGood.org, it includes an insightful look at the barriers charities face when trying to provide the useful data funders crave. Recommended.

European Venture Philanthropy Association on Getting Useful Data

And while I'm on the topic of good data, here's a non-Idealware resource from the European Venture Philanthropy Association called A Practical Guide to Measuring and Managing Impact. It's a comprehensive (and free) resource that distills the best practices in impact measurement into five steps.

TechSoup Software Donations for Foundations

And then there's the resource area for software donations on TechSoup, which started about a year ago with our announcement that private foundations are now eligible to receive Microsoft software donations. We were pleased that foundations were now eligible for many of the same Microsoft donation programs as nonprofits and libraries, and we decided to expand that page into a new foundation section listing donation programs for foundations from Intuit, Symantec, Adobe, Connect2Give, and Efficient Elements.

To explore all the donation programs you may be eligible for, use our Eligibility Quiz.

And here are a couple of case studies detailing how foundations are using the program:

• How the James Irvine Foundation received Microsoft donations through TechSoup
• How Carnegie Corporation of New York got Microsoft donations through TechSoup