Bank on Openness
Open Philanthropy: Bank on Openness
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Background
GrantBook has been participating in conversations and paying attention shared measurement, open-data or digital philanthropy initiatives. This includes, but not limited to, the work of Ontario Nonprofit
Network (ONN), Community Knowledge Exchange (CKX.org), Creative Common Open Data Foundation Strategy, Powered By Data, Fund for Shared Insight, to name a few. GrantBook has a clear and
specific set of objectives for participating in these discussions. These are:
1.
2.
3.
People-first. We want to ensure the wants/needs of grantmakers and their networks are front and centre using a human-centric design techniques
Engage Software Vendors. We want to engage software companies building technology with good guidance on how their systems can be architected into open-data strategies
Collaboration with other Practitioners. We want to work closely with Open Data practitioners to accelerate the adoption of open principles to fuel catalytic social change
www.creativecommons.org
http://ckx.org/summit/schedule/
https://okfn.org/
www.poweredbydata.org
http://www.fundforsharedinsight.org/
This document will curate thoughts, ideas and concepts moving forward. It is structured the following way:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Draft ‘impact statements’ (pg 3)
Closed versus Open ‘puzzle’ versus ‘a deck of cards’ comparison (pg 4) to explain the importance of Application Programming Interface (APIs).
Example database schema of an Closed versus Open database design (pg 5 and 6).
Summary on how data and files can be shared amongst the leading Application Intake and Grants Management Systems used by funders (Pg 7).
Funder types: unique features and key technical considerations (pg 8)
Openness - Basics (pg 9)
Examples of SaaS platforms and their developer portals (pg 10)
Open Philanthropy: Bank on Openness
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Layers of Openness
It is helpful to discuss core components to an Open-Data strategy. First, we must have intentional discussions on how to architect an openness strategy based on usefulness: how actionable and
insightful is the resulting efforts? Put differently: does the approach enable BETTER and MORE timely decision making? Second, ensure that as many data systems have the ability to share information to
its stakeholders in a timely fashion. Thirdly, that we are investing time and resources to make sure we have the right skills and competencies ACROSS and WITHIN domains. Finally, looking crosssectorially for the most efficient method to make data and information available. In doing so we can collectively ‘see’ the different ways for many systems to connect with many other systems.
Actionable & Insightful
Does the approach enable BETTER and MORE timely decision making? (See statements on next page)
Openness & Shareability
Not all systems of records are built with the same level of security, scalability or sharability in mind. What is the right architecture to enable openness?
@G4Open
@Open_TO
Skills & Competencies
@OpenGov
@OpenNorth
What are the right mix of skills and competencies we need WITHIN and ACROSS domains where we identify as many useful data/information sources that can be securely shared?
@data_rev
@CivicData
@CKXorg
@UKDataService
@thedatascilab
@OKFN
@creativecommons
www.opengovpartnership.org
Governments
Government bodies collect lots of
information from citizens (e.g
Library visits) and provide funding
to third parties, including nonprofits
and charities to deliver front line
work
Accountability
for taxpayer
dollars
Funds to
provide
programs &
services
Nonprofits
Funded by governments and
foundations can build tools where
selected data can be shared under
thoughtful openness practices
Funding to
provide
programs &
services
Measurable
impact
Foundations
Private Foundations and granting
nonprofits enable tremendous
public good through grants and
donations. There is tremendous
opportunity for foundation
leadership to architect their
systems to share
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A User Perspective
IN FIVE YEARS:
"Citizens can find the information they need to make HIGHER quality decisions within in [W] CLICKS or [X] SECONDS."
"Front line workers are doing [Y]% less work to produce [Z%] HIGHER quality data by using the right tools and engaged in the right team structures to get the job done."
“Funders can REDUCE the amount of time it takes to apply and report on grants by [X%] while also IMPROVING the quality of applications and reports by [Y%]”
“Researchers can INCREASE the number of datasets they work with by [X%] while also generating [Y%] more INSIGHTS that are of use to practitioners.”
“Nonprofit managers are able to spend [X%] LESS TIME reporting to stakeholders by INCREASING their open-architecture capacity by [Y%].”
“Technologists can find developer documentation of the leading technology providers that are powering funders and nonprofit systems that CREATES [X] novel uses.”
“Privacy watchdogs are [X%] MORE confident citizens’ privacy is being protected through a robust approach to sharing open-architecture plans and strategy.”
“Board Members are [X%] MORE empowered to align risk-management policies with open-data policies to support their mission.
“Grant Review Volunteers can search out the information they need to make [X%] MORE informed decision that takes [Y%] LESS time than before open-data strategy.
Open Philanthropy: Bank on Openness
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Comparison: Puzzle versus a Deck of Cards*
COMPARISON
AS IT RELEASED TO SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
IMPLICATIONS TO CONSIDER
A puzzle can be built with
multiple players but can have
only one successful outcome: a
completed puzzle.
A closed software systems where the software vendor
creates methods to run reports and export data such as
predefined CSV files. Examples would include Revenue
Canada T3010a,CADAC and Vital Signs***.
For T3010A data, you must still email CRA to request the
excel or CSV files or create a script to ‘scrape’ data from
the CRA website. Similarly, at the upcoming Community
Knowledge Exchange (CKX) conference Vital Signs data
will be shared for the first time to outside developers.
While the opportunity provides a very tangible approach
to open-data, it is not scalable because both platforms
are still inherently closed.
A deck of cards can create
many different games with
many different rules. Think of
how deck of cards can be used
for Euchre, Cribbage, Poker,
GoFish, as examples.
Modern software development includes API fields and
developer documentation allowing for systems to securely
share data. While taxonomy may differ from application to
application (SOQL & REST API), developers can pick the
appropriate tools to connect data sources. For instance,
50% of all the data traffic on Salesforce.com are from API
connection using SOQL, meaning that many third party
developers have established real-time connections for
increased productivty
CanadaHelps is in the early stages of its Developer
Program and API documentation. Theoretically
CanadaHelps data can now connect into the Salesforce.
com platform, if a charity is using both systems. Prior to
the API, it would be a manual exercise.
NOTES:
* The inspiration for this comparison comes from YouTube: http://youtu.be/7r7QpIDEI_o
** CanadaHelps is in the early stages of its API and Programmer Developer Program. Visit www.canadahelps.org/PartnerWithUs/index.aspx for more information
*** Vital Signs will be releasing some of its data at the Community Knowledge Exchange (www.ckx.org) event November 19th to 21st in Toronto. The data will be provided as a CSV file.
Open Philanthropy: Bank on Openness
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Systems of Record without APIs
LEGEND
The following illustration outlines a basic database schema linking Contacts, Organizations, Grants and Grant rounds. In this case there can be many
contacts associated to an Organization. An Organization can have applied to many Grant opportunities. And there can be many grants associated to a
Grant Opportunity. These are called one-to-one and one-to-many and many-to-many relationships, as indicated by the circles and lines linking one
database table to another. Systems without APIs rely on the software vendor building in its own reporting engine to generate tables, charts and/or CSVExcel files for export (see column to the right about the pros and cons).
Field Name - unique name for the database
Field Label - what you see on the form
Field Type - the type of field
Many, optional
One, optional
One, required
Organizations
Contacts
Field Name
Field Label
Field Type
First_Name
First Name
Text Box
Last_Name
Last Name
Text Box
Email
Email
Email
Organization
Organization
LookUp
Phone_Number
Phone Number
Phone Number
Lead_Reviewer
Lead Reviewer
Check Box
Field Name
Field Label
Field Type
Organization_Name
Organization Name
Text Box
Organization_Type
Type of Organization
DropDown
Primary_Contact
Primary Contact
LookUp
Address
Address
Text Box
Website
Website
URL
Unique_Identifies
CRA/GST#
Text Box (12 characters)
PROS
●
Many ISVs have created export functions
●
CSV and Excel files are easy to work with
●
Relatively simple to run reports
●
Ability to create JPGs of charts/graphs
●
Most cost effective compared to APIs
CONS
Grants
Grant Rounds
Field Name
Field Label
Field Type
Field Name
Field Label
Field Type
Organization_Name
Organization Name
LookUp
Grant_Name
Grant Name
Text Box
Grant_Name
Grant Name
DropDown
Grant_Amount
Grant Amount
Number
Grant_Status
Grant Status
DropDown
Paragraph Text
Amount_Requests
Amount Requested
Number
Amount Approved
Number
Lead Reviewer
LookUp
Grant_Description
Grant Description
Grant_Goals
Organization
Paragraph Text
Amount_Approved
Grant_Impact
Phone Number
Paragraph Text
Lead_Reviewer
●
10 to 20 clicks to ‘refresh’ data
●
Must continually export data
●
Exporting expertise in the hands of a few
●
Manual or semi-automated import to
other systems
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Systems of Record with APIs
LEGEND
Field Name - unique name for the database
For information systems with APIs, the databases must have an additional field called the ‘API Field Name’ (shaded in light green). This allows
Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to allow external developers and other software companies to write code so information can flow freely from one
system to another. The examples below is a sample database schema of Salesforce.com. Salesforce.com has an API schema called Salesforce Object
Query Language (SOQL). This customized query language is very popular amongst developers in the Salesforce.com community. It is estimated that 50%
of all data requests on the Salesforce.com platform are triggered by SOQL API requests, suggesting other software vendors find to to be a very flexible and
open platform.
Field Label - what you see on the form
Field Type - the type of field
Many, optional
One, optional
One, required
Organizations
Contacts
Field Name
First_Name
Field Label
First Name
API Field Name
Field Type
First_Name__c
Text Box
Last_Name
Last Name
Last_Name__c
Text Box
Email
Email
Email__c
Email
Organization
Organization
Organization__c
LookUp
Phone_Number
Phone Number
Phone__c
Phone Number
Lead_Reviewer
Lead Reviewer
Lear_Reviewer__c
Check Box
Field Name
Field Label
API Field Name
Field Type
Organization_Name
Organization Name
Organization_Name__c
Text Box
Organization_Type
Type of Organization
Organization_Type__c
DropDown
Primary_Contact
Primary Contact
Primary_Contact__c
LookUp
Address
Address
Address__c
Text Box
Website
Website
Website__c
URL
Unique_Identifer
CRA/GST#
Unique_Identifier__c
Text Box (12
PROS
characters)
●
Can connect hundreds of software
●
Can automate hundreds of tasks
●
Reduces long term costs for customers
●
Accelerates innovation
●
Aligned with ‘Open Data’ strategies
CONS
Grants
Grant Rounds
Field Name
Field Label
API Field Name
Field Type
Field Name
Field Label
API Field Name
Field Type
Applicant_Name
Applicant Name
Applicant_Name__c
LookUp
Grant_Name
Grant Name
Grant_Name__c
Text Box
Grant_Name
Grant Name
Grant_Name__c
DropDown
Grant_Amount
Grant Amount
Grant_Amount__c
Number
Grant_Status
Grant Status
Grant_Status__c
DropDown
Amount Requested
Amount_Requested__c
Number
Grant_Description
Grant Description
Grant_Description_c
Paragraph Text
Amount_Requested
Grant_Goals
Organization
Grant_Goals__c
Paragraph Text
Amount_Approved
Amount Approved
Amount_Approved__c
Number
Grant_Impact
Phone Number
Grant_Impact__c
Paragraph Text
Lead_Reviewer
Lead Reviewer
Lead_Reviewer__c
LookUp
●
Must create data sharing policies
●
Must update database tables
●
Must create new documentation
●
Requires IT, Communication/PR, HR and
other teams to work closely together
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Application Intake & Grants Management System API Summary
The following table summarizes the relationship GrantBook (GB) has with a number of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in the grants management software category.
Vendor
Developer Documentation (If Any)
Notes
Blitzen formerly Decision IO
https://blitzen.com/blog/why-saas-is-broken/
Promising API documentation soon
Communitech by Apricot
http://www.communitytech.net/resources
Financial Edge by Blackbaud
See documentation
RESTful API
FluidReview
http://test01.myreviewroom.com/api/docs/
RESTful API
Fluxx
https://github.com/fluxxlabs/fluxx_api_toolkit_java
RESTful API | See News Announcement with SimplifyNow.org
Foundation Connect
www.roundcorner.com/home/foundationconnect/
See News Announcement with SimplifyNow.org
FusionLab by Spectrum
www.fusionlabs.net/grant-edge-system-features-functions.html
Gifts/Gifts Online
Import Module
See News Announcement with SimplifyNow.org
GrantStream
www.grantstream.com/en/solutions
None visible
GoodDone Great
www.progress.com/customers/good-done-great
Via Progress Pacifics API tools
SlideRoom
http://api.slideroom.com/
RESTful API
SmartSimple
www.smartsimple.com/grants-management-software.html
Connected to www.SimplifyNow.org
Sponsorium
www.sponsor.com/performind-grants/
Submittable
http://apidoc.submittable.com/
RESTful API
Philantrack
http://philantech.com/support/
None visible
WizeHive
https://app.wizehive.com/kb/
Push API
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Different GrantMakers Unique Features Open Data
TYPE
EXAMPLES
Unique Features
Distinct Digital Capabilities
ARTS
GRANT
MAKERS
- Winnipeg Arts Council
- Artreach Toronto
- Ontario Arts Council
✓ Awards to individual artists & art groups
✓ Applicants submit videos/images
✓ Engages external adjudicators
✎ Vastly different reporting requirements for Ind. vs Orgs.
✎ Large file sizes (e.g. high resolution photographs)
✎ Specific viewing needs for arts-based adjudication
GRANT
MAKING
NONPROFITS
- Evergreen*
- United Way
- Business For the Arts*
✓ Granting is a small aspect of overall mission
✓ Significant ongoing fundraising activities
✓ Usually only a few funding streams
✎ Grants management software not core to IT strategy
✎ Significant ongoing fundraising activities
✎ Usually only a few funding streams
CORPORATE
GRANT
MAKERS
- Green Shield Canada Foundation*
- PwC Canada Foundation
- RBC Foundation*
✓ Granting guidelines often aligned with with operations
✓ Corporate IT is a significant stakeholder in IT planning
✓ No assets to manage, just annual grant budget
✎ Many ‘internal’ stakeholders to coordinate & execute strategy with
✎ Often subject to legacy software platforms & systems
✎ Coordination with finance team to administer grant distribution
COMMUNITY
FOUNDATIONS
- Sudbury Community Foundation
- Toronto Community Foundation
- Long Island Community Foundation
✓ Core needs: Asset management, DAFs & local granting
✓ Mix of programming (e.g. Vital Signs) & granting as core mission
✓ Many community members serving as external adjudicators
✎ Specific operational needs: financial budgeting & reporting
✎ 80% of membership have few or no staff (e.g. volunteer driven)
✎ Specific needs for review committee members
PRIVATE
FOUNDATIONS
- JW McConnell Foundation*
- Ivey Foundation*
- McLean Foundation*
✓ Usually does not require annual fundraising
✓ Support for intergenerational family board members
✓ Managing assets significant component to fiduciary duty
✎ Granting/scholarships is a major aspect of overall work
✎ Significant ongoing fundraising activities
✎ Getting more involved with Impact Investing
AFFINITY
GROUPS
- Community Foundations of Canada*
- Philanthropic Foundations of Canada
- Council on Foundations
✓ May administer grant programs, but rarely
✓ Often hosts conferences & member services
✓ Conduct research on behalf of membership
✎ Granting is a small aspect of overall work
✎ Require event & membership management service software
✎ Host webinars, conduct surveys, produce reports, convene affinity
groups
WEALTH
MANAGEMENT
COMPANIES
- Principium
✓ Aligns asset management with philanthropic goals
✓ Assets 10x to 50x size of annual granting
✓ Screening process and sources of information varies
✎ Have many High Net Worth clients with specific giving goals
✎ HNW clients have unique information needs
✎ HNW clients much faster than institutional grant makers
Open Philanthropy: Bank on Openness
*Represents existing or past clients
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Application Programming Interface | The Basics
Just like learning a new language, wrapping your head around the power of APIs requires understanding the core taxonomy and usability. This includes but is not unlimited to under what conditions
data is created, what platform it is stored in, how sharable it is (e.g. APIs) , what data sharing policies are in place, and how well documentation is organized so that external developers can build upon.
The following table summarizes the various methods that data and files can be shared, common APIs developers rely on and different office productivity tools that are known for their well established
APIs. Wikipedia is a great resource to learn more about the concepts, examples and history.
Data File Formats
Common APIs
Office Productivity Tools
Data can enter into other systems in a variety of formats.
Some data entry can be very manual, sem-automated or fully
automated, depending on the system. These include:
There are currently a handful of industry leading APIs available
to developers. Some of the most popular methods are:
Many of the most popular office productivity tools and
software platforms have robust developer documentation
allowing third-party applications to create unique
●
Comma Sorted Values (CSV)
●
2-Way Auth
●
Box.com
●
MicroSoft Excel
●
Basic Auth
●
Blackbaud
●
Java-Script Object Notation (JSON)
●
GET (gets information from a server)
●
DropBox
●
Text File Format TXT
●
POST (posts data to server)
●
Instagram
●
eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
●
REpresentational State Transfer RESTfu l
●
MailChimp
●
eXtensible Markup Language for Analysis (XMLA)
●
Open Authorization (OAuth)
●
Salesforce.com
●
File Transfer Protocol FTP
●
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
●
Facebook
●
Push API
●
X-WSSE
●
Standard Query Language (SQL) tables/reports
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Developer Documentation
CanadaHelps (Coming Soon)
FluidReview API
SmartSimple
Submittable API
FoundationConnect
GIFTS API
“In 2013, event organizers made over $1 billion on
the Eventbrite platform,” said Visage, “and 15% of
the gross ticket sales were channeled via our API.”
http://developer.eventbrite.com/
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Draft Exercises
Take a few minutes to think of a few example spanning government,
intermediaries of government, quasi-government, media-led, citizen-led or by a
grantmaker.
High
Exercise: “What Examples of Openness do you find useful?
Globe & Mail article
on state of fundraising
in schools
(read article)
Ask yourself the following questions about the initiative:
●
●
●
Hewlett Foundation
applying Creative
Commons to all
grants producing
research
(see media release)
City of Toronto
making selected data
sets available
(see policy)
JSON files available
INSIGHTFUL
●
How actionable is it?
○ Short-term: It could take days/weeks...
○ Long-term: It could take month/years...
How insightful is it?
○ High: Users find the data source/sharing VERY insightful
○ Low: Users find the data source/sharing SOMEWHAT insightful
How big is the data-sharing opportunity?
Which stakeholder groups are involved?
How automated is the process? Is it repeatable?
CharityFocus
Database
(view website)
Legend
Province of Ontario
Open Data
(see datasets)
XLSX, CSV
ReCode
Statement of Intent
(see proposals)
Government - Data made available directly from a government source
OTF/CKX
Hack-a-thon
(see CKX website)
Quasi-Government - An agency of government such as Trillium Foundation
Media - Visualizations & reports made available by businesses
Grantmaker - Initiatives of openness and data sharing
Low
●
Represent Civic
by Open North
(see API website)
Nonprofit/Citizen-led - Examples of citizens engaged
No
ACTIONABLE
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Yes
Scenarios
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Example #1: ReCode Open-Platform
The J.W. McConnell Foundation has launched a new program, ReCode to embed social enterprise into mainstream Post-Secondary Institutions (PSIs). The ReCode platform is meant to allow students,
PSIs, community groups and other stakeholders to engage online and in person. The program officer, Chad Lubelsky, is bringing a coalition of advisories together to ensure the platform meets the
needs of the users while also, potentially, making the insights from the work ‘open.’ The following illustration summarizes what an ‘Open’ website platform could look like allowing developers for
funders and/or academic institutions to ‘plug-and-play’ into the ReCode Platform.
www.mcconnellfoundation.ca
http://secondmuse.com
A USER CAN:
●
●
●
●
http://www.godynamo.com/
https://www.tigweb.org/
A DEVELOPER CAN:
Can create a profile
Associate their profile with a Post-Secondary Institution (PSI)
Add events to a calendar | resource to database
Opt into to their PSI to contact them
RECODE Website
http://www.e-180.com
RECODE Database
●
●
●
●
Review API documentation | See what data is available and what is not
Provide suggestions to RECODE development team
Write code to connect RECODE data to their database
Make their code (e.g. SOQL public), if desired
RECODE API Documentation
A SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR CAN:
PSI
(e.g. Ryerson)
●
●
●
See which students are participating in RECODE
Visualize student participation
See what local NGOs are involved in RECODE
A MCCONNELL PROGRAM STAFF MEMBER CAN:
Funders
(e.g. McConnell)
●
●
●
●
Visualize RECODE vs CitiesForPeople participation
Gain insight about geographic participation
See which grantees are most active
Cross reference documents uploaded to RECODE with
McConnells internal knowledge management system
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Example #2: OTF Funding for Youth Groups
The Situation
In 2012, The Ontario Trillium Foundation provided a $50,000 grant to the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation providing the SearchMount Resort of
“$50,000 over one year to develop and implement an outreach strategy to increase participation of underprivileged and under-represented groups in skiing and snowboarding.
Increased use of the Searchmont Ski Resort will help to sustain this key element of the community's winter recreation infrastructure.”
What Could Have Been Architected
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
OTF could have asked what technology platforms SearchMount currently uses
They may have found out that the ski instructor has access to the @SearchMontResort Twitter Account
The staff members responsible for the program could have taken a few photos and used the https:
//twitter.com/Searchmont and hash-tah #OTF-SearchMount
All tweets, with photos using the @SearchMontResort AND #OTF-SearchMont
At the end of each session, participants could anonymously complete a short survey on a table device
Because the survey was using a tool such as SurveyGizmo, the datafeed collected real-time statistics and
stories from participants that was sharable thorough SurveyGizmos APIs
OTFs technical partners wrote simple code to collect selected aspects of survey results
Sault Ste Marie and SearchMont resort were also able to share results with their constituents in a format
that was contextualize on their own web infrastructure
Visit Page [X] of Annual Report
What Did Happen
●
●
●
●
●
The project was initiated and completed (as far as we know)
Project results were documented in Sault Ste. Marie’s Annual Report and within OTFs SmartSimple site
No project information was published on SearchMont’s website
Many photos were posted to FaceBook and Twitter, but easily collected from OTF funding
No visible learning can easily be shared with other Municipalities hoping to provide sports participation to
underprivileged community members
Visit SearchMont Website
Visit OTF Funding Page
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Example #3: Toronto Community Foundation
A friend/colleague Dave Kranenburg recently emailed asking for help with a funder application he was making (see exchange below). While Anil Patel could have dug into
his Box.com account to find the files to email to Dave, he just needed to share a link. A website link containing a well designed webpage that had the Vital People video,
signed proposal, final report and budget details; all viewable to the public (see screenshot to left). At present, the Community Knowledge Centre does not contain the
documentation because it is very prescriptive on what information can be shared (see screenshot to right).
Oct 15th, 2014 11:15 pm
Hey. [Anil]...I'm helping out MX with their submission for Vital Ideas. Need to overcome the
challenge of a national org. benefitting just Toronto...looked at past recipients and noticed
that Timeraiser was a recipient for Vital People (Amanda Grainger). Do you remember how
you made your case? Any tips on how to position things? Thx - Dave
Oct 16th, 2014 10:15 am
Hi Dave. Full proposal, report, budget and video highlights: http://planning.timeraiser.ca/tcfvital-people.html #ShareWellAndProsper - Anil
Oct 16th, 2014 4:48 pm
Holy sh_t....now that's an impressively transparent grant process. Nicely done and thanks!
- Dave
Ideas Moving Forward
●
●
●
Community Foundations should encourage their grantees to focus all capacity efforts on
improving reporting on their own infrastructure (first principle)
They could add questions about what tools they use (e.g. Google Sheets, Box.com, Salesforce.
com)
As they all have APIs and Scripting language, charities can share URLs, API Keys, Query Code
and HTML code rather than physical files
Key Benefits
●
●
●
Grant recipients spend more time making their impact more clear and compelling
Foundations spend less time searching for information
More useful is being shared more often generating more unexpected, but powerful outcomes
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