GroundWork group is a community effort to strengthen nonprofit organizations' use of information and technology to better achieve their missions. Participation by businesses is a critical success factor.

There are many ways businesses can help:

LEND TIME AND EXPERTISE BY VOLUNTEERING!

GroundWork group has the following volunteer opportunities available:

IT professional board members:
GroundWork group recruits IT Professionals to serve on nonprofit boards (in central Ohio only). A 2003 study of local nonprofit organizations commissioned by GroundWork group and conducted by the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business found:

• the success of information management and technology structures in nonprofit organizations is dependent upon the CEO and/or one key IT staff person;
• that "very few agencies had a long range information needs plan;"
• and most nonprofit boards of directors did not address this matter.

GroundWork group found that, in 2003, only 35% of the nonprofit organizations had IT professionals on their boards of directors.

Believing that leadership at the board level is essential to provide support for directing resources to developing quality information management and technology systems, GroundWork group developed a service to recruit and train IT professionals to serve on nonprofit boards.

Progress:

• 50 + IT professionals recruited, trained and matched with nonprofit boards
• 53% of participating agencies now have IT committees
• 60% of participating organizations now have IT plans either completed or in progress
• 73% of the matches made in 2004 are still intact (most common reason for disruption is job change by the IT professional)
• 73% of organizations in the initial study now have IT professionals involved with their organizations

To see a list of participating organizations, refer to our sponsors page.

For more information about the Agency-IT Match project, please contact us.

GroundWork group Action Committees:
GroundWork group uses committees to assist us with developing and testing IT solutions. We recruit volunteers from the business community to serve on committees to help, generally on a time-limited basis. The committees vary from time to time and may include: Equipment Redeployment (former committee that studied the process of redeploying used computers from for-profits to nonprofits); Branding (former committee that helped identify the GroundWork group positioning statement, logo and identity), Procurement (current committee evaluating new, discounted product offerings for nonprofits), Education (current committee that develops topics for ongoing educational workshops, the annual conference and special services), Innovations Contest (committee to judge entries in the Innovations Contest.) If you have a special skill, we can use it! Please contact us to discuss how you might volunteer for such a rewarding experience!


Educational Services:
GroundWork group offers quality educational programs to nonprofit organizations. Some of the classes are conducted on a volunteer basis while others retain instructors at the prevailing GroundWork group rate. GroundWork group personnel work with businesses to help make the presentations high quality, instructive and geared to the nonprofit industry. Please contact us to discuss how you might volunteer for such a rewarding experience!



OTHER PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:


Business Partnerships:
GroundWork group creates partnerships with businesses to develop and implement technical solutions to nonprofit business challenges. Businesses have helped create the Network Documentation process, the Security Pilot Project, the Office Supply Discount project, the Overstock Liquidation process, the Telecomm Pilot Project, the Website Pilot Project, and the Managed IT Services demonstration project. If your business has a product with broad applicability to nonprofit organizations we would be happy to talk with you about the potential for a partnership. Please contact us for more information!

Donate Equipment:
GroundWork group can help businesses determine how best to liquidate quality, used equipment. Businesses are often besieged by nonprofits requesting any number of computers. It can be time-consuming to sort through requests and determine which ones to support. GroundWork group can help identify the equipment needs of various organizations and match corporate equipment donors with them or make it easy for your business to divert all or part of your used inventory to our refurbisher for use in the nonprofit sector. Please contact us to learn more!

Financial Support:
GroundWork group always welcomes financial support from the business sector. You can see your dollars in action by underwriting one or more of our pilot projects, sponsoring a section of the website, providing financing for the Innovations Contest or being the catalyst for tomorrow’s greatest technology solution! Please contact us for more information!