Technology Association of Grantmakers

The Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG), founded in 2008 and based in Chicago, IL, is a nonprofit membership organization that cultivates the strategic, equitable, and innovative use of technology in philanthropy. The organization's work builds knowledge, strengthens networks, and advances the social sector. TAG is in a period of transition both in personnel and internal technology infrastructure. As a valuable and unique organization in the philanthropic and nonprofit supporting spaces, this grant provides TAG funding for general operations to support this transition phase.

The Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG) is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes the power of technology to advance the goals of the philanthropic sector. To leverage the window of opportunity currently open due to the COVID-19 pandemic, causing many organizations to work remotely, TAG is raising awareness around the need for digital infrastructure in nonprofits and building a shared understanding between funders and nonprofits intended to move toward shared technology approaches and solutions. This grant provides support to the Campaign for Investing in Digital Infrastructure.

The Technology Affinity Group is a non-profit organization composed of Chief Information Officers at large foundations and other IT experts working in philanthropy. It advises and educates philanthropic organizations on the use of technology, develops standards for use by non-profits and foundations, and publishes technical guidance for use by foundations, non-profits, and software developers.

The Technology Affinity Group's Simplify project streamlines grantmaking processes for foundations and organizations they support by improving shared technology infrastructure, eliminating duplication of effort in conducting due diligence, building tools for sharing funder data, and educating funders and others about these tools. This award expands Simplify's scope to include the creation of a web-based Knowledge Center serving as a national repository of all tools relevant to the grantmaking life cycle, an enhanced set of educational activities, and increased direct support to foundations seeking to identify the right software tools for their organizations.

The Technology Affinity Group's Simplify project is a joint effort with Guidestar that seeks to streamline grants applications and grants management processes by creating a standard format and a common database of due diligence information that all interested funders and grantees can share. Much as high school students can now apply to many colleges via a common set of forms, Simplify will allow non-profits to submit information once, in a standard way, that will be acceptable to many funders. Grant funds will be used primarily for salaries, software development, and marketing.