2005 Computerworld Honors Program

	Network for Good Network for Good Dulles, VA United States Year: 2003 Status: Award Recipient Category: Government & Non-Profit Organizations Nominating Company: BEA Systems
	A single web portal aggregates content and resources covering hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations, making them available in one comprehensive, easy-to-use internet destination, increasing donations and volunteerism.
	Network for Good is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the Web to help people get more involved in their communities -- from volunteering and donating money, to speaking out on issues they care about. The San Francisco, California-based organization facilitates Web-based charitable giving to a remarkable 850,000 nonprofits nationwide and assists with volunteer placement for tens of thousands of volunteer-driven organizations. As the concept of e-philanthropy becomes more broadly accepted, Network for Good expects usage of its Web portal to grow significantly. Over the course of just the first three quarters of 2002, Network for Good’s monthly Web traffic has grown by more than 300 percent. Donations processed via the Web site have increased by more than 200 percent, and the number of volunteers who have been placed has increased by close to 100 percent. To handle such rapid and steep growth, Network for Good realized that it needed an industrial-strength enterprise platform that could provide stability, robust functionality, high availability, ease of development, and simplified integration. With millions of dollars flowing through the site and thousands of visitors logging on everyday, an unreliable platform could be disastrous. In addition, Network for Good is working hard to remain as lean as possible in an effort to direct as much of its financial support to program activities. Such efficiency is possible only when overhead is kept low, and that is possible only when systems operate smoothly and technology is leveraged for maximum organizational productivity. Not only would the new platform allow Network for Good’s Web site to function more reliably, it would improve the organization’s operational agility and allow it to add functionality and implement marketing ideas as quickly as possible. It would also help with the simple things, such as improving the user experience by making the e-philanthropy process consistent with user expectations based on their e-shopping/e-commerce experience. The more comfortable people are, the more likely they are to donate money and make repeat visits to the Web site. Network for Good considered platforms from a number of vendors before selecting the BEA WebLogic Enterprise Platform, which is based on BEA WebLogic Server. The organization was particularly impressed with the platform’s clustering capabilities for high availability, its out-of-the-box commerce features that would save the IT staff from having to reinvent a lot of base functionality, its scalability, and the relative ease and speed of application development and integration. Because Network for Good is largely a Web-driven enterprise, technical flexibility is crucial to its success. The migration to the new platform was completed over the summer of and the site (www.NetworkForGood.org) has been operating smoothly and more reliably for nearly six months. The site is integrated with PipeVine for donation processing. The donation procedure is nearly identical to a typical online shopping process, right down to the shopping cart that donor’s can "fill up" with the charities of their choice. Network for Good is working to ensure that the site is accessible to users with disabilities and is committed to meeting the W3C Web accessibility guidelines. And, it provides extreme flexibility, which is particularly meaningful during times of crisis. For example, when the devastating tornadoes hit the Mid-Atlantic in November, Network for Good was able to begin accepting donations for the victims in less than a day. In July, the organization launched the Volunteer Network search engine in partnership with the USA Freedom Corps and the Corporation for National and Community Service, streamlining the process of connecting people with volunteer opportunities based on their specific areas of interest. Categories include Animals & Environment, Arts & Culture, Civic & Community Outreach, Education & Research, Health, Human Services, International Aid, and Religion. "The founding vision of Network for Good was to use the Internet to encourage individuals to do philanthropy," said Ken Weber, acting president of Network for Good. "In other words, we want to reach citizens in new and innovative ways to get them interested in causes and charitable organizations. This is often referred to as e-philanthropy, and it has the potential to bring a new group of people into philanthropy who may not be as responsive to traditional means of solicitation. We believe that we’ve created a market-leading Web presence that will go a long way toward realizing our vision."
	• Significantly increased scalability of portal • Leveraged technology to enable staff of 15 to do the work of hundreds of people • Enabled Network for Good to more easily connect online with thousands of charities, causes, and volunteer organizations • Allows marketing ideas to be implemented much faster • Clustering technology provides superior reliability and high availability, even during spikes in usage such as the spikes that occurred on the anniversary of 9/11 • Expanded opportunities to "up sell" donors by making it quick and easy to give money to multiple charities • Open architecture provides IT staff with flexibility to deploy best-of-breed technologies for mission-critical functions such as searching and aggregating, and securing online payments
	Network for Good is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. founded by the AOL Time Warner Foundation, the Cisco Foundation, and Yahoo! Inc.. The Web site aggregates content and resources covering hundreds of thousands of organizations in the U.S., organizes them and makes them available in one comprehensive, easy-to-use Internet destination. Network for Good works closely with its key partners, including GuideStar and VolunteerMatch, to deliver this level of information along with countless opportunities to learn about nonprofits and to donate and volunteer. Network for Good is the first coalition of its kind to help nonprofit organizations become more effective and efficient in their use of the Internet as a tool for fundraising and volunteer recruitment. Network for Good helps them further their missions by integrating the full power of the online medium into their own activities, including fundraising, recruitment and advocacy. Network for Good serves nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes. Among those benefiting from Network for Good are research programs for Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease, and victims of crises around the world. In 2002, Network for Good helped move funds and resources to victims of flooding in China, central Europe, and Texas, wildfires in the western U.S., earthquakes in Afghanistan and Turkey, and tornadoes across North America. Network for Good is a unique organization in the marketplace, providing a comprehensive resource for donors and volunteers and offering nonprofits both the basic building blocks of e-philanthropy and the incomparable reach of its media partners, including founding partners AOL Time Warner and Yahoo! Network for Good is also unique in its breadth of services. While some organizations focus on fundraising or volunteerism, Network for Good provides help in both areas, as well as advocacy. Network for Good provides tools that assist people in calling attention to important issues by helping them contact the local media for coverage of a demonstration or by writing to Congress to take action on pending legislation.
	Network for Good’s originality is manifested in many ways. Perhaps the most obvious is that it is the first nonprofit organization established specifically to use the Internet and related media properties for giving and helping on a massive scale. Network for Good not only provides a direct link to donation and volunteer opportunities, it is an aggregator of aggregators that provides individuals with a single point of entry into nearly every official nonprofit organization in the U.S. For someone just getting interested in charitable causes, the process can be overwhelming. That fact alone is enough to keep many people on the sidelines. Network for Good breaks down those barriers and makes it easy for anyone to participate. Another aspect of Network for Good’s originality is the resources it brings to bear on behalf of well-intentioned individuals. Network for Good doesn’t just want to get money or volunteer commitments from people. It provides advice, tools, resources and tips for evaluating charities, finding the right volunteer position, running more effective campaigns, successful recruiting, contacting government officials, gaining visibility for a cause, starting a new nonprofit organization, managing a nonprofit more effectively, and applying technology to compliment existing resources. While the notion of e-philanthropy has existed for several years, Network for Good is one of the few organizations out there based entirely on the concept and dedicated to making it possible for everyone.
	The success of Network for Good has been remarkable in its scope and speed. The organization was founded in late 2001. There were 331,000 visits to the site in the first quarter of 2002. By the third quarter, the number had ballooned to 1.4 million. The site processed $1.3 million in donations during the first quarter and $3.8 million in the third quarter. And, Network for Good helped place 11,000 volunteers in the first quarter, and more than 20,000 in the third quarter. "Our growth has been considerable and we expect it to continue in the coming months," Weber said. We’re becoming better known. We’re expanding our relationships everyday. And we now have a technology infrastructure that enables us to handle much larger volumes of site traffic and to implement new and innovative ideas quickly. We couldn’t be more excited about the future. The entire staff believes strongly in what we’re trying to accomplish." Network for Good is also succeeding in reaching out to new demographics. Because it is Web-based, online engagement has appeal to some younger, older and non-traditional demographics. Many donors are younger than those that give through traditional means. Younger Internet users, in particular, expect to do things online that older generations expect to do via the telephone or U.S. postal service. In addition, the amount that people give online tends to be higher than traditional donations, due to the immediacy (and to some extent the novelty) of giving and the fact that donations care placed by credit card. "One of the things we’re most interested in is the extent to which we can bring in new dollars to charity -- dollars that would not be donated if it weren’t for us," said Weber. "That benefit is perhaps most important to smaller and mid-size organizations, for which the Web can level the playing field. By taking advantage of Network for Good, they immediately expand the universe of possible donors and volunteers without having to spend much of their limited resources. We talk a lot about e-philanthropy in and of itself which is important in its own right as new source of charitable giving, but it’s also important as a complimentary tool to the existing means of attracting – and acquiring – donors and volunteers."
	Network for Good faced countless challenges. From a technical standpoint, security, scalability and reliability were the biggest concerns. With so many people giving so often, Network for Good must be able to ensure transaction integrity as well as the security and privacy of sensitive personal and financial information. The site must also be able to withstand tremendous spikes in usage. Even though it is a charitable site, if visitors have a negative experience, they are far less likely to come back or to recommend the site to friends. From a marketing perspective, Network for Good must have portal technologies and interactive functionality in place that make it a comfortable and compelling Web destination and/or simply a fulfillment vehicle. The site must also have the flexibility to allow partner organizations to easily integrate systems and share resources. Because Network for Good is all about providing access to as many organizations as possible, its IT staff cannot only think about its own site. It must constantly be aware of how its site can incorporate content and resources from other sites, and share information to add value for both end users and partners.