Nonprofit Internet Standards Project
A Community Based Dialogue on Interoperability

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Welcome!

Welcome to the Nonprofit Internet Standards Project.

We have started this is as a public service project. Its purpose is to encourage a dialogue about data descriptions and interoperability standards that affect nonprofits in the era of universal networking. A central premise here is that standards should be open and nonprofits should play a central role in setting them.

The big picture: data processing applications and information used by nonprofit organizations are migrating to the Internet and to networks in general. Consequently, there is a greater need than ever before for standards for the exchange of data, information, and knowledge by nonprofits, their service providers, and their stakeholders. Developing and publishing these standards in an open and participatory way will allow the benefits of the process to be felt broadly throughout the nonprofit sector.

Immediate background: In the weeks and months prior to the launch of this site, several conversations had begun on the issue of standards setting.

• Social Ecology had established a lightweight method for exchange of donor information with online transaction systems and proposed that method to several nonprofit gatherings as a starting point for a donor data exchange standard. Later, Charitableway.com, Blackbaud, and Myassociation.com announced OPX, a proposed method for accomplishing similar exchanges.
• The Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network has entertained the idea of standards setting, as did a gathering of nonprofit technology leaders who met at the University of Michigan's School of Information in May 2000.
• Several foundations are embarked on knowledge management projects thatcan be greatly strengthened by communications and syndication methods for the exchange of information between organizations.
• Finally, there are dozens of important standards setting discussions that predate these, including organizational taxonomies, accounting data models, client tracking systems, etc.

As we get started with this discussion site, we recognize that this sort of informal project cannot itself be a standards setting body or create any requirements that participants (or others) must observe. Our discussions can, though, go a long ways towards avoiding the risk that the good work that has already been done will not be "reinvented" inadvertantly. We may also provide a foundation from which something more formal and structured can emerge -- if there is agreement that such a process would benefit the sector.

We look forward to your participation!