DIRECTORIES PROJECT

Using Web 2.0 technology, the Directories Project will present philanthropy as a whole, with practical tools that will enable thorough and systematic mapping, charting, and analysis. In its first phase, all Massachusetts charities of general philanthropic interest with budgets below $3 million will be included so that users may map, chart, and analyze any group they define with any combination of six variables: philanthropic field (using our systematic taxonomy), geographic location, year of IRS authorization, budget size, population served (by gender, age, race or ethnicity), and community foundation region. Charities own websites will provide further information they choose.

The Catalogue Directory will be the first complete and detailed portrait of any single market’s philanthropic sector. To accomplish this we have gone through the IRS list of Massachusetts "non-profits" one-by-one, assigning each to one of four types of organizations, as well as to one or more philanthropic fields, using our systematic, donor-friendly taxonomy. We are checking our classifications with the charities themselves, so that this dataset will be collaborative. Searching for individual charities by name has been possible for several years; under our new system, users may also search for them by fields, by regions, by budget sizes, by ages, and by populations served. As parameters are defined using the cursor, a window will provide the number of charities meeting those criteria, and a click will unfold a complete list of them with their website addresses and their local community foundations for referral. For the first time sizes of fields -- by numbers of charities, dollars spent, geographic areas served -- may be seen and analyzed. The chronological development of every field in Massachusetts may be charted and mapped. Communities will be able to survey and evaluate their philanthropic resources, including what fields are not represented.

The Opportunity

This is a tool that can be used for philanthropy anywhere -- Massachusetts is our R&D laboratory. We will make the Directories tool available to other markets and institutions either free of charge, or by licensing.

With this technology, knowledge, understanding, appreciation, and practice, of philanthropy in Massachusetts will be raised to new levels, unequalled anywhere. As new data becomes accessible in coming years, it will be incorporated into this system. As additional markets come on-line using this system, their databases can be combined for comparative analyses of philanthropic markets. With this technology, philanthropy can become systematic, and easily strategic.

This groundbreaking Catalogue Directory will change the future of philanthropy.