Providence Day School Facing several significant technology decisions (namely involving laptops and platform), Providence Day brought dot.org in to help. The goal was not simply to help the school make the decisions. More important, the goal was to help the school make the right decisions both within its own technology framework and within the framework for the educational technology industry as a whole. The project had three components: 1) Landscape Reconnaissance of Independent Schools, 2) Vendor Analysis & Assessment, and 3) Internal Discovery, Education & Review. The first of these entailed a strategic market assessment - an evaluation of what was happening at selected independent schools around the country in relation to instructional technology integration covering such things as the student laptop programs (SLP), platform selections, software preferences, network access, etc. The second provided a view of the technology sector and its innovations with regard to lower, middle and upper school education covering such things as industry trends, barriers to entry and growth for a particular technology, impact of the economy, financial position and performance, impact of innovation and response from the education market. The third component presented selected groups of faculty with the findings of the first two components and then provided these groups with the opportunity to collaborate and discuss the viability of the various solution(s) for PDS. The end result is that PDS has a clear understanding of what other independent schools are doing, where the educational technology industry is headed, and how it should structure its future efforts in relation to what it has learned. back to client list

Girl Scouts Facing serious foundational issues--faulty email, poor phone system, uneven support--and not knowing what to tackle at all (let alone first), the Girl Scouts sought dot.org's help. dot.org completed a technology plan that addressed all current issues and prioritized all current and future technology initiatives over a three year period. This plan, in essence, is a technology roadmap that will allow the organization to move confidently forward with its technology, with the assurance that it is doing the right thing at the right time. back to client list

YMCA Wanting to get more out of what they already had, the leadership of the Dowd YMCA brought dot.org in to conduct an audit and assessment of the current technology with an eye toward leveraging it more fully. dot.org led discovery sessions that evaluated the current website (click here for more information on the results of those discovery sessions), conducted an audit of the current infrastructure, and used that audit to assess how well the current technology was being used. Now, without adding any new technology, the Dowd can rest assured that it is getting the most out of what it already has. back to client list

Charlotte Regional Partnership The Charlotte Regional Partnership, not having a webmaster or a CIO on staff, sought dot.org's assistance. dot.org now serves in both capacities for the Partnership. We make regular enhancements to the Partnership's site, and we serve as the organization's IT strategist and sounding board. Whatever faces the organization from a technology standpoint, dot.org helps to decipher and analyze. We then make appropriate recommendations. We also proactively scour the landscape for technological initiatives that make sense for the Partnership to undertake. back to client list

Arts & Science Council Unhappy with its current fundraising software and knowing that it needed to make a change, the ASC asked dot.org to help. dot.org conducted an analysis of the current software, the current infrastructure, the current fundraising processes and goals, and evaluated those against off-the-shelf fundraising packages on the market. This evaluation and assessment resulted in a recommendation of a particular package that could serve not only as the organization's fundraising package but also as its central database as well. back to client list

American Red Cross Recognizing that its website needed updating and a more current look and feel, the Red Cross had dot.org conduct a discovery session. (For more on that session, click here). The organization wanted to do two things: dispel the notion that all it provided was blood services, and to make it easy to volunteer, register for classes, etc. on-line. Its current website, however, did neither. dot.org's discovery sessions allowed the organization to discover the initiatives that would allow it to achieve its goals. back to client list

Christ Covenant Church Christ Covenant Church, recognizing that its internal and external communication process needed improvement, asked dot.org to help. Information was not flowing smoothly between and among the Session, Diaconate, other leadership groups (e.g., Youth Ministry, Adult Ministry, Athletic Ministry, etc.) and the staff. Directives from the various leadership groups were not making their way to the staff in a timely fashion, meeting minutes were not consistent, and the leadership was often bogged down in trying to track down information that was outside its respective purview. Further, too many documents were floating around as email attachments, and, therefore, no process was in place to control either access to, or versioning of, those documents. dot.org designed and developed a tool we call "The Communicator" which solves all the communication issues faced by the church. Click here for more info on "The Communicator." back to client list

Belmont Abbey College A recommendation was made to Belmont Abbey that it consider outsourcing its hardware, software, and accompanying support--all of which the school had struggled with to some degree over the years. dot.org was asked by the school to weigh that recommendation against other technology initiatives the school was considering. dot.org led discovery sessions with representative faculty, administration, and IT support personnel to determine whether the outsourcing recommendation made sense. The resulting deliverable analyzed the current IT department structure, the current level of support, the current organizational structure, and placed the outsourcing proposal into a broader context. dot.org's recommendations resulted in a clear chain of command, reduced the school's exposure, and enhanced the school's ability to support its faculty, staff, and students. back to client list

The Children and Family Services Center How do you take nine nonprofit agencies with similar missions (all of which are moving into a new building built just for them) and put a plan in place that shows them how to collaborate with technology? That’s what dot.org was asked to do. The Children and Family Services Center (CFSC), an effort to bring together a group of nine agencies focusing on children and family, asked dot.org to assess the technology of the individual agencies, identify areas for technological collaboration, and then recommend a Technology Shared Services Model (TSSM) for the nine agencies. The project initially dealt with infrastructure (network, hardware, operating system, email, office productivity) and then continued with back office functions (accounting/finance, fundraising/development, and human resources management). Only by understanding and addressing foundational needs first, could the nine agencies hope to collaborate even more effectively (e.g., in programs and operations) later. back to client list