TAG is the only open nationwide affinity group for technology professionals working in philanthropy, providing members with valuable educational and information-sharing opportunities as well as a forum for learning from each other about best practices. Most members join TAG to learn from peers and to take advantage of the real value of being able to email or call on a peer about a particular issue. Through your organization’s TAG membership, you will also receive the following benefits:

Conferences and Meetings

• Annual Conference: Each year TAG hosts an annual conference targeted to staff responsible for managing technology in foundations. This includes non-technical staff such as financial, communications and grants management professionals as well as technology staff, making it a unique educational opportunity to learn how peer foundations utilize technology systems. The 2018 Annual Conference will be held November 5-8, 2018 at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, AZ.

• Regional Meetings: TAG hosts regional meetings in New York City and San Francisco. There are three regional lunch meetings a year for TAG members in these regions.  There is also a Midwest gathering organized by TAG members, held each summer.

• Community Foundation Meetings: TAG hosts two webinars for Community Foundation staff in late Spring/early Summer and in early Fall and an in-person meeting and dinner prior to the start of the Annual Conference.

TAG Website

The TAG website has hundreds of documents about best practices in foundation technology management and information about nonprofit sector technology. Click here to view Resource Library documents. The site also contains an active discussion forum, members blog, database of foundation members, their organizations and technology hardware and software systems. Click here for a directory search to view member profiles.

Technology Surveys

In the past, TAG conducted a comprehensive foundation-wide Grantmakers Information Technology Survey. A copy of the full 2014 survey report can be found here on TAG's website. TAG members who participated in the survey can also run their own reports comparing their responses to the survey to those of their peers using an online benchmarking tool and they can view the software in use at other foundations.

Beginning in 2015, TAG changed its approach to surveys and decided to conduct three smaller, faster surveys a year. The survey data is shared in detail to survey participants and in summary to TAG members. Survey data is no longer available to the public.

The surveys for 2018 include:

• Security Survey
• Technology Management Survey
• 'What do you use for' survey
• Member Satisfaction Survey

Foundation-Specific Software Reports

TAG works with Idealware to provide relevant research and reports on software specific to the Foundation Sector. Prior reports include

• a short Few Good Board Portal Tools article for the entire sector
• a Consumers Guide to Board Portals for TAG members only
• a report on Foundations' Use of Dashboards
• a Consumers Guide to Grants Management Software, including their online grant application capabilities.

The Consumers Guide to Grants Management Software report was released in May 2016. Vendor product updates are being collected and combined into a supplement every six months.

Webinars

TAG's monthly webinar series provides TAG members with information and education about relevant technology topics for foundations. The topics range from data-focused organizations and measuring program outcomes to security and software migrations.

Mentoring Program

This program is designed to help TAG members further their soft skills. It is a great professional development opportunity for early to mid-career professionals. Details about the TAG Mentoring Program can be found here.

Discount Programs

• Amazon Web Services Program: TAG members and their grantees are now eligible to receive up to $2000 annually in AWS credits—plus free training and technical support. Click here for AWS program details.

• Idealware Training: TAG members receive 15–25% off all Idealware training courses. Idealware is a nonprofit, that provides resources to help nonprofits use technology for better social impact. Click here for details.

• Foundation members are eligible for the Microsoft Open Charity Program administered by TechSoup as well as discounted hardware and software from many other vendors. Click here for all discount program details.