August 7, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Open Society Institute, in New York, is accepting proposals for the development of software designed to help nonprofit organizations carry out their missions.
The grant program is for software designed specifically for charities doing work in the following areas: human rights, legal services, nonprofit support, independent journalism, public health, and anti-corruption efforts. The software should be program-related, such as case-management, advocacy, or data-analysis tools. Administrative applications, such as accounting, grant-management, or training software, are excluded from the grant program.
Jonathan Peizer, chief technology officer at Open Society, says that while charity activities require specialized software, the significant expense of developing new applications and the limited financial return on nonprofit-specific software make it unlikely that for-profit companies will create these programs.
Mr. Peizer says he hopes that the responses to its call for proposals will help the foundation get a better sense of what kind of nonprofit software programs are being developed or considered.
Open Society expects to award about $500,000, although the final total will depend on the quality of the proposals it receives.
Individual grant requests should be from $50,000 to $200,000. The deadline for applications is September 30.
For more information: Go to http://www.soros.org/ip/index.php.
