Putting Technology Geeks to Work for the Common Good

On his first day at Andersen Consulting in 1993, Curt Iiams had to be told where to find the button to turn on his computer. A quick study, though, he became a technology consultant at Andersen (now called Accenture), working with such companies as

Bank One and American Express on their credit-card systems, and went on to found two technology companies in the Boston area.

Now Mr. Iiams (pronounced I-ams) is bringing his technology expertise to the nonprofit world as the new program director of TechFoundation’s Geeks for America program.

TechFoundation is a Cambridge, Mass., charity that was founded in January to bridge the nonprofit digital divide. The charity’s Geeks for America program will give recent college graduates with technology experience the opportunity to work for a year with a nonprofit organization in need of technology assistance. The program will focus on Boston-area charities this year, but TechFoundation hopes to be able to expand the program to other cities around the country in the future.

TechFoundation also holds monthly seminars to help nonprofit professionals meet one another as they learn about new technologies and runs TechMarketplace, a distribution service for discounted and donated hardware, software, and technology services. This fall the organization plans to start making grants to charities that provide technology assistance to other nonprofit groups.

Each participant in the Geeks for America program will earn $30,000 a year, and will also receive benefits and additional technology training. The organization where the Geek works will be responsible for providing $15,000 toward his or her salary, and TechFoundation will pay for the rest of the salary, benefits, and training.

In July, the program’s first Geek started working at the Media and Technology Charter High School, in Brookline, Mass., and TechFoundation plans to place 11 more at charities in the Boston area by October.

At the end of his third week on the job, Mr. Iiams talked about his vision for the program.

Why is there a need for Geeks for America?

Nonprofits are usually very focused on delivering their mission service. All of their money generally goes toward that, and they tend to not have a large information-technology budget to hire a full-time person. Geeks for America will allow them to spend little with a large return.

Do similar programs exist?

There are programs that are similar in the sense of sending young, idealistic people to organizations — though not doing technology — like Teach For America, and there are organizations that specialize in sending people to do technology work for nonprofits.

But there are some key differentiating factors between us and those programs. We pay a living wage that is almost a competitive salary in the technology industry. We provide intensive training before a Geek arrives on site and continued training and mentoring during their program year, and very importantly, we are going to strive to match our Geeks with the nonprofit organization so that their skills best fit with what that organization needs.

Even as the economy slows, college graduates with technology skills still have a lot of options. How will you persuade them to commit to a year of service?

Evidently I didn’t need to persuade. I have vastly more résumés and interest in the program from new graduates than we’re going to be able to use in the first year.

We’re tapping into a desire for graduates with technical degrees to be able to serve. That’s a desire that’s always been there, but in the past, having a technical background hasn’t lent itself to being productive in a nonprofit service organization. We’re giving them that chance.

Do you worry that the term Geek will offend some people?

Yes. I was at first reluctant to use the name, but the name had already been chosen, and had already begun a brand association. But, I hope to make the term synonymous with using your technology for public service. I think if this program is successful we will have appropriated the term Geek.

How do you describe the Geek’s role?

We are steering away from using the terms “intern” and “stipend,” and we are calling it a full-time position with a salary.

We want it to be seen as a long-term commitment, and internships are seen as an interim step. By offering a full-time position with a salary, it conveys a correct perception that this is a full-time job, an endeavor people hopefully will continue after their program year. It also makes clear that we are paying for intellectual capital. We are paying them for their services.

How are you going to make the pitch to foundations and corporations to support the Geeks?

A lot of the corporations — especially in the Boston area, where we’re starting — are very tech-savvy and understand the importance of technology for delivering your mission and for reaching your goals as an organization. They understand what we’re trying to do in bridging the nonprofit digital divide, and they’re excited to have their money go to immediate, hands-on use that can help today, yet leverage organizations’ ability to provide their services in the future.

Will Geeks provide training to other employees at the charity?

I’ve done a couple site visits, and what I’ve found is that nonprofit organizations tend to have more technology infrastructure than they realize. So our Geeks will go learn what they have in terms of hardware and software and help train the employees there on how to best use it. That can be as simple as training new employees on Word and Excel, to helping them understand Microsoft Outlook and how it can help in e-mail campaigns, to helping someone not familiar with Macintoshes learn to use a Mac.

Do you expect charities to use the Geek program for more than one year?

The ideal situation is to teach the organizations to fish, but we understand that many nonprofits will always have a budget that constrains the quality of the IT department they can afford. Being able to get an experienced person to help for $15,000, it is entirely possible that a smaller organization may continue to use this program.

What are your long-term goals for the program?

We hope that this program can be replicated in cities throughout the U.S. and in countries around the world.

We really hope that we’ve created a conduit for students graduating with technical degrees to use their knowledge and experience for public service, and that nonprofit organizations’ technology infrastructure becomes — instead of a barrier — an invisible support to them so they can deliver their services to the community.

ABOUT CURT IIAMS, GEEKS FOR AMERICA’S PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Education: Earned a B.S. in economics and political science from the University of Iowa in 1992.

First attempt to volunteer: Mr. Iiams agreed to join the Peace Corps as a math teacher and economic adviser in Gambia, but his assignment was postponed indefinitely when war broke out in nearby Sierra Leone.

His worries about technology: That people who live in isolated, rural areas, like his home state of Iowa, are falling behind.

How many computers he has at home: A Web server and three laptops networked into a local area network with a common printer.

Hobbies: Crossword puzzles, triathlons, writing haiku.

Most exotic vacation destination: Palawan, a southern island of the Philippines.