The Technology Innovation grant round is designed to support current Salesforce.com Foundation 1/1/1 partners using technology in an innovative way to accelerate your work and that of the greater nonprofit community. This isn't just your basic implementation. The grant round targets nonprofits with innovative and replicable project proposals that will:

• Enhance operational and/or programmatic efficiency;
• Create tangible social change; and
• Provide a deep, measurable benefit to the organization as well as the sector it serves.

Technology Innovation grants will be awarded to visionary nonprofit organizations to enable their innovative use and development of technology. Successful applicants will demonstrate how the enhanced use of technology will support and improve their ability to effect their social change mission. Project proposals must represent responses to clearly identified needs and must outline a realistic plan for replication to the global nonprofit community.

• Organizations going through mergers &acquisitions are encouraged to apply. Applicants in this situation are encouraged to focus on technology infrastructure.
• Proposals focused on equipment purchases will not be considered.

Grant amounts

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the 2010 Technology Innovation grant. You will be asked to indicate which of the following criteria applies to your organization in the first section of the application.

All applicants must:

• Be existing and active users. Organizations must show they have existing success utilizing Salesforce.  The Salesforce.com Foundation has determined these metrics based on usage patterns of customers over time and has determined that customers utilizing salesforce in a way that is beneficial to their organization have the following characteristics. 
  
  • Each active user is logging in on a regular basis,
  • Each active user is creating and/or editing records within salesforce.com on a regular basis, and;
  • Organizations have utilized dashboards that allow for visibility into the organization’s processes managed within salesforce.com. 
  • Please note: Only active users are considered in these calculations.  If your organization only uses 2 of the 10 donated licenses, those 2 users will be analyzed.
• Must be actively engaged with at least two of the Foundation’s 1%s – Time, Product and Equity. If this is not currently the case, please explore your options here.
• Must be prepared to demonstrate the project’s positive impact on the organization, the population served and the nonprofit community as a whole.
• Application must demonstrate a focus on the measurements that will be used to define success and impact.

If your organization meets the criteria listed above, we welcome you to submit the Technology Innovation grant application by May 15, 2010. Applications must be complete in order to receive consideration.

Grant applications, and specifically the proposed project descriptions, will be evaluated based on the following. If you do not meet all of the criteria listed below, please check back next year for information about the grants we will be offering.

• Strength and practicability of the proposed project and implementation plan;
• Impact the grant will have on the organization’s efficacy and social mission;
• Whether the implementation is scalable and replicable for other nonprofit organizations;
• Eagerness and plan to engage salesforce.com employees as volunteers;
• Intention and plan to share best practices with the nonprofit community; and
• Willingness to communicate progress and establish an ongoing relationship with Salesforce.com Foundation.
• Proposals solely focused on equipment purchases will not be considered.