The CTDC Toolkit | Resourcing Collaboratives

Tools for finding and securing the resources you need to drive the work

Published in

Civic Tech & Data Collaborative

4 min readJun 22, 2018

The Civic Tech and Data Collaborative Toolkit — compiled by Living Cities, the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership and Code for America — is a collection of resources and tools for anyone interested in unleashing the power of local data and civic technology in their community. We’ve divided the tools into five categories: Ingredients of a civic tech collaborative, engaging low income residents, mobilizing collective action, and resourcing collaboratives, and sustaining the gain.

Leveraging Data and Technology for Healthy, Equitable and Sustainable Communities

Tyler Norris, Kaiser Permanente; Ross Comstock, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Network Impact, 2015
http://www.grantcraft.org/blog/leveraging-data-and-technology-for-healthy-equitable-and-sustainable

Organizations in the social sector are exploring how to use technology and data analysis to inform decision-making, build engagement, and track impact. In 2014, Kaiser Permanente and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation saw an opportunity to reach out to funders, organizations, innovators, and developers to identify opportunities for leveraging data and technology to support healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities. The foundations engaged Network Impact to identify areas of alignment and leading opportunities for investment. Network Impact used a listening and ideation process to draw insights from stakeholders and then synthesized their research into recommendations for the field.

This blog outlines key findings, and includes a link to the full research report if you want to explore further.

Creating Public Value by Exchanging Data

GovLab, 2018
http://datacollaboratives.org/

Data Collaboratives are a new form of collaboration, beyond the public-private partnership model, in which participants from different sectors — including private companies, research institutions, and government agencies — exchange data to help solve public problems. This introduction to data collaboratives offers insight on how responsible exchange of corporate data can improve people’s lives.

Code for America Brigades Workshop on Funding

Code for America, 2018
https://medium.com/code-for-america/brigades-share-their-favorite-fundraising-strategies-5c33262ea6e6

Wondering how Code for Atlanta raises money? Want to borrow Open Raleigh Brigade’s approach to fundraising materials? Code for America hosted a knowledge-sharing workshop focused on fundraising tactics and strategies. Representatives from Code for Atlanta, Open Raleigh Brigade, Code for San Jose, and Code for San Francisco shared stories from their fundraising journeys, and detailed lessons they’ve learned through the process.

Scaling Civic Tech

Knight Foundation / Rita Allen Foundation, 2018
https://knightfoundation.org/features/civictechbiz/

How can technology be harnessed to promote civic engagement and more responsive government? Knight Foundation and The Rita Allen Foundation commissioned research to develop a more nuanced understanding of civic tech business models.This report summarizes their insights to advance a more consistent, collaborative and rigorous fieldwide conversation about sustainability of the civic tech sector. If you are a startup or a funder, this research can help spark a more sophisticated discussion about business models.

National civic tech and data funders

National CTDC, 2018

National philanthropies have led the way in funding related to civic tech and data as a means of advancing their own missions — whether promoting entrepreneurship, civic engagement, government transparency, or child wellbeing. Philanthropy shoulders the risk of initial investment and creates space for experimentation to generate success stories and attract long-term support for collaboratives.

Below are some examples of investments by national funders in innovative practice and research related to the use of data and technology to advance societal goals. These projects are both inspiration for local collaboratives and concrete examples to share with other potential funders.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation