This is seldom the case. A proposal from a technologically inexperienced organization that lacks insight into how change will happen within the organization may warrant additional investigation. Fourth, develop trusted and independent resources from the nonprofit technology community, technologically aware individuals, university colleagues, and companies. Foundation board members, particularly when they have professional associations with IT-intensive industries, such as banking or insurance, may be willing to volunteer their staff to serve on a technology review committee. Specific components to assess in a proposal include planning, training, sustainability, appropriateness and money.
Effective planning goes beyond shopping lists and installation timelines.
It is the commitment to discovering the most effective combination of human, financial and technical resources to achieve the proposed goal. The best technology plans are full of questions and tests to answer those questions. One of the biggest causes of failure with technology is lack of planning, particularly in testing assumptions and piloting projects before full-scale implementation. Piloting a project with end users gives valuable insight into how things work in the real world and how long the project will really take. Program officers should be wary of plans that don't allow for adjustments based on learning.