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- Take our Check Program Eligibility Quiz and see which donation programs your organization is likely eligible for.
- Join TechSoup. It’s free, and the first step to accessing product donations.
- Talk to other nonprofits and libraries in the TechSoup Community.
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Outsourcing Resource List
Helpful sites with information about hiring contractors
February 5, 2003
Editor's Note:
This article is part of the Adopting Technology Series, which is produced by Dot Org Media, a project of Summit Collaborative.
Getting Started
These resources provide useful guidelines and advice on how to prepare your organization to work effectively with a vendor or consultant.
- Getting Help that is Helpful , by Lisa Silverberg and Marc Osten
- TechSoup Consultants: Articles About Working with Technology Consultants
- Working with a Web Consultant , from the One Northwest Activist ToolKit
- Dealing with Technology Vendors: A Buyer’s Methodology
- Verizon's Outsourcing White Paper . This PDF discusses outsourcing in general, with information specific to contracting.
Making the Selection
- These articles provide advice on the selection process, including sample interview questions, sample RFP’s, evaluation/rating forms, and other materials.
- Vetting Vendors , from N-TEN SF Regional Conference: presentations from the session by Michael Stein, e-grants, Dawn Trygstad Rubin, Compasspoint, and Robert Weiner, an independent consultant
- Consultants on Tap: How To Hire and Interview Consultants
- How to Write a Request for Proposal for a Web Project
- Rate Vendors Excel SpreadSheet Template , from TechRepublic
Listings of Vendors/Services
TechSoup has various resource lists, including
Managing the Relationship
- Nonprofit Management Library: Working with Consultants
- Vendor Relationships, from TechRepublic
- Working with Telephone Service and Equipment Vendors , by Joan Kleinberg and Sue Encherman, Northwest Justice Project
Writing a Contract
Share Your Feedback
About the Authors:
Marc Osten is Founder of Summit Collaborative.
Beth Kanter is the author of Beth’s Blog, one of the longest running and most popular blogs for nonprofits and co-author of the forthcoming book, The Networked Nonprofit, published by J. Wiley in 2010.
Beth is the CEO of Zoetica, a company that serves nonprofits and socially conscious companies with top-tier, online marketing services. In 2009, she was named by Fast Company Magazine as one of the most influential women in technology and one of Business Week’s "Voices of Innovation for Social Media." She is currently the Visiting Scholar for Social Media and Nonprofits for the Packard Foundation.
Copyright © 2003 CompuMentor. This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.
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