New York, Nov. 12, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MicroEdge, LLC, the leading provider of solutions to the giving community worldwide, announced today an initiative that highlights the company's continued commitment to supporting the Foundation Center's ongoing efforts to promote transparency in the philanthropic community. The Foundation Center is the world's leading source of information on philanthropy, fundraising, and grant programs, and this latest step opens the door for MicroEdge clients to become actively involved in the Foundation Center's Glasspockets initiative.
Philanthropy is witnessing a paradigm shift; the entire giving community--and the public--is placing an ever greater importance on the value of transparency. In response, the Foundation Center is providing a variety of tools to help foundations meet growing demands for transparency in the digital age. This includes the ability to export grants data in the new hGrant format and have it publically shared on Glasspockets.org, a transparency website and central repository for open grants data that currently makes available information from some of the largest foundations in the U.S.
The Foundation Center was recently chosen as implementing partner in the Reporting Commitment, an initiative spearheaded by 15 of America's largest foundations to foster more timely, accurate, and precise reporting on the flow of philanthropic dollars, in an effort to more effectively address the issues facing communities and the world. Launched in October 2012, the Reporting Commitment is grounded in the belief that accurate and accessible information is critical to effective collaboration, strategic decision making, and a more engaged philanthropy sector. The 15 participating foundations have committed to making their current grants data available through the Glasspockets.org website in open, machine-readable format. Now MicroEdge, in partnership with the Foundation Center, is making it possible for other foundations to share their grants data on Glasspockets.org as well.
In order to facilitate its clients' involvement in the Glasspockets initiative, MicroEdge has included hGrant reporting capabilities in the recent release of GIFTS Online 3.3, the latest update to its cloud-based grantmaking system. hGrant is a variation of HTML code that essentially lets an organization publish its grants information in a way that can be read and understood by both people and software. This latest release provides GIFTS Online clients with the option to quickly and easily export their giving data in hGrant format. The data can be posted to the organization's website and fed directly into Glasspockets.org in real time, or alternatively can be exported to the Foundation Center for conversion and publication as open data on the Glasspockets website. "When it comes to transparency, tomorrow's foundation leaders will be asking their organizations why not?" says Jeannine Corey, Director of Grants Information Management at the Foundation Center. "By supporting the Glasspockets initiative, MicroEdge is empowering its clients to get on the cutting edge of foundation transparency today."
The partnership between MicroEdge and the Foundation Center will not only push the transparency dialogue forward, it will ultimately lay the groundwork for greater collaboration and more impactful giving across the MicroEdge client base. "By taking steps to standardize the methods for capturing and sharing data across the field, foundations can facilitate easier sharing of best practices and help keep one another informed on what is being funded and where gaps need to be filled," says MicroEdge CEO, Preston McKenzie. "This all adds up to a giving sector that is able to work together more collaboratively and make greater strides toward solving the world's pressing social, economic and environmental problems. Transparency is the future of philanthropy, and our partnership with the Foundation Center and the release of GIFTS Online 3.3 makes it that much easier for our clients to get there."
How to Learn More
To learn more about the Foundation Center's Glasspockets
initiative, visit www.glasspockets.org. To learn
more about GIFTS Online, visit www.microedge.com/giftsonline contact
MicroEdge at 800.899.0890 (option 1) or info@microedge.com. Alternatively,
you can contact a local area MicroEdge representative directly; for
a directory listing of local
representatives, click here.
About MicroEdge
Established in 1985, MicroEdge, LLC is the leading provider of
software and services to the giving community worldwide. MicroEdge
solutions deliver a powerful, integrated, and open framework for
efficient and effective charitable giving. The company is committed
to providing the best technology toolset for foundations,
corporations, government agencies, donors, advisors and financial
institutions. Together, these tools help organizations to work with
one another to raise, invest, manage and award charitable currency.
MicroEdge is headquartered in New York City with regional offices
throughout the U.S. and supports thousands of clients worldwide.
MicroEdge is part of the Vista Equity Partners portfolio of
software and technology-enabled companies. To learn more about
Vista Equity Partners, visit www.vistaequitypartners.com. To learn more about
MicroEdge, visit www.microedge.com.
Media Contact:
Kathy Krais
800.899.0890 ext. 3966
kkrais@microedge.com
MicroEdge is a trademark and/or service mark of MicroEdge, LLC. All other company names or marks mentioned herein are those of their respective owners.