Data portability, privacy, and communication between software platforms are quickly emerging as key issues in the future of the internet. While big consumer companies like Google and Facebook are making headlines by engaging with these issues, nonprofit organizations have long relied heavily on data about their supporters. A new report and an evaluation tool aimed at propelling nonprofits into the future of data and software integration is now available from the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) in partnership with the nonprofit research firm Idealware.

“Getting Your Systems Talking: A Framework to Evaluate APIs and Data Exchange Features” is a new guide to data portability. The guide is available at http://nten.org/research/talking and includes a comprehensive report and evaluation worksheet.

While the problem of data portability has been clear for some time, solutions were in short supply – until now.

> The Context of the Report
“Evaluating software has gotten a lot harder lately,” says Holly Ross, the Executive Director of NTEN. "With more vendors offering more ways to exchange and access your data, you have more things to consider when you're looking at software. We believe this report will help systematize and streamline that process.”

Chris Saad, Founder and Chair of the DataPortability.org Work Group, says: "Non-profit communities were some of the first incarnations of modern social networks -- it's fantastic to see them leading again by making early moves towards open APIs and Data Portability in their online platforms."

> What's Included in the Report
The Idealware report provides an overview of what data portability is and many of the ways it can be accomplished. The detailed evaluation tool included in the report will make it easier to put these ideas into practice.

Evaluation worksheets provide a rating system for everything from availability and quality of documentation to technical considerations in order to help nonprofits standardize their research into new software.

“Data access is a vital part of any software offering,” Laura Quinn, the Director of Idealware and one of the authors of the report says. “If you can't get access to your data, you'll be dealing with serious limitations when you try to integrate it with other applications or create new reports. The evaluation tool in this report allows anyone with a reasonably technical background to compare data access features in an apples-to-apples way.”

This report was published with underwriting from Beaconfire Consulting and further support from Jacobson Consulting Applications.

> About Idealware - www.idealware.org
Idealware provides candid Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits. Through product comparisons, recommendations, case studies, online seminars, and software news, Idealware allows nonprofits to make the software decisions that will help them be more effective.

> About NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network - www.nten.org
NTEN aspires to a world where all nonprofit organizations skillfully and confidently use technology to meet community needs. NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit technology and program staff and technology providers. NTEN provides social networking and professional development opportunities, discounts on products and services, and research, advocacy, and education on technology issues affecting the nonprofit sector.

> About Beaconfire Consulting - www.beaconfire.com
Serving nonprofits in the evaluation, design and implementation of Internet technology. Our philosophy and our people make Beaconfire unlike any other nonprofit technology consultancy. We are a professional services firm committed to our values, our clients and a set of principles that make us unique.