The CollaborAid Community is still in development. The Tutorial is a visual representation of what the website will eventually look like.

There are networking sites for development personnel, sites that promote GIS mapping to help in humanitarian crises, and sites that serve as databases for development information. However, our website's functionality is unique in that it uses user-generated data from the entire aid community and incorporates a mapping, survey, and virtual conferencing component. There are several organizations that share similar missions, and we welcome the possibility of partnering with them.

No. Access to the CollaborAid community is free.

Organizations, individuals, and local stakeholders interested in aid projects and development work are encouraged to join the CollaborAid Community. Membership may include: Development NGO's, Nonprofits, Religious Groups, University Groups, Government Agency Employees, Multilateral Institution Employees, International Volunteers, and Local Indigenous Stakeholders.

User privacy settings will provide individuals the option of who they share their information and/or location with. Possibilities include just friends, members of your group, or everyone. Additionally, user settings can be adjusted so that a person's location can be identified in a broader context (i.e. by province or region).

When organization profiles are first created, the administrator can decide if they want their members to join the group through email verification, a password, or leaving it open to all.

Only members of the CollaborAid Community can post information. Through user-policing, members can report rule violations (i.e. intentionally providing misleading information, profanity) and the perpetrators will be removed from our community. Nonetheless, there is still the potential for inaccurate information to be submitted. Similar to Wikipedia, some information may need to be taken with a "grain of salt."

All information will be time stamped. An end date is required to register a project, question, and volunteer opportunity. When the end date arrives, the user has the option to renew and keep the post active. If not, the content will be stored in our database archives for future reference.

Our website holds the greatest value once it reaches a critical mass where sufficient members are using it. To get the word out, we will be conducting a marketing campaign to make CollaborAid a household name in the development community. The campaign will take two approaches: top-down and bottom-up.

Top-Down: We will promote the benefits of our site to administrators in development organizations across the globe. We hope to solicit their support so they will promote its use amongst their staff.

Bottom Up: We will also run an awareness campaign through existing social networks to create a grassroots movement among volunteers, staff members, university students, and local community members. We also plan on using existing promotional channels such as journals, newsletters, conferences, blogger communities, etc. to increase our presence in this space.

Since Internet connections can be extremely slow in some regions, the CollaborAid website will also be available in a low bandwith version that allows for quicker loading. Additionally, we want individuals to upload valuable information about communities even when they are not connected to the Internet. Our software will be available on laptops, PDA's, and mobile devices so our users can plug in information while offline. The content will automatically upload to the CollaborAid website when the person reconnects to the Internet.

To incorporate local stakeholders, we will collaborate with organizations seeking to close the "digital divide." Many organizations are using satellite internet technology and Wi-Fi to connect rural villages, recycling computers for computer labs, and offering free computer literacy classes. Through partnerships with these organizations, we intend to promote CollaborAid to indigenous stakeholders and offer instruction in its use. View our Partners page to learn more.

Building the community will require a blend of philanthropic capital that includes donations, grants, and in-kind donatiosn from technology firms. Once the website is launched, our project will become self-sustainable as we incorporate additional revenues streams of advertising and nominal fees for premium services. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, all excess revenue will be reinvested to make CollaborAid a more powerful tool to combat global poverty.