Nonprofit social graph

Introduction to the Semantic Web and the Nonprofit Social Graph Andrew Sears Executive Director

The Need for the Semantic Web:What are the Online Megatrends? Browser traffic App Traffic General Search Vertical Search Proliferation of Open, Standardized Closed Datasets/APIs Machine Readable DataAll of these trends call for more standardizedAPIs and linked datasets = Semantic Web

App Traffic Growing beyond Browser Traffic Note: Includes all web (desktop and mobile)

Vertical Search through MicroFormats & Schema.org

Proliferation of Nonprofit APIs All for Good  Social Actions Brooklyn Museum  Sparked Convio  WiserEarth CorpWatch  CiviCRM DonorsChoose  Get Active eTapestry  Member-only FirstGiving  Reults Plus Global Giving  Blackbaud Kintera  Institute for Money in State Kiva Politics LetGive  Giveness Piryx  WiserEarth Guidestar  ChristianVolunteering Charity Navigator  Let’s Give Dropcash  Piryx Global Currents Pitleline  Open Aid

A Programmers Perspective To develop a good app you need to: ◦ Aggregate from 5-20 sources ◦ Write to 5-20 Apis ◦ Sign 5-20 contracts and terms of use that are often incompatible with each other In the future this problem will be 10 times as big Conclusion: Developers are more likely to develop apps based on standardized APIs like the Semantic Web

What is the Semantic Web? Initiative of World Wide Web Consortium for providing common formats for web data Led by Tim Burners- Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web aka Web 3.0

Semantic Web StandardsAggregators: Freebase, Dbpedia,Zemanta, Kasiba, Calais, Data.gov…Sparql: global query language for RDFSchema.org: schema & ontology of objects in RDF RDF = data sharing format in XML http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web

How Nonprofits are likely to fit withSemantic Web StandardsAggregators: VolunteerMatch, AllforGood,Guidestar, ChristianVolunteering, Mobile Apps,Widgets, Web Portals, Thousands of Sites Nonprofit Contracts/API Terms of UseSparql endpoints: AllforGood, GuidestarSparql: API standard for nonprofitsSchema.org: organizations, job postings events, volunteer opportunities RDF: data sharing format in XML

Schema.org Defines schema of objects relevant to nonprofits in RDF ◦ Organizations ◦ Job Posting ◦ Volunteer Opportunity ◦ Events Will be used by all major search engines to improve search results ◦ Most experts say using Schema.org format could increase click-throughs by 30%

Why Provide Data to Semantic Web Technology Mandate ◦ Given strategy of search engines, it is likely that nonprofit data that do not support the Semantic web will lose 50% of their search engine traffic within 5 years and 90% within 10 years ◦ As more of the web is viewed through apps and vertical search engines, open data is required ◦ There will soon be hundreds of nonprofit APIs, which are too many for programmers to support Government Mandate ◦ It is likely that future government grants will require grantees to provide data to Data.gov Public Mandate ◦ Nonprofits that choose to be closed will likely attract public criticism and lose funders Social Mandate ◦ Providing open data maximizes social RoI

What is the Nonprofit Social Graph?1. The Nonprofit social graph is set of standards for data objects of interest to nonprofits ◦ Similar to the Facebook Social graph, but more open and focused on mapping resources related to nonprofits2. It will be how Nonprofits contribute to the semantic web (Web 3.0)3. It will define a set of data format standards and terms of use for sharing data

Nonprofit Social Graph Volunteer Opportunities Foundations Jobs Events Organizations People Nonprofit Giving Meta-wiki Requests Causes/Social Actions

SPARQL Endpoints SPARQL Endpoints serve as the primary repository for a source of data ◦ Nonprofit Organizations in USA, Volunteer Opportunities Provides standard API query interface ◦ Two-way update capabilities coming soon Similar to AllForGood API, but using semantic web standards Will require nonprofit community in each country to agree to endpoint ◦ Will probably want to interface with data.gov Sample Endpoints ◦ Data.gov, Data.gov.uk, Dbpedia, Freebase, World Factbook,http://www.w3.org/wiki/SparqlEndpointshttp://www.w3.org/wiki/SPARQLhttp://www.w3.org/wiki/SPARQL/Extensions/Update

Potential Options for Repositories/Sparql Endpoints1. One organization becomes sole repository for organizations, volunteer opportunities2. Different organizations become primary repository for different objects ◦ AllForGood = Volunteer Opportunities ◦ Guidestar = Organizations3. National/Global Sparql Endpoint becomes sole repository (i.e. Data.gov) ◦ All data sources feed into Data.gov as a central repository/Sparql endpoint provider ◦ Data.gov probably will not accept third-party data

Schema.org: Organization Property Expected Type Description Properties from Thing description Text A short description of the item. image URL URL of an image of the item. name Text The name of the item. url URL URL of the item. Properties from Organization address PostalAddress Physical address of the item. The overall rating, based on a collection of reviews aggregateRating AggregateRating or ratings, of the item. contactPoints ContactPoint A contact point for a person or organization. email Text Email address. employees Person People working for this organization. Upcoming or past events associated with this place events Event or organization. faxNumber Text The fax number. founders Person A person who founded this organization. foundingDate Date The date that this organization was founded. A count of a specific user interactions with this item—for example, 20 UserLikes, 5 UserComments, interactionCount Text or 300 UserDownloads. The user interaction type should be one of the sub types of UserInteraction. location Place or PostalAddress The location of the event or organization. members Person or Organization A member of this organization. reviews Review Review of the item. telephone Text The telephone number.More specific types: Corporation, EducationalOrganization, GovernmentOrganization,LocalBusiness, NGO, PerformingGroup, SportsTeam

Step Toward Nonprofit Social Graph:Organizations Organize a working group of key stakeholders Decide who will be the primary organization endpoint ◦ Guidestar or Data.gov or both Provide input into Schema.org’s organization and NGO standards ◦ i.e. missing charity id, tax id, etc. ◦ May want to extend standard beyond Schema.org Provide Sparql Endpoint for Organization data Data.gov latest IRS data is 2004 ◦ http://www.data.gov/list/agency/14/15/catalog/raw/page/1/count/50 http://schema.org/Organization http://schema.org/NGO

Organization Data Providers Guidestar NetworkforGood Charity Navigator HandsOn Network Idealist.org United Way/Truist ChristianVolunteering.org VolunteerMatch.org 211 Data.gov/IRS

Schema.org: Job Posting Need Volunteer OpportunityProperty Expected Type DescriptionProperties from Thingdescription Text A short description of the item.image URL URL of an image of the item.name Text The name of the item.url URL URL of the item.Properties from JobPostingbaseSalary Number The base salary of the job.benefits Text Description of benefits associated with the job.datePosted Date Publication date for the job posting.educationRequirements Text Educational background needed for the position. Type of employment (e.g. full-time, part-time, contract, temporary, seasonal,employmentType Text internship).experienceRequirements Text Description of skills and experience needed for the position.hiringOrganization Organization Organization offering the job position.incentives Text Description of bonus and commission compensation aspects of the job.industry Text The industry associated with the job position.jobLocation Place A (typically single) geographic location associated with the job position. Category or categories describing the job. Use BLS O*NET-SOC taxonomy:occupationalCategory Text http://www.onetcenter.org/taxonomy.html. Ideally includes textual label and formal code, with the property repeated for each applicable value.qualifications Text Specific qualifications required for this role.responsibilities Text Responsibilities associated with this role. The currency (coded using ISO 4217, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217 used forsalaryCurrency Text the main salary information in this job posting.skills Text Skills required to fulfill this role. Any special commitments associated with this job posting. Valid entries includespecialCommitments Text VeteranCommit, MilitarySpouseCommit, etc.title Text The title of the job.workHours Text The typical working hours for this job (e.g. 1st shift, night shift, 8am-5pm).

Steps Toward Nonprofit Social Graph:Volunteer Opportunities Currently data.gov provides some data ◦ http://explore.data.gov/Social-Insurance-and-Human-Services/Federal- Volunteer-Opportunities/svbx-5gin Decide who will be the primary organization endpoint ◦ Very likely to be All for Good Need Volunteer Opportunity standard in Schema.org ◦ Probably an intangible object like JobPosting ◦ Will probably want to relate event object to it for dates, and determine whether there needs to be a new volunteer event ◦ Need to require EIN/org ID to be able to link to organization Provide Sparql Endpoint for Organization data http://schema.org/Organization http://schema.org/NGO

Volunteer Opportunity Data Providers Open = Contributing to Serve.Gov/Data.gov ◦ HandsOn Network, AARP, Idealist.org, United Way, Truist, Habitat for Humanity, Service Nation, Universal Giving, ChristianVolunteering.org, Craigslist, MENTOR, Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, Girl Scouts, YMCA, Up2Us, CatchaFire, Volunteer.gov, Rock the Vote, Citizen Corps, Red Cross, Samaritan Technologies, Catchafire Closed = Not Contributing to Serve.Gov/Data.gov ◦ VolunteerMatch.org Schema Examples ◦ http://www.allforgood.org/spec ◦ http://schema.org/Event

Schema.org: EventProperty Expected Type DescriptionProperties from Thingdescription Text A short description of the item.image URL URL of an image of the item.name Text The name of the item.url URL URL of the item.Properties from Eventattendees Person or Organization A person attending the event. The duration of the item (movie, audio recording, event, etc.) induration Duration ISO 8601 date format.endDate Date The end date and time of the event (in ISO 8601 date format).location Place or PostalAddress The location of the event or organization. An offer to sell this item—for example, an offer to sell aoffers Offer product, the DVD of a movie, or tickets to an event. The main performer or performers of the event—for example, aperformers Person or Organization presenter, musician, or actor.startDate Date The start date and time of the event (in ISO 8601 date format). Events that are a part of this event. For example, a conferencesubEvents Event event includes many presentations, each are subEvents of the conference. An event that this event is a part of. For example, a collectionsuperEvent Event of individual music performances might each have a music festival as their superEvent.

Challenges with other Data Objects No centralized source or independent aggregator with critical mass of objects ◦ Nonprofit Events ◦ Nonprofit Meta-Wiki ◦ Giving Opportunities Lack of common structure ◦ Social Actions/Causes No workable business model ◦ People (will probably default to Facebook and remain private silos for business reasons)

Roles in the Nonprofit Social Graph Nonprofit • Web Portals Websites & • Desktop software Applications • Nonprofit social networks • Nonprofit portals • National Sparql Endpoints • Websites • Data.gov • System Integration • Search Engines Global Sparql Programming • Mobile Apps Standards & • Social Networks Aggregators Endpoints Consultants • Facebook Apps • Places/Maps • Widgets • 211 • Open Source Projects Data Sources • 1,000’s of websites • Volunteer, Jobs, Orgs, etc.

But, Nonprofit Data ProvidersMake Their Money on their Data! The nonprofit social graph must support sustainable business models for nonprofit data providers Freemium business model ◦ Open data will be more limited like an RSS feed ◦ Need to provide enough data for it to be useful or someone will “fork” the data and provide a better open alternative Read Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

Business Models1. RSS Feed Business model ◦ Share limited data to drive traffic to your website ◦ Traffic can be monetized2. Open Source Software business model ◦ Provide more limited open data to develop consulting business with full data and leveraging expertise with data3. Grants-funded business model ◦ Sharing data maximizes social value to attract funders ◦ Funders will want aggregators to succeed ◦ Nonprofits perceived as “closed” will lose funding

Possible Futures1. Bad. Nonprofits remained closed and the only open data is Data.gov ◦ Data.gov’s data is very poor quality unless nonprofits help improve it ◦ Nonprofit app development will be severely limited and nonprofits will lose visibility online: will digital divide online between nonprofits and for profits2. Better. Most nonprofits contribute, but some do not ◦ Nonprofits with closed data will lose most of their online visibility3. Best. Nonprofits organize and create critical mass ◦ Creates new market for thousands of apps and widgets where nonprofit causes become pervasive in the online world

Open vs. Closed There is a spectrum from very closed to very open Having an API is not Open ◦ Many APIs are closed because of restrictive terms of use and limited access to data Open is sharing enough data to be useful into open, public repositories Developer perspective ◦ Writing an a nonprofit app could soon require aggregating hundreds of data sources and hundreds of APIs

Potential first Steps toward theNonprofit Social Graph Serve.Gov/AllForGood could require (or strongly encourage) data providers to include EINs linking organizations to volunteer opportunities ◦ Critical missing piece right now to connect to open org data ◦ VolunteerMatch.org re-joins Serve.gov Guidestar could organize a consortium of organization data providers ◦ Define organization standard as input to Schema.org ◦ Provides 2 way API with partners ◦ Provides organization data feed to Data.gov using RDF Idealist.org could start aggregating third party nonprofit jobs (like AllforGood) ◦ Easy sources: SimplyHired.com, Indeed.com ◦ Starts providing nonprofit jobs feed to Data.gov using RDF Other nonprofit data sources start to form standards working groups

For More Information Why Nonprofits Should Care about Linked Data and the Semantic Web ◦ http://www.spaceforgood.org/content/why-nonprofits- should-care-about-linked-data-and-semantic-web en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/ http://www.w3schools.com/web/web_se mantic.asp

Appendix

Why is TechMission Interested inthe Nonprofit Social Graph? Andrew Sears, Executive Director ◦ Previously co-founded MIT’s Internet Telecoms Consortium supporting open standards ◦ Researched open standards under David Clark (one of the fathers of the Internet) ◦ I personally have a passion for open data Open Data will support nonprofits focused on niches and increase diversity ◦ Largest segment of nonprofit market is the faith- based segment ◦ TechMission is the leading provider of open data related to faith based nonprofits (6,500 volunteer opps, 13,000 orgs, 170,000 wiki articles)

Giving Opportunity Data Sources Kiva JustGive.org Network for Good Changing the Present Donors Choose FirstGiving.com Schema/API Examples ◦ build.kiva.org ◦ developers.firstgiving.com ◦ developer.donorschoose.org

Causes/Social Actions Data Sources Social Actions/Guidestar Causes.com Change.org Schema/API Examples ◦ http://exchange.causes.com/resources/causes-developer-api/ ◦ http://wiki.socialactions.com/w/page/24592876/Social%20Acti ons%20API%20-%20About

Nonprofit Job Data Sources Idealist.org Indeed.com SimplyHired.com Schema Examples ◦ http://schema.org/JobPosting ◦ https://ads.indeed.com/jobroll/xmlfeed ◦ https://www.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/partner- dashboard-advanced-xml-api

Other Schema.org Objects of Interest Review Rating MediaObject (audio, image, music, video)

Events Data Sources Meetup.com Craigslist.org/cal Eventful.com Upcoming.org Eventbrite.com Schema Examples ◦ http://schema.org/Event ◦ http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/

Foundation Data Sources Foundation Center Council on Foundations Grant Station Data.gov IRS foundation data ◦ http://www.data.gov/list/agency/14/15/catalog/raw/page/1/count/ 50

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Nonprofit social graph

by Andrew Sears

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