Aunt Bertha provides an online database of social services programs and providers to help those in need. The document explains how Aunt Bertha organizes this information to make it easier to find. Key entities include Programs (groups of social services), Providers (organizations offering programs), Services (activities promoting welfare), and Places (physical locations where programs operate). The data entry spreadsheet collects information about programs, providers, services offered, locations served, and places of operation.

1. Aunt Bertha provides a free, online database of
Social Services Programs and Providers.

2. Thank you for helping Aunt Bertha provide better
information to those in need.
To help you understand our data this document
explains how Aunt Bertha organizes information
on social services; making them easier to find.
The spreadsheet we’ve provided has two tabs
you’ll be filling out; Programs and Places

3. What are Programs?
DIFFERENTIATING PROGRAMS FROM EVERYTHING ELSE

4. Programs represent one or more Social
Services utilizing the same point of entry
and qualifying criteria.
Think of Programs as groups of services.
Program
Service Service Service
Careful not to confuse Programs and events. Programs are ongoing and occur regularly and
events are one time only. Currently, Aunt Bertha only lists Programs!

5. Every Program has a Provider and
at least one free or reduced cost Social Service.
Provider
Program
Social Services

6. Who is the Provider?
Providers are the public, private, government and nonprofit
entities responsible for managing programs, participants
and applications.
In other words, it’s the organization providing the program.

7. What are Social Services?
Social Services are free or reduced cost, client-facing
“activities aiming to promote the welfare of others”.1
All Social Services are defined in our Social Services Taxonomy available at openeligibility.org.
1"Social service". Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. 06 February 2013
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/social service.

8. Client Facing?
Services are considered “client facing” when they
work directly with clients to obtain services like
food, housing, legal aid or financial assistance.
Example 1:
CLIENT FACING: Programs offering childcare.
NOT CLIENT FACING: Programs offering funding for childcare.
Example 2:
CLIENT FACING: Programs offering emergency cash to help pay for childcare.
NOT CLIENT FACING: Programs offering grants to elementary schools for new
afterschool programs.

9. Programs are not Services
Social Services can be confusing.
Remember to think of Programs as groups of Social Services and
the organizations delivering them as the Provider.
Heads Up: Some Programs only offer ONE Social Service, but that
still makes it a Program.

10. Tags
To help describe Programs and who they are for we use “Service Tags” and
“Situation Tags”. These tags make it easier for people to find the programs
they want.

11. What are Service Tags?
Social Services described earlier are organized with tags
attached to programs offering a given set of services.
One or more tags may be entered in the Programs worksheet,
Service Tags column. If a program offers multiple services,
multiple tags may be entered, separated by semicolons.
All Human Services are defined in our Taxonomy available at openeligibility.org.
The following page provides an example of how service tags
would be set up for two different programs.

12. American Cancer Society
Hope Lodge Road to Recovery
THESE ARE THE SERVICE THESE ARE THE SERVICE TAGS
TAGS FOR HOPE LODGE FOR ROAD TO RECOVERY
Money Health Care Housing Money Health Transit
Help Pay
Financial Health Support Residential Navigating Residential
for Financial Help Pay for Health Transportatio
Assistance Education Network Care the System Housing
Healthcare Assistance Healthcare Education n
Help Pay
Support Help Find Short-Term
for Transportatio
Groups Services Housing Help Pay for
Healthcare n for
Healthcare
Healthcare
Sober
Living

13. What are Situation Tags?
Human Situations help describe a persons’ needs to help match
them with the right Social Services for their situation.
One or more tags may be entered in the Programs worksheet,
Situation Tags column. If multiple situation tags are appropriate
for a given program, multiple tags may be entered, separated by
semicolons.
All Human Situations are defined in our Taxonomy available at openeligibility.org.

14. Coverage Grain
Aunt Bertha likes to be clear about where a given program is available, so we
can avoid telling someone about a program that might not be available to
them. The geographic area where a program is available is called
the coverage grain.
The available coverage grains are "country", "state","county","city", or "postal"
(meaning zip code). You can only pick one, but coverage grain can also be
defined over multiple versions of the same type, since you might have a
program available over multiple counties, for example. We list programs in the
order of distance from the seeker's zip code, so if you're unsure it doesn't hurt
to go one grain larger.

15. Example for Coverage Grain
Oscar is trying to designate the coverage grain for a program in his city
Springfield, in Orange County. He knows that the organization provides
services in the metro area and even has an office in an adjacent county,
Thomas County. Therefore he sets the grain to "county" instead of "city", and
in the spreadsheet enters the name of the two counties separated by
semicolons "Orange;Thomas".
If the grain is anything smaller than "country", then enter the names of the
geographic coverage areas containing your coverage area. This is so we
don't confuse Portland, Oregon with Portland, Maine.
For example: The coverage grain for the city of Austin, Texas, should be
entered as "city", but in the spreadsheet you should also enter Country (US),
Country Name (United States), State (TX), State Name (Texas), and City
(Austin).

16. Where are these programs?
Aunt Bertha uses the term Place to identify where you
go to access a Program. Data on where a program is
accessed is recorded in the second tab of the data entry
worksheet, Places.

17. Most Programs are delivered at Places a.k.a. physical locations…
Places
…some Programs are delivered virtually
and have no Places (i.e. online support groups).

18. When entering Place information:
A Place represents a specific physical address
where Programs are administered or delivered.
o Programs delivered at more than one Place will require more than one
row in the Places tab of the data entry spreadsheet. For example, an
organization with a main office and three branch offices will have FOUR
rows in the “Place” tab of the workbook; one for each address. Just
remember to keep the Program name the same.
o Only one Program at a time is associated with a place, so you may need
to list a Place more than once if a given Provider has multiple Programs in
one location.
o Just as in the real world, some programs aren’t delivered at any physical
locations (i.e. hotlines and online support groups). In these cases, you
only need to provide contact information (phone number, website etc.) in
the Program tab of the data entry spreadsheet, no Places are necessary.

19. In summary….
Every Program is for at Every Program has
Situations
least one situation Program Exactly one Provider
Provider
Every Program
delivers at
least one
Service
Service

20. Key Points:
• Every Program includes a Provider and at least one free or reduced
cost Social Service.
• Most Programs are delivered at physical Places but some are
delivered virtually (i.e. online support groups) and have no Places.
• All Social Services are defined at openeligibility.org in the Social
Services Taxonomy.
• The Coverage Grain describes the geographic area where a
Program is available, the Place identifies where it might be
accessed.
• Check the comments associated with each field of your data entry
spreadsheet for more information on specific fields.
• If you have any questions on filling out the data entry spreadsheet
please send them to data@auntbertha.com