> The goal of this email is to inform everyone of what was discussed in the
> call yesterday, and ask for some specific input:

>    1. Take a look at these notes and respond to the thread with any
>    clarifying questions or thoughts
>       1. In the Plone community '+1' is used to signify agreement
>       with an idea, '-1' is disagreement. Example: +1 to new nonprofit template,
>       -1 to renaming it TuckerForce 2.0 Foundation
>    2. Think about ways you would like to be involved in the process
>       1. Contributing feedback at times like this
>       2. Taking a more active role in a workgroup or similar kind of
>       structure (probably not right now because this structure doesn't yet exist)
>       3. Leave me alone! UNSUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE!!!

> The goals of this project that the Foundation has undertaken are to:

>    1. Identify the objectives of the Foundation and the Community in
>    creating a new version of the nonprofit template
>    2. Develop a process for community involvement
>    3. Create a plan for technical implementation of the nonprofit
>    template
>    4. Identify any platform and/or company issues that might be
>    mitigated

> I want to summarize the conversation from the meeting yesterday, and no
> better way than to start with some of the core beliefs that Steve Wright and
> others in the Foundation brought up in the conversation:

>    - the NPSF community has the domain knowledge necessary to serve
>    nonprofits with Salesforce.com--the Foundation doesn't have this expansive
>    knowledge
>    - the Foundation can't be successful or sustainable without a
>    vibrant ecosystem of integrators and add-on tool providers
>    - the Foundation puts great importance on it's ability to listen to
>    the community, and wants this process to reinforce that

> The conversation was wide-ranging and I've broken it down into 3 main
> areas of discussion:

>    1. The vision for the Nonprofit Template
>    2. The Community Input Process for creating and sustaining the
>    template
>    3. The "Ideal" solution

> These notes are an imperfect representation of the conversation, but I
> think I've captured the main points that came up:

>    - Vision
>       - The template should provide a frictionless way for a
>       small/med NPO to get up on sf.com in an intuitive way
>          - The template and resources around the template should
>          allow new sf.com Admins to climb the ramp to being
>          successful
>       - The template should be a way to catalyze partner community
>       and build a viable ecosystem
>          - The template should be a catalyst for community
>          development of add-on modules
>       - It should help make integrations more plentiful
>          - coming to core data model decisions would help ISVs
>          - the community can exert pressure on the partner
>          community when we come to that new template
>          - The first nonprofit template was used as a way to get
>          ISVs to get integrations working with NP template
>       - The template should make things easier for integrators
>          - biggest frustration is that we're all reinventing the
>          wheel (fundraising)
>          - we'd rather focus time/money on organziational process
>          questions
>          - it would be great to have best practices and
>          guidelines for building a reusable app based on the template
>       - The template needs to serve the lowest common denominator
>          - It currently works for groups with tech skills and
>          money, not so much for smaller group
>       - By the way, this vision is a massive undertaking
>          - We need to figure out how to get started
>          - We need to build structures to support the process
>          sustainably
>       - Community input process
>       - The process for community involvement needs to come first,
>       or at least in parallel with building the template
>       - Possible structures that could help
>          - NPSF Community
>             - there needs to be openness and transparency
>             - community input will be requested and heard
>             - working groups
>             - to work on specific issues, applications
>             - case management, for example
>          - steering committee
>             - a smallish group of many stakeholders from
>             different communities
>             - would work with foundation to set priorities
>             - they don't maintain the direction but make the
>             architecture decisions
>             - maybe use ideas.salesforce.com to gather ideas
>                - small team then makes more complex calls
>                on what/how to implement
>             - Foundation
>             - retains final decision making authority
>                - they're on the hook for supporting the
>                template given to noprofits
>             - Possible Product Manager for template
>                - make everything transparent
>                - would head steering committee
>                - would work with independent developers
>                - when a new product comes along
>                   - is it part of the Nonprofit
>                   template?
>                   - is it an app that works with the
>                   template?
>                   - do we then certify apps?
>                   - The Ideal solution (blue sky
>    thinking)
>       - would love to see come out of this process
>          - consistent set of definitions and terms
>             - Nonprofit Edition
>                - would include underlying architecture
>                - would need a roadmap
>             - Applications or Templates
>                - installable on the Nonprofit Edition
>                   - i.e. donor management
>                   - i.e. case management
>                - Technical Modeling thoughts
>       - modularity is key
>          - maybe a configurator on signup
>             - pick different packages to add to the base
>             template
>          - everything stems off core data modeling
>             - need an organized forum for collecting the info
>             on the core data model questions
>                - pros and cons of all key modeling options
>             - need to build a Contact centered, relationship
>             centric model
>          - Possible process for getting to a technical model
>             - get first draft of architecture decisions with
>             help from sf.com technical staff
>                - ASAP: make a decisions about person
>                accounts vs. other options
>             - get a technical plan and put it out to the
>             community for info and feedback
>          - Random thoughts
>       - lack of upgrade path for old template users is a huge
>       problem
>       - we should create user stories about how the Nonprofit
>       template can address User needs rather than Integrator needs
>       - talk about implications of changes for early adopters if the
>       architecture direction changes
>       - there are inherent tensions
>          - building template internally vs. having the community
>          build it
>          - broad community involvement vs. small team
>          - Foundation ownership vs. Open Source-ish community

> If you have clarifying questions or comments, please respond to this
> thread. I'd love to see a ton of discussion. I really believe that we as a
> community are the ones who will move this forward and make it a better
> solution for nonprofits. We already have done that by sharing so much on
> this group and in other forums.

> The next steps are:

>    1. Follow this thread closely and see what comes out of the
>    community discussion
>    2. Start a conversation with internal Salesforce.com resources
>    around the core Technical questions about platform and roadmap
>    3. Have a second call with the Foundation to follow up on what
>    structures we should put in place now for moving this forward

> Thanks!

> Steve