A New Foundation for HomeSight

With Seattle's superheated housing market increasingly locking people of low and moderate income out of home ownership, HomeSight was determined to push even harder in its mission of helping such people become first-time home buyers. First, though, HomeSight needed a new home of its own, in place of the cramped and inefficient quarters in which it had long operated. And it was intent upon giving this new facility a stronger information technology foundation, especially a more cohesive and reliable computer network so that HomeSight staff could communicate and collaborate with each other and their outside partners more effectively. The question, however, was how to design this infrastructure in a way that would support today's technologies, and those soon to come, without breaking HomeSight's nonprofit budget.

Impressed with the help it had received through NPower's community service event, HomeSight decided to approach NPower for assistance in creating and setting up its new office's technology. Beyond NPower's special expertise with non-profits, HomeSight noted that NPower's fees were about half those of private sector technology consultants. NPower's first step was helping HomeSight develop a detailed technology plan firmly anchored in its organizational mission-and its limited budget. Then, using a combination of staff and interns, along with subcontractors for the network wiring, NPower put this plan into action. A new server was outfitted with Microsoft-donated software, including NT 4.0, Exchange 5.5, and SQL 7. Nineteen new workstations were loaded with donated copies of Windows and Office, as well as virus protection software contributed by Symantec. Additionally, all machines were configured with high-speed Internet access and individual E-mail addresses, as well as printer sharing and centralized file storage and back-up.

As the final piece of the puzzle, HomeSight staff took part in custom trainings in NPower's computer lab to ensure that everyone would have the knowledge needed to put the new tools to good use.

"The new system is tremendous," says HomeSight's Tom Jacobi. "With NPower's help, we've attained a new set of capabilities that are going to very tangibly further our mission. And we did it extremely cost-effectively." Among the benefits listed by HomeSight:

• New efficiencies in generating critical documents like proposals, forms, and purchase orders.
• More responsiveness in dealings with partner agencies.
• Improved capacity for staying on top of developments in the affordable housing field, both through ready Internet access, and the chance to participate in online discussions and listservs.