October 16, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology Opportunities Program has awarded grants totaling $13.95-million to 28 nonprofit organizations and state and local governments.
Since 1994, the program has awarded grants for innovative technology projects in education, health care, economic development, and other areas. The awards, which this year range in size from $147,958 to $675,000, must be matched by private gifts or by funds from state and local governments.
Philanthropic Research, a nonprofit group in Williamsburg, Va., that posts charities’ financial data on its GuideStar Web site, received $671,291 for NascoNet, a project it is working on with the National Association of State Charities Officials.
The new Web site will be a national online charity-registration system designed to let nonprofit organizations register with multiple states. The project’s sponsors say that a single, uniform system will help state charity offices reduce the sums they spend gathering charity information, and use the savings to increase their oversight of nonprofit organizations.
Several grants were awarded to projects to help social-service organizations better coordinate and share information with one another. Recipients include the Indianapolis Private Industry Council, which received $675,000; the United Way of Natrona County, in Casper, Wyo., $327,212; and the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln, $600,000.
Universities received several grants for telemedicine projects. Michigan State University, in East Lansing, for example, received $573,170 to create a wireless network to link three rural nursing homes to a teaching nursing home. Doctors and nurses at the nursing homes will be able to use video-teleconferencing technology to consult with doctors at the teaching facility.
The $13.95-million awarded is a 12.5-percent increase over last year’s $12.4-million.
For more information: Go to http://www.ntia.doc.gov/top.
