TechStep Foundation is building a technology workforce development program that puts supervised participants to work on real technology needs in community organizations. We are inviting a small group of Founding Community Partners to start with a Technology Risk & Readiness Review. From there, supervised TechStep teams carry out technology improvement projects with your staff.
Spring 2027 Founding Cohort
6–8 weeks · Begins February 2027
Limited to 5 organizations
Review first, then improvement projects
Applications close December 1, 2026
No cost to qualified organizations
Best suited for organizations with 5–100 staff and limited internal technology resources.
A structured look at how your organization uses technology and where it is exposed or underprepared. It is led by a supervised TechStep team, built around conversations with your staff, and written for non-technical leaders.
The Review looks at five areas:
Accounts and sign-in protection, devices, backups, email protection, who holds administrator access, and how prepared staff are to recognize phishing.
What sensitive information you hold, where it lives, who can see it, and how long it is kept.
The tools you pay for, who owns them, and where they overlap, go unused, or are overdue for replacement.
Where staff re-enter data, wait on approvals, or build reports by hand.
How AI tools are already being used, whether staff have guidance on which tools are appropriate for your data, and whether your data is ready to support better reporting.
A rating of each of the five areas, written for your leadership team.
Each finding, the evidence behind it, why it matters, and a recommended action.
Practical steps your team can take now, with no new budget.
A prioritized set of projects, drawn from the list below, that TechStep teams then carry out with you. You decide which to pursue and in what order.
Every deliverable is reviewed by a TechStep supervisor before it reaches you, and the results are presented to your leadership at the close of the engagement.
The Review is where we start, not where we stop. Your roadmap becomes projects that supervised TechStep teams carry out with your staff, such as:
Sessions and short refreshers that help staff and volunteers recognize and report suspicious email, texts, and calls.
A short acceptable-use guide and a checklist for evaluating AI tools: what data may be entered, privacy settings, and vendor terms. We help you assess tools against your needs; we do not certify any tool as safe.
A plan and setup for organizing files in SharePoint, Google Drive, or a similar system, with naming conventions, access permissions, and retention.
One place for the figures your funders and board ask for, with documented sources.
A simple tool to record, track, and report donated items and supplies.
A review of your public website for accessibility, privacy notices, secure forms and donation pages, and content gaps.
Written technology and data-handling policies, cleanup of existing records, and ways to reduce repetitive manual work.
Each project is scoped and agreed with you before it begins, and every deliverable is reviewed by a TechStep supervisor. Scheduling depends on supervisor and participant availability each term.
Someone who can give about 3 hours a week during the Review and connect us with colleagues.
You share only redacted or sample data. We do not need access to client, donor, student, or health records.
A closing conversation where we walk through the findings and the roadmap.
Short feedback at the end, and, if you are comfortable, permission to name your organization as a founding partner.
What we do not provide. TechStep does not offer penetration testing, incident response, legal or compliance opinions, or any guarantee of security. A signed engagement agreement sets out scope, confidentiality, and data handling before work begins, and each follow-on project is agreed separately.
We confirm the founding cohort.
A 20-minute call, a signed engagement agreement, and a kickoff plan.
Your supervised team begins work with your staff.
Findings and your project roadmap presented to your leadership.
Follow-on student projects start, scoped with you and supervised.
Dates are targets and may shift with supervisor and participant availability.
TechStep Foundation believes community organizations deserve access to technology support that is practical, affordable, and mission-focused. At the same time, students need meaningful opportunities to apply their skills in real-world environments. The Founding Community Partner program brings those goals together.
Applying does not commit your organization to anything. A member of our team will respond within 2 business days.
Prefer to talk first? Email support@techstepfoundation.org or call 301-259-1067.
Legal Status
TechStep Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Maryland (EIN 42-3961198).