GIS is not the kind of technology you should just go out and buy and start using without spending some time seriously considering how, when, who and how much. Having seen a number of nonprofit organizations making very poor use of GIS and others making great use of this tool and after helping many groups start down this road there are a number of things that I would recommend before you jump on board and throw down your hard won funds.

The following article will discuss things to consider when planning to use GIS, who will be doing the work, some issues associated with getting into the spatial world, some ballpark costs and how to setup your GIS.

Planning for a GIS

1. Be realistic and decide on some simple projects to attempt- don't try to create an enterprise system the first time around.
2. Consider people as one of the key components of a GIS- do your staff have any experience? Will you need a consultant to take on the first project to get you moving and thinking spatially? Do you just need a consultant to guide you and give solid advice on how to move ahead? Will you be training staff or having them learn on the job?
3. Data sources- have you considered the types of work you wish to undertake? If so then have you investigated the likely data sources you will need to tap in order to complete your projects? Many datasets are costly and this is often prohibitive for nonprofits and advocacy groups- software may get discounted for us but noone out there seems to care about discounting data costs!
4. Buy-in: starting a GIS on your own can be the only way to get moving, but it is always much more productive and effective to get buy-in from senior staff and from IT staff who may be supporting you. If you are not one of the senior staff then it makes sense to introduce them to the benefits of a GIS and how it can aid you in your mission. Having other, perhaps non-technical folks guide the use of your GIS tools can be a great advantage.
5. Timing- if you are beginning with no existing skills, be aware that GIS is not like Microsoft Word® - you don't pick it up in a day and roll from there! The software makers, many community colleges, private companies and universities all have excellent training courses and the web is loaded with great resources (like this site hopefully!). It is worth investing the time and funds into training at least one of your staff to a modest level. From personal experience after hiring many people who proclaimed GIS proficiency- a one week course can get you up and running and making some decent maps, maybe even doing some modest analysis. It will not prepare you for a serious career in GIS nor give you the skills to deal with much  beyond the basics. One semester at school will give you something similar. A one year certificate program in GIS, geography or something similar with a very heavy focus on GIS will turn you into a fairly solid GIS user with a decent base and some problem solving ability- this is your typical certificate level course. Beyond that a Masters in GIS or a Bachelors in Geography should yield someone with a great base, able to tailor their skills to your needs and projects very well. Getting back to timing- what this means is that you will not get a good GIS user in a short time frame- it will take some time to get up to speed and be able to navigate the ominous world of geospatial technology. It is important to consider this in your implementation plans.

How Much To Get Mapping?

As a nonprofit you are in the envious position of having access to some of the most expensive software for next to nothing. Unfortuantely the program itself is not the biggest cost involved in setting up your GIS system. In general it is recommended to maintain staff with at least 50% of their time going into using GIS- any less than that and you will find they cannot build capacity, efficiency and skills- there is a saturation level where if you only touch GIS occasionally you are constantly relearning what you already knew and not getting to develop your skills and understanding. This is both frustrating for a user and less than ideal for an organization needing to further its mission. To get started with a modest GIS in your first year the following costs should be considered:

• Base level GIS staff in the coastal cities can be found for around $35,000 with low skills and little experience
• Modest experience and a solid qualification in these parts of the country require a salary of  more like $45,000/year
• You should budget at least 50% of one staff person to get the system running, find data, start mapping and analysis
• For basic GIS work a modest computer is fine. For large projects, satellite imagery and complex analys an expensive workstation computer can run to a few thousand and a server will begin at $1500 to store a suitable volume of data in future.
• Data can range from free over the web to several thousand dollars per set. Most counties charge in the order of $1,500 for their property parcels for example
• A consultant can save you a lot of time and money if you get someone in to help with your planning, budget $5,000 in your first year for this sort of assistance.

Staff

• Internal: as with almost all skillsets it is much more desirable to have internal (and permanent at that) staff to get trained up and familiar with your GIS tasks.
  
• Consultants: Can be critical in helping you plan and get things up and running and to guide you when it comes to hiring internal staff to take on this work. As they don't require training they can be a smart choice for many projects- you just pay them hourly to get the work done and not to aquire skills. The downside is that you are not building internal capacity, the upside is this may be cheaper and more effective in many organizations.
  
• Interns/Volunteers: Can be a great resource for small projects and ad-hoc work but do not build internal capacity and offer little chance of long-term knowledge retention in your team. The chance of picking up their work once they have left is tenuous at best- these folks don't get the chance to understand your internal document organization systems and so will not likely leave behind a nice clean, organized set of files to hand over the another intern the next year. Once you have some internal capacity an intern or volunteer can be helpful in taking on pieces of projects when you know someone else will be managing the work for the longer term.
  

Common Problems

• Staff turnover is the bane of most nonprofits. Many are cautious to train staff in a new field for fear of overskilling the person and having them leave to follow more lucrative paying positions in the corporate sector. Building your staffs GIS skills can be framed as a way to help them contribute to your mission in an enhanced way and to increase their worth to your organization.  It is also difficult to keep new hires interested in your work if they are hired as a GIS technician and they do not get to spend most of their time doing GIS related work. Again this is related to the need to keep GIS staff focused on GIS tasks for at least half time to build their skills and keep them involved in the work they wish to focus on. This can be a critical factor in deciding to use a consultant rather than to try to keep a newly trained GIS analyst busy and interested.
  
• Metadata: This term describes the data or information relating to your data. For example, GIS systems allow you to record the owner of a dataset, the limits on usage and dsitribution, the date of currency, accuracy and much more. All these pieces of information are important, perhaps even more important than clear file naming and directory use. New staff should understand this as an important and non-optional requirement- maintaining metadata is a pain but if you do not maintain it you can end up with some serious problems, sometimes even legal problems. This issues is even worse when dealing with volunteer or external staff.
  
• Cost planning: GIS can quickly become the silver bullet for many managers and senior staff, what they often fail to realize is that all your great ideas for your GIS system can require serious resources for staff time, training, data costs and extra software. Thorough planning before implementation can help keep these costs realistic and prevent them from ballooning- a consultant can be of great help here to avoid this occurring.

Framework

With GIS being a technology tool and a very practical one at that, it is important to frame up your plans, ideas, goals, needs, resources and budget before you begin. Be realistic in considering the types of projects you may undertake in the first year. Be realistic in your existing skills and the time your staff can spend on this new toolset. This site and other resources should equip you to decide on software needs and other issues but spend time researching your broader needs and abilities.

Typically I would suggest you approach this like a big company would approach an IT project:

• Summarize your goals, then give them more detail
• Assess your current situation, staff skills, funds etc
• Examine how this tool will fit within your organization and it's current functions/units
• Develop criterea for what a GIS system will be able to achieve for you, then make sure you find a solution that can deliver on these criterea
• Prioritize your needs- a lot of people get carried away and start drafting up a huge wish list that is fanned by their excitement but that does not really match the critical needs of your organization
• Plan for training, software, data and hardware costs realistically
• Ask another nonprofit or consultant who knows GIS well to look over your planning documents to see if you have been realistic and have all bases covered.