What this is: vetted, done-for-you research you can build on. Personas, jobs to be done, use cases, and community-generated designs from real food security organizations, packaged so a developer or maker can pick up a validated problem and start building, without us in a meeting.
The drive is intended to make it faster for people to develop meaningful projects in support of food security and the related organizations.
TechSoup is a nonprofit with strong ties to communities and the organizations that serve them. Our community-driven methodology creates technology ideas that developers can use to build solutions designed by the people who need them. Here’s a sanitized, synthesized, vetted picture of the problem, the people, and the market. It’s up to you to build something. If you need more data or want to talk to a food security organization, get in touch with us. Tell us what you want to build and how we can help.
This is the first published Impact Drive, a continuously updated body of validated research on food security organizations and the technology that serves them. It grows through community contribution and TechSoup’s ongoing sector work. See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to contribute.
This Impact Drive was made possible with support from Esri.
First, clone this respository. To learn about how to do that, follow GitHub’s instructions.
Next, choose where you start based on your interests and expertise in food security:
A Jobs-to-be-Done stack: pick up a validated outcome and follow it down to buildable units:
Persona (WHO) → Job to be Done (the OUTCOME) → Use Cases / User Stories (BUILDABLE)
+ Business case = market sizing + impact (WHY it's worth building)
| Folder | What’s in it |
|---|---|
| personas/ | WHO: 4 people from the event (clients and providers) |
| jobs-to-be-done/ | The organizing unit: outcomes + flow + business case |
| use-cases/ | The buildable user stories |
| designs/ | Two community-generated technology designs (with journey maps) |
| sector/ | Foundational context: who the players are, why it’s hard |
| solutions/ | Prior art: existing tools (not yet surveyed) |
| market-research/ | Sizing data + org profiles (Iteration 2) |
| research-library/ | Source reports & background |
| start-here/ | Orientation + the co-design methodology |
Every file is plain markdown with YAML front matter (Open Knowledge Format; the only required field is
type). Items are tagged validation: validated | hypothesized so you know how far to trust them. Today
the strongest validation is US / North America food banks & pantries.
These artifacts stoke imagination; they don’t replace talking to the community. The proven approach is to build with the people who have the problem. See start-here/methodology.md.