Preserve 60 years of mentoring history, and create a model others can follow
When a founder retires or a server is switched off, an organization’s history usually goes with it. Once it’s gone, no amount of funding can bring it back. T/MC’s history is now online, built by a volunteer. Funding finishes the job, keeps it safe, and turns it into a method any long-running nonprofit can use.
To give, or to discuss how this model can support T/MC and other nonprofits, write to Daniel F. Bassill at tutormentor2@earthlink.net.
What gets lost when nonprofit history disappears
Relationships
Who partnered, volunteered, gave and led, and how they stayed connected.
Program knowledge
How programs were designed, run and improved over decades.
Evaluation data
Surveys, workshop evaluations and results that show what worked.
Community memory
The stories of neighborhoods, families, events and milestones.
Lessons for future leaders
What failed, what worked and why, so the next leaders don’t start over.
T/MC’s archive keeps all five: partner and volunteer records, program plans, 1,242 workshop evaluations, 63 neighborhoods and decades of lessons.
The proof: T/MC’s archive is already online
Also: 778 maps, 535 programs, 1,242 workshop evaluations, 72 eNewsletters, 46 awards, a people index, and a cite button on every page.
What your funding unlocks
- Every surviving T/MC asset preservedPhase 1
Blogs, Drive files, images and old databases captured, checksummed and kept in two places.
- Searchable institutional memoryPhases 1 and 2
Search by meaning, not just keywords; Phase 2 adds plain answers that cite their sources.
- Public access for future leadersPhase 1
Free and open on the web, accessible, and findable through Google.
- A method other nonprofits can repeatPhases 1 and 2
A documented playbook, tested on T/MC, ready for the next organization.
- Long-term stewardship planPhase 1 and care plan
An offsite copy, a runbook and a yearly care plan, so the archive outlives any one person.
What a gift does
One hour of specialist work: rescuing, describing or testing the archive.
A year of file storage for the whole archive, with an offsite copy.
A month of care: updates, backups, restore tests and corrections.
A year of search by meaning.
Rescues the 2007–2026 blogs, Drive files and images before they are lost.
How we’ll know it’s working
What we’ll report to funders every year
- Items preserved and checksummed: all surviving sources
- Visitors and searches each month
- Researchers, programs and media citing the archive
- Organizations using the playbook
- Takedown requests, and how quickly they were answered
- Volunteer hours, logged monthly and reported as in-kind support
Who owns it, and what happens after the grant
- Ownership: the organization that receives the funds owns the cloud accounts, the web address and the data; T/MC keeps editorial control.
- Decisions: Dan Bassill and a named steward approve takedowns, corrections and what stays private, with a written handover for the day Dan steps back.
- Delivery: a technical partner for two years. Disclosure: the volunteer who built the pilot is proposed as the paid partner, and the scope is published so anyone can quote.
- If funding stops, the archive survives: open formats, an export copy, and a deposit with a long-term custodian.
Beyond T/MC
T/MC is the pilot; many nonprofits face the same risk. The pilot archive is live, the method has been tested on T/MC, and the low-cost cloud platform is proven. The same life cycle can serve founder-led nonprofits before the founder retires, other tutor/mentor programs (with T/MC as the template), and the memory of neighborhoods, churches, schools and civic groups.
- 1 · AssessInventory and risk check: count, remove duplicates, classify, find old systems, flag privacy and loss risks, and give a fixed-price quote.
- 2 · Preserve and provide accessRescue at-risk sources, privacy and trust, findability, durability, quality testing and review.
- 3 · AI-assisted discoveryAI enrichment, linking and timeline, ask the archive, quality testing, human review, safeguards.
- 4 · Care and growA yearly care plan: updates, uptime, backups and restore tests, takedowns and corrections, a yearly health report.
The cycle repeats: each year, new material goes back through capture, privacy review and testing.
Other ways to help
Tag and describe
Name the people, places and events in photos and documents. Use the Cite button and write to us.
Record oral histories
Help capture alumni, mentors and partners in their own words, or share your own memories, photos and letters.
Review and test
Check search results and AI summaries before they go public.
Volunteer time is tracked, credited to the volunteers who give it, and counted as in-kind support in grant reports. Questions about giving, or a gift of time? Write to Daniel F. Bassill at tutormentor2@earthlink.net. See also Contact.