Aunt Bertha provides a free, online database of

Social Services Programs and Providers.

Thank you for helping Aunt Bertha provide better

information to those in need.

To help you understand our data this document

explains how Aunt Bertha organizes information

on social services; making them easier to find.

The spreadsheet we’ve provided has two tabs

you’ll be filling out; Programs and Places

What are Programs?

DIFFERENTIATING PROGRAMS FROM EVERYTHING ELSE

Think of Programs as groups of services.

Programs represent one or more Social Services utilizing the same point of entry and qualifying criteria.

ProgramProgram

ServiceService ServiceService ServiceService

Careful not to confuse Programs and events. Programs are ongoing and occur regularly and

events are one time only. Currently, Aunt Bertha only lists Programs!

ProgramProvider

Social Services

Every Program has a Provider and

at least one free or reduced cost Social Service.

Providers are the public, private, government and nonprofit

entities responsible for managing programs, participants

and applications.

In other words, it’s the organization providing the program.

Who is the Provider?

Social Services are free or reduced cost, client-facing

“activities aiming to promote the welfare of others”.1

1 "Social service". Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. 06 February 2013http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/social service.

All Social Services are defined in our Social Services Taxonomy available at openeligibility.org.

What are Social Services?

Client Facing?

Services are considered “client facing” when they

work directly with clients to obtain services like

food, housing, legal aid or financial assistance.

Example 1:

CLIENT FACING: Programs offering childcare.

NOT CLIENT FACING: Programs offering funding for childcare.

Example 2:

CLIENT FACING: Programs offering emergency cash to help pay for childcare.

NOT CLIENT FACING: Programs offering grants to elementary schools for new

afterschool programs.

Programs are not Services

Social Services can be confusing.

Remember to think of Programs as groups of Social Services and the organizations delivering them as the Provider.

Heads Up: Some Programs only offer ONE Social Service, but that still makes it a Program.

TagsTo help describe Programs and who they are for we use “Service Tags” and “Situation Tags”. These tags make it easier for people to find the programs they want.

What are Service Tags?

Social Services described earlier are organized with tags attached to programs offering a given set of services.

One or more tags may be entered in the Programs worksheet, Service Tags column. If a program offers multiple services, multiple tags may be entered, separated by semicolons.

The following page provides an example of how service tags would be set up for two different programs.

All Human Services are defined in our Taxonomy available at openeligibility.org.

MoneyMoney

Financial AssistanceFinancial

Assistance

Help Pay for Healthcare

HealthHealth

Help Pay for Healthcare

Health Education

TransitTransit

Transportation

Transportation

Transportation for

Healthcare

MoneyMoney

Financial AssistanceFinancial

Assistance

Help Pay for

Healthcare

HealthHealth

Health Education

Help Pay for

Healthcare

CareCare

Support NetworkSupport Network

Support Groups

Residential Care

Navigating the SystemNavigating the System

Help Find Services

HousingHousing

Residential Housing

Residential Housing

Short-Term Housing

Short-Term Housing

Sober Living

American Cancer SocietyAmerican Cancer Society

Hope LodgeHope Lodge Road to RecoveryRoad to Recovery

THESE ARE THE SERVICE TAGS

FOR ROAD TO RECOVERY

THESE ARE THE SERVICE TAGS

FOR ROAD TO RECOVERY

THESE ARE THE SERVICE

TAGS FOR HOPE LODGE

THESE ARE THE SERVICE

TAGS FOR HOPE LODGE

What are Situation Tags?

Human Situations help describe a persons’ needs to help match them with the right Social Services for their situation.

One or more tags may be entered in the Programs worksheet, Situation Tags column. If multiple situation tags are appropriate for a given program, multiple tags may be entered, separated by semicolons.

All Human Situations are defined in our Taxonomy available at openeligibility.org.

Aunt Bertha likes to be clear about where a given program is available, so we

can avoid telling someone about a program that might not be available to

them. The geographic area where a program is available is called

the coverage grain.

The available coverage grains are "country", "state","county","city", or "postal"

(meaning zip code). You can only pick one, but coverage grain can also be

defined over multiple versions of the same type, since you might have a

program available over multiple counties, for example. We list programs in the

order of distance from the seeker's zip code, so if you're unsure it doesn't hurt

to go one grain larger.

Coverage GrainCoverage GrainCoverage GrainCoverage Grain

Oscar is trying to designate the coverage grain for a program in his city

Springfield, in Orange County. He knows that the organization provides

services in the metro area and even has an office in an adjacent county,

Thomas County. Therefore he sets the grain to "county" instead of "city", and

in the spreadsheet enters the name of the two counties separated by

semicolons "Orange;Thomas".

If the grain is anything smaller than "country", then enter the names of the

geographic coverage areas containing your coverage area. This is so we

don't confuse Portland, Oregon with Portland, Maine.

For example: The coverage grain for the city of Austin, Texas, should be

entered as "city", but in the spreadsheet you should also enter Country (US),

Country Name (United States), State (TX), State Name (Texas), and City

(Austin).

Example for Coverage GrainExample for Coverage GrainExample for Coverage GrainExample for Coverage Grain

Where are these programs?

Aunt Bertha uses the term Place to identify where you go to access a Program. Data on where a program is accessed is recorded in the second tab of the data entry worksheet, Places.

Most Programs are delivered at Places a.k.a. physical locations…

Places

…some Programs are delivered virtually

and have no Places (i.e. online support groups).

When entering Place information:

A Place represents a specific physical address

where Programs are administered or delivered.

o Programs delivered at more than one Place will require more than one

row in the Places tab of the data entry spreadsheet. For example, an

organization with a main office and three branch offices will have FOUR

rows in the “Place” tab of the workbook; one for each address. Just

remember to keep the Program name the same.

o Only one Program at a time is associated with a place, so you may need

to list a Place more than once if a given Provider has multiple Programs in

one location.

o Just as in the real world, some programs aren’t delivered at any physical

locations (i.e. hotlines and online support groups). In these cases, you

only need to provide contact information (phone number, website etc.) in

the Program tab of the data entry spreadsheet, no Places are necessary.

Every Program is for at

least one situationEvery Program has

Exactly one Provider

Every Program

delivers at

least one

Service

Service

Situations ProviderProgram

In summary….

• Every Program includes a Provider and at least one free or reduced

cost Social Service.

• Most Programs are delivered at physical Places but some are

delivered virtually (i.e. online support groups) and have no Places.

• All Social Services are defined at openeligibility.org in the Social

Services Taxonomy.

• The Coverage Grain describes the geographic area where a

Program is available, the Place identifies where it might be

accessed.

• Check the comments associated with each field of your data entry

spreadsheet for more information on specific fields.

• If you have any questions on filling out the data entry spreadsheet

please send them to data@auntbertha.com

Key Points: