About
Projects on the Open Impact Platform serve as structured environments for coordinating time-bound initiatives, collaborative workstreams, and measurable impact efforts. While Groups organize people around a shared context, Projects provide the operational layer where teams plan, implement, and track specific initiatives, deliverables, and outcomes. Projects are best suited for efforts that are time-bound, task-focused, and require measurable results. Groups may sponsor one or more Projects, allowing organizations to move from general coordination to specific execution while maintaining visibility and accountability. At a broader scale, networks using their own instance of the platform can host multiple organizations, which in turn can sponsor groups who facilitate projects—allowing for layered collaboration across an entire ecosystem. Each Project space includes:- Shared newsfeed for updates and announcements.
- Discussion spaces that allow collaborators to engage in topic-based dialogue. Like groups, these discussions are searchable and taggable, making it easy to organize knowledge, revisit decisions, and maintain continuity as projects evolve.
- Shared calendaring to coordinate meetings, milestones, and events, ensuring that collaborators remain aligned throughout the lifecycle of the work.
- Integrated project management tools to organize workflows, assign tasks, and track progress.
- Visual management tools including Gantt charts, timelines, and swimlanes.
Quick Start
How to set up a Project1
Navigate to "My Projects" and select "Create Project".
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Follow the set up prompts to add details about your Project
- Managing Organization: Select the organization that will govern the project; they will be able to manage tasks and moderate discussions and calendar invites that they create. The project will appear under the selected organization’s project list and profile. Note that you must be connected to an Organization, or logged in as that Organization, for them to appear in this list.
- Project Managers: the selected project managers will be able to create and assign tasks, discussions, and calendar invites. They will receive a notification that they have been added.
- Sponsoring Group: You must be the creator of a group to select it as a sponsor; the project will then appear on that group’s profile.
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About
This is the information that will be displayed on your banner of your project page.
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Addresses
This is the projects’ address. The Country field is the only required field. The contact information entered here will appear on the Overview page. If you would like the location of your project to show up on the public map- you can select “use map” to find your location and drop and save a pin. Or you can select “get from address” and the system will generate a latitude/longitude coordinate that will ensure your project shows up on the map view.
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Objective
This information will be shown in the Project Overview.
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Preferences
- If you will be tracking Measurable Results for the project, choose the applicable ones from the Results list along with the status tags you will use to manage tasks.
- Add your collaborators to the project. If you have not yet invited collaborators, please let the OFC team know and we can support you with an invitation code to invite collaborators to your project space.
- Set the Project’s Privacy. Learn more about Privacy & Visibility →
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Press “Create” when ready
This will open to your Project Overview page.
Project Elements
Once a project is created, you can begin posting about the project or creating calendar events in the “Feed”, facilitating taggable conversations in the “Discussion”, and creating and assigning tasks from “Management”.Feed
The Feed is a dynamic space that displays a running set of posts and calendar events associated with a specific area of the platform. It exists across projects, groups, and individual or organizational profiles. It serves as the primary hub for real-time coordination and communication. It allows users to stay updated on recent activities, track upcoming deadlines via the calendar, and manage active tasks without navigating to deeper project management layers A “Feed”:- Shows posts and calendar events associated with the specific project.
- Allows you to create a post to share with other members of the group or project or comment on posts from other members. Posts can include images and links.
Discussion
Discussions are a dedicated space within Projects and Groups for creating and interacting with searchable, taggable topic threads. Discussions provide a long-term repository for ongoing dialogue, knowledge organization, and maintaining continuity as projects evolve. To Create a discussion in a project or group The creator or a manager of a project or group can add new discussion threads. Ensure you have the correct permissions.1
Navigate to the project or group and select ‘Discussion’
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Click the ‘Add new’ button and fill in the fields
Add tags for the thread to be searchable by purpose, skills and knowledge. Consider what tags will make this thread most discoverable for other members.
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Click ‘Create’ when you are finished to post the discussion
When you create the Discussion, Discussion participants will receive an email notification and platform notification when a new discussion topic is created.
- The creator of a group or project as well as managers are able to:
- Post new discussion threads and edit the discussions they create
- Moderate threads (including deleting comments) for discussions the created.
Files
Files serve as a central repository for all documents, images, and media uploaded to or shared within a specific area of the platform, such as a project, group, or profile. Files appear in the Files tab after being attached to other objects, such as tasks, feed posts, or discussion threads. Files allows users to see what has been shared across a collective space, ensuring that everyone with the proper permissions has access to the necessary documentation Attaching Files You can attach files to other objects, such as tasks, feed posts, or discussion threads. Within these objects, you can upload a new file or select from existing. To Upload a New File You can upload a new file directly for later use through the Files in your own profile. Navigate to the profile’s File tab and select the “Add” button to upload a new file. _Note: The Files element in shared spaces, such as projects and groups are view only and show the files that have been uploaded for that space. _ Managing Files Next to the file name and type, select the gear icon to manage the file - download, preview, edit, privacy edits, or delete. Retroactive Privacy Changes Because a single file can be shared across multiple groups or posts, your profile’s Files element is the place to retroactively change privacy settings or delete a file globally File Privacy and Visibility File visibility is determined by granular privacy settings.- Inherited Permissions: Files often inherit the permissions of their “container.” For example, if you upload an image to a post shared with a specific group, members of that group will see that image in their Files tab.
- Fine-Tuning: Users can set files to Public (anyone with the link), Private (only the owner/organization), Connections, or Custom (specific individuals or groups).
Resources
A resource is a curated, published container for knowledge, not just a file. It serves as a bundle of one or more files (such as workshops, recordings, or toolkits) that share an overarching theme, description, and point of contact. Publishing a resource provides context, attribution, and intentional sharing—so work can travel responsibly. Organizations can choose whether resources are publicly accessible, visible only to selected members, or shared within a specific Group context. Public resources are added to The Open Impact Resource Library, a curated, shared collection of practices, tools, and knowledge intended to support the wellbeing of the planet, people, and place. Learn more about Resources & Resource Library →Calendar
The calendar is found in the Feed across platform areas, including groups, projects, and profiles. When viewing a group, the calendar will display the events relevant to that group. It provides a shared space to coordinate meetings, milestones, and events, ensuring that collaborators remain aligned throughout the work lifecycle. Learn more about Calendars →Roles & Permissions
- Creator/Admin: The person who creates the project is the primary administrator. Currently, only the creator can edit the project description and manage overall membership settings.
- Project Managers: Designated managers can create and assign tasks, moderate discussions, and send calendar invites. To add managers to a project, navigate to the project page, click on the gear icon in the banner, and then ‘Edit Project’. Add members from the Managers drop down. If someone you would like to assign as a manager is not appearing in this list, make sure they are in the managers list of a sponsoring Organization (which can be found under the Organization’s profile settings.)
- Collaborators: Members who participate in the workspace and can be assigned tasks. They must be a “Connection” of the creator before they can be added to the project via Preferences in the edit menu.
FAQ
How do I add or invite collaborators to a project?
How do I add or invite collaborators to a project?
A member must first be a “Connection” of the sponsoring organization, either by using an invitation link or a direct connection request. Once connected, they can be added as collaborators via the “Preferences” tab in the “Edit Project” screen. They may also join using an invitation link, or request to join by finding the project profile in the Community tab or via a public link, and clicking “join” (the managing profile will receive an in-app notification to approve the request.)
How do I create an invitation link?
How do I create an invitation link?
As the owner or manager of a Project or Group, you may generate an invitation code by visiting the Project or Group space, clicking on the gear-shaped icon to the right of the space name, and selecting “Group Invite.”
What features can I use to manage project coordination and/ or communication activities?
What features can I use to manage project coordination and/ or communication activities?
You can use the feed for updates, discussions for ongoing dialogue, calendar events to share upcoming virtual or in-person events, and task assignment to manage activities, share curricular content, or collect information. Learn more about project management here.
How do I assign managers to a project?
How do I assign managers to a project?
Assigning a manager is a two-step process: first, make sure the member is included in the Organization Manager list in the organization’s profile settings; then, select them from the “Project Managers” dropdown when creating or editing a project.
What can a project manager do?
What can a project manager do?
Project managers have several operational controls, including assigning and managing tasks for collaborators, moderating posts, creating and moderating discussions, and adding calendar invites for project meetings and milestones. They can also view, edit, import, and organize the project’s tasks using the gantt chart or swimlane view of the “management” tab, run reports using the “reports” tab, and connect dashboards to the project’s “dashboard” tab.
How do managers of a project manage the functions of the project from their personal profile?
How do managers of a project manage the functions of the project from their personal profile?
Managers can view and respond to tasks awaiting review directly from their personal profile’s Feed tab, and see an overview of tasks across all projects they manage member their “management” tab, and selecting one or more desired projects. They can also choose to assign tasks, add, or moderate posts, discussion threads, or events from their personal profile by selecting the project under assignment or privacy settings.
How do I manage tasks for a project?
How do I manage tasks for a project?
In the “Management” tab of a project, select “Add Task,” choose a template (such as “General Task”), and fill in details like assignees, dates, and priority levels. To manage an existing task, click on the task you’d like to edit on the swimlane or gantt view in the “Management” tab of a project.
Who can see my project?
Who can see my project?
Visibility is determined by privacy settings (under the project’s settings), which can be set to Public, Private, Connections, or Custom. A project can also be made discoverable in the “community” tab by selecting “show in marketplace” under the project’s settings. (Note: the project’s privacy settings must still also be set to “public.”) A project that is set to “public” may also be shared directly through its url.
Can I create a project as an individual instead of an Organization?
Can I create a project as an individual instead of an Organization?
While it is possible to create a project from a personal profile, and add and assign tasks to Connections, projects are often most effective and scalable when created and managed by an organizational profile or connected to a managing organization. This will allow for delegation of additional managers, as well as more effective change management.