How FL-PIN is organized:
Subscribers are individuals who sign up to receive alerts. Subscribers may join free of charge.  Members are groups or organizations who agree to participate and pay an annual fee.  Each member will be eligible to vote in elections and utilize the network according to the Terms of Use.  The Network will hold a summit at least once a year and will elect an Executive Board from the members.

How is FL-PIN Used:

Scenario 1:
Individual (subscriber) wants to find a group (members):  An individual subscriber signs up and wants to find a group in Gainesville that works on environmental issues.  So, they log onto the site and search the member/group database for environmental groups in Gainesville.  All member/groups that are involved with Environmental issues that have a presence in Gainesville will be listed from that search.  (Benefit:  Progressive Information Network acts as a central resource for concerned individuals/subscribers to find groups working on the issues they care about)

Scenario 2:
Group/Member wants to alert individual/subscribers about an important event/issue: Equality Florida has become aware that the President of the USA is making a surprise visit to Jacksonville.  They want to mobilize people in the Jacksonville area who are concerned with Civil Rights to attend a rally outside the President’s speech to promote Gay Marriage.  They log onto the network, select individual/subscribers in the Jacksonville area who have expressed an interested in Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender rights, and send out an alert to let those people know about the planned rally.  Since the individual/subscribers signed up themselves and indicated their issue preference, there is no need to get permission from any other groups to send out this alert.  (Benefit: Group/members are able to contact concerned individuals/subscribers who have an interest in their area of concern, but who may not yet be members of their group)

Scenario 3:
Group/Members are looking for coalition partners for a project:  The Human Services Coalition of Dade County is looking for potential coalition partners to join them on a project to ensure KidCare is funded properly.  They log onto the network, and search the group/member database to search for all groups in Florida concerned with Health Care issues, and with Children’s rights.  They then send an email alert to all selected groups proposing an alliance to work on this issue. (Benefit: So often, forming a coalition depends on who knows who rather then who is doing what.  This network will allow groups to look for coalition partners based on who is doing what.)

Possible Future Benefits:
As the network grows, the ability of the group/members to collaborate in different ways increases.  One idea might be to make the network a central repository for the Legislative Scorecards published by different members of the network. 

If successful, this Network is scalable and can be used by similar projects around the country.  Already, activists in Massachusetts, New York, and Washington State have expressed interest in this project.