Frequently Asked Questions
What is fftc:FWD?
fftc:FWD is a civic empowerment platform for everyone from the Robinson Center for Civic Leadership at Foundation for the Carolinas. As a critical part of our community’s civic infrastructure, Fftc:FWD makes it faster and easier for people, groups, and organizations to find what they need to lead on the issues and topics they care about. Whether you’re ready to get involved, volunteer, donate, make funding decisions, or advocate, fftc:FWD provides an on-ramp to civic leadership.
What are the tools and functions on fftc:FWD?
fftc:FWD includes three core components that are each designed to help people, organizations, groups and networks find that they need to lead on issues they care about in our community. Together, these components provide a critical part of our community’s civic infrastructure, enabling more of us to move us forward on our shared challenges, issues, and opportunities.
- Access to information through fwd: Folios: A Folio is your all-in-one guide to a civic issue in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Each one brings together key facts, local organizations, tools and resources, action steps, and the lingo you need to know — so you can go from curious to informed to engaged, faster. Explore the topic that speaks to you and find your way in. Each Folio features on-ramps to volunteer and donation opportunities through fftc:FWD strategic partner SHARE Charlotte.
- Understanding of how topics connect through fwd: Intersections: No civic issue exists in isolation. Intersections is a free, interactive tool that reveals how the topics you care about overlap across community systems — giving you a clearer, personalized pathway to action in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Choose your topics, generate your brief, and discover where your energy can make the biggest difference.
- Visibility into who is doing what through fwd: Maps – Maps is a powerful new visual network tool coming to fftc:FWD our community is building together. When launched in Summer/Fall 2026, Maps will transform ecosystems of nonprofits, community organizations, private sector partners, public intiatives, and stakeholders working on community challenges into interactive, navigable maps that clearly display the organizations, networks, relationships, and shared goals that shape life in our region.
- Maps will bring higher visibility to community nonprofits, giving donors, volunteers, and corporate and philanthropic partners insight into support options.
Maps will be built in collaboration across the community and created in partnership with Visible Network Labs and their PARTNER CPRM platform, a community relationship management system for tracking, measuring, and visualizing civic ecosystems. Maps will allow anyone to see the full landscape of who is connected to what, and where collaboration opportunities can be found.
Who is fftc:FWD for and how will they use it?
fftc:FWD is for anyone who wants to get involved, connect and lead in our community, including nonprofit and civic leaders, newcomers and longtime residents, corporations, philanthropies, private funders, community advocates, and residents from across Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The chart below provides additional ideas and possible uses for fftc:FWD for a variety of users from individual to organizational and institutional.
How is fftc:FWD different from SHARE Charlotte?
SHARE Charlotte opportunities for volunteering and donating are embedded throughout fftc:FWD. SHARE Charlotte is a strategic partner of the Robinson Center for Civic Leadership at FFTC on multiple initiatives in the community. fftc:FWD Folios, Intersections, and Maps complement the volunteer and donation opportunities available through SHARE Charlotte. Together, SHARE Charlotte and fftc:FWD provide access to civic leadership in our community and empower everyone to participate in civic life.
How was the list of the first set of fwd: Folio topics developed?
Folio topics reflect regional priorities informed by community input, civic leadership work, and philanthropic focus areas in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Topics may evolve over time.
How and why were Starting Point Organizations and Lead Agencies chosen?
Starting Point Organizations and Lead agencies in each Folio topic were selected based on demonstrated leadership, credibility, and convening ability within an issue area. They are starting points for anyone who wants to be involved on issues they care about. More extensive lists are included in the digital Folios and through links to SHARE Charlotte.
How can I contribute ideas, suggest organizations to be included, or lift up potential future fftc:Folio topics?
fftc:FWD is designed to grow with community input and guidance. Use the the Builder Button on the fftc:FWD website to provide feedback. We will be updating the content of the website on a rolling basis.
Is AI used on the platform?
Yes, AI is used on the platform, specifically in the Intersections feature. All folio content was curated by staff and all materials utilizing AI have been reviewed by people.
How fftc:FWD uses AI – Responsible AI Principles
fftc:FWD exists to help more people in Charlotte-Mecklenburg find what they need to lead on the issues and topics they care about. The platform uses AI to help explain civic issues, surface useful connections, and make trusted civic knowledge easier to explore, understand, and use. The goal is not to replace local judgment.
When someone explores a topic, relationship, or civic question through fftc:FWD, AI may help draft plain-language explanations, synthesize source material, or shape public-facing civic content. These outputs are designed to help residents, donors, nonprofit partners, public leaders, and community members ask better questions, see connections across silos, and find credible next steps.
Our principles
1. AI serves civic understanding; it does not replace civic judgment.
AI can help summarize, organize, and explain complex information. It cannot decide what a community values, what action should be taken, or what tradeoffs are acceptable. fftc:FWD uses AI as a support tool for learning and civic framing, not as a substitute for the judgment of residents, community partners, subject-matter experts, FFTC staff, or civic leaders.
2. Source grounding matters.
fftc:FWD is built around Folio material, curated local knowledge, public reports, datasets, and source notes where available. When the platform includes specific facts, related reading, or source-backed references, those items come from known source material rather than being invented by the AI system. AI may help explain relationships and write plain-language narrative. We do not use it to fabricate local statistics, organizations, programs, source titles, URLs, or neighborhood claims.
3. We are clear about what the platform is and is not.
fftc:FWD is a civic learning and action platform. AI-assisted outputs on the platform are not comprehensive research reports, complete directories of every organization or program, live maps of community conditions, grantmaking decision tools, or professional advice. They are starting points for exploration and conversation, not final answers.
4. Human judgment and review remain essential.
AI-assisted civic analysis needs review, correction, and context. fftc:FWD gives staff tools to inspect source material, review AI-assisted outputs, see what source context shaped them, and collect feedback when something needs to be clarified or corrected. FFTC and its partners use that review and feedback to improve sources, framing, and public-facing content over time. Questions or possible corrections can be sent to fwd@fftc.org.
5. Privacy and restraint are part of responsible use.
Current public fftc:FWD AI-assisted experiences do not require users to share sensitive personal information in order to learn from the platform. When fftc:FWD asks for optional context, we limit that context to what is useful for the requested experience. We do not treat those prompts as an invitation to share private health, financial, legal, or identifying information.
6. We avoid overclaiming.
AI can produce fluent language even when evidence is incomplete. That is why fftc:FWD distinguishes between source-backed facts, civic interpretation, general context, and future ideas. When source coverage is thin, we limit the claim or say less rather than imply more certainty than the evidence supports.
7. We improve the work over time.
Responsible AI use is not a one-time statement. It is an ongoing practice: we review sources, check outputs, listen for feedback, correct mistakes, improve the knowledge base, and decide carefully which future platform experiences are ready for public use. As fftc:FWD grows into more personalized, local, or interactive experiences, we apply the same principles with even greater care.
How often is content updated and what’s next?
Content will assessed and updated on a rolling basis with community input. Future development includes expanded issue areas, deeper maps, and enhanced tools informed by user feedback.
Is there a cost and can content be shared?
fftc:FWD is free and publicly accessible. Content may be shared with appropriate attribution.
Where are the Opportunity Compass and UNC Charlotte Data Trust?
They remain distinct, complementary resources. fftc:FWD will feature these key community tools and assets in future updates.