What is OpenOpportunities Platform

What is Open Opportunities?

This website is a place to help connect federal employees seeking resources and skills with other employees that can supply those resources and skills.

How does it work?

Open Opportunities allows Department staff to post small tasks (“Opportunities”) for other Department staff to complete. Do you have a hundred little things on your to-do list that you can’t seem to get to? Post them as Opportunities to this site: Describe the skills required, the estimated time it’ll take for someone to complete it, and other information relevant to completing the task.

Maybe you seek a specific expertise, such as that related to 508 compliance or security. Or maybe you just need someone to transcribe a video or take notes during a conference call.

But it’s called Open Opportunities for a reason, if you post Opportunities for others, you should also consider completing those posted by others. Have a slow Thursday afternoon? Search for Opportunities that can be completed in an hour. Looking to expand your horizons and have the bandwidth to take on a longer-term effort? Find Opportunities that are more complex or nuanced in nature. Or find a Project that interests you and follow along.

What kinds of Opportunities can I post or find on the site?

Users can post all kinds of things for others to complete, from the very short and mundane tasks that can be completed in under an hour to the complex and critical tasks that are ongoing over the course of several month.

Here are a few specific examples: Providing subject matter expertise and guidance; Testing a new tool or application; Participating on a task force; Borrowing a camera; Transcribing a video or speech; Conducting research; Designing a flyer.

What’s the difference between a Project and an Opportunity?

In short: Opportunities are things to be done. Projects are collections of Opportunities. Here’s a larger glossary that spells it out a bit further:

• An Opportunity is a specific task or activity requesting resources and/or task completion. Opportunities are posted by people that are seeking resources. Opportunities get completed by users that can meet that need. Typically, once an Opportunity gets posted, it doesn’t change much until it has been assigned to someone, after which the Opportunity is no longer available.
• A Project is a workspace for communicating and coordinating multiple Opportunities related to a larger effort. Projects tend to be longer-lived than Opportunities and get updated over the life-span of the effort.
• The Opportunity Owner creates a specific opportunity in need of resources and has the ability to edit the opportunity.
• The Project Owner creates the Project and has the ability to edit and close the project when all activities and Opportunities are completed.

Who is the platform for?

This is for Department staff looking for new ways to get things done. Some staff have a lot of items on their to-do list, things that can be posted to Open Opportunities for others to complete. Others have fewer things on their to-do list or have skill sets and interests that can go beyond their particular office.

Great! How do I get started?

A user account is required to post and join Projects and Opportunities. Register here.

Wait… Where did Open Opportunities (Beta) come from? Who built and is Administering the site?

Open Opportunities is developed via a partnership between the Department of State's Office of eDiplomacy and The White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Program. The Department of State is working to towards a more modern and effective government. To learn more, visit: