WhyNot's model of an open-source idea bank can be applied to other needs as well.

A specific application that can make a great deal of difference in the quality of our lives is local government: There are a tremendous number of village, town and city governments in the U.S., and quite a few of them have been experimenting with better ways to do things. The catch is, each local government has been "reinventing the wheel" - there might be a little sharing when, for instance, the mayors in an area meet together, but for the most part success stories spread only slowly.

Placing an idea on a Municipal Idea Bank website, on the other hand, will make it available to any municipality that takes the time to check the site. (Even the posting of failed ideas would be helpful... Some promising ideas turn out to have inevitable catches, and some ideas that work in one place may not work in certain others because of local conditions.)

Although the existing WhyNot site serves a valuable function, most people who would be interested in it have probably never learned about it. For the Municipal Idea Bank to be truly successful, it would probably make sense to do a one-time mass mailing to every local government, with costs covered by one of the various foundations active in such civic causes.

The example of Harrisburg, PA would probably make a very persuasive teaser for any such publicity - Local officials reading the mailing would be encouraged to check the site for details on how that city "increased the number of businesses in its tax base by 200% and reduced the number of vacant structures by 85% in 20 years."

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