But we can’t and shouldn’t ignore the situation abroad and that’s why many people I admire here at the conference started SXSW Cares. Donations at http://www.sxsw4japan.org/ will go directly to the Red Cross, with no transaction fees, meaning 100% of funds raised go to charity.

I encourage my friends to take a moment to make a quick donation, and help our Japanese neighbors in their time of need. Thanks.

The Suffern Music & Arts Festival is all about community in the 21st century. Music and the arts is our world’s universal language. So when this village, located in the heart of New York’s Ramapo mountain region of Rockland county chose “THRIVING” over “SURVIVING” this economy, they looked to that “one voice” to speak out.

I know this will also be reposted on the MetroNorth bloggers site, and I hope my friends in the Northern Suburbs will come out and support our Jazz, Blues and Grooves stages as well as the local crafts and artists.

helping government become more open, transparent and effective through better use of published information.” Show Us a Better Way asks “Do you think that better use of public information could improve health, education, justice or society at large?”  The task force put up 20,000GBP for the winner of that competition to develop the best idea. (I noticed the Google prize via Tom’s blog).

All these prizes to improve the world, plus X-prizes for 100 mile-per gallon cars, space travel, and more.

I hope that these contests and market forces can help us improve the world in some significant way, and I’m glad some big companies are asking for solutions with their hands on their wallets. Now, about that idea for a jet pack I had…

As I posted on the Social Media Club site, SU2C is an effort to get some much-needed attention on the problem of Cancer, and get some money in the hands of researchers trying new things to solve difficult problems.

SocialVibe is donating $1 for each blogger that signs up to their service via the special url http://www.socialvibe.com/SU2C, as well as turning points for showing these ads on Facebook and other social networking sites into real dollars for the SU2C cause. They’re hoping to raise $50,000 by doing this.� So, you’ll see this ad on my site, and on my Facebook page. And, hey, SocialVibe even referred to my Social Media Club post on their page. So, I’m returning the link and asking you to get involved too. If you have a blog – run an ad for a few weeks, and get that $50k to the Cancer Research labs via Stand Up To Cancer. Oh, and you can donate directly as well.

Course Details | New York University – SCPS

Using Social Networks and New Media Technologies in Your Nonprofit
X39.9211 / Continuing Education / $400
FALL 2008

Donors, volunteers and staff are using technologies, from Facebook to Weblogs, to connect, communicate, learn and inform. What are these new social media tools, and how can your organization use them most effectively? How can you leverage social networks to build community, photo and video sharing to promote your cause, or blogging to keep your constituents informed? The course gives practical examples, and features guests including Tom Watson, author of the forthcoming Causewired and co-founder of Changing Our World.

My panel included: Marnie Webb, Co-CEO, TechSoup, My Luu, Market Development Executive, Small & Medium Business, IBM, Aaron Strout, VP, New Media, Mzinga, and Jordi Duran, Founder and CTO, iWith.org.

We covered a large amount of ground in just one hour, and as moderator I wasn’t exactly taking notes to blog with, but I did learn a few things to share.

Marnie works at Tech Soup, which offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. It’s so much more than that, go check the site. One of her big projects currently is the net squared mashup challenge. Marnie noted during the panel that they let the “community” (meaning anyone interested) vote for their favorite projects, which will be reviewed at a conference. While some of the contenders might not have been what her team might have picked, she felt the community did a great job in surfacing interesting projects.
The benefit to groups submitting to the challenge was that all submissions were public, and that allowed any smart people to comment on them and potentially improve the submissions before the deadline.
The entire project is a great example of the ‘Wisdom of Crowds‘ that is often referenced around web 2.0 efforts.

Aaron was involved in another community-built effort, the book We are Smarter than Me. This book was written using a wiki to source comments and ideas from anyone on the internet who choose to share and contribute. (Disclosure, I participated in the Wiki a few times, and am credited in the book, but don’t have any significant role in it).

Jordi gave me 2 really great things to think about. First, his group, iWith.org has partnered with AlternativeChannel.tv to host video content for not-for-profits looking to share their video and use something other than You-Tube. Looking at the site, I also note that: Alternative Channel in collaboration with iWith.org in Barcelona organize the Alternative Channel Forum on Social networks and responsible media.. The event is scheduled for April 30, 2008. Read it for more.

Jordi noted that iWith.org had originally offered a bunch of software-as-a-service hosting for not-for-profits, but that when they gave the service away, many groups didn’t make much use of it. Now they charge Euro40/month, but offer grants and discounts to organizations who need them. I love this lesson – if it costs something, it counts and groups will use it. This is the same reason I often have charged $5 or $10 to attend an event like Social Media Club in NY – it’s enough money that people have to think about attending, but not enough to keep people away.

Jordi also had an insight that (and I quote):

NPFs have been leading social movements in 20th century. From charity, to political parties, and labor unions, most of the volunteering from these causes was young people, mainly students that participate with their free time in the cause of their choice. But in 21st century, younger people are spending more and more time online, and the net offers volunteering opportunities, from co-creating an online encyclopedia, to develop an operating system. That is happening while traditional NPOs are becoming more professional, structured, big and �like a job�� [Jordi is] seeing more virtual and less structured groups � those organizations that once lead social volunteering in the 20th century are losing resources to online groups � they must use and participate online in groups or lose attention and fundraising resources � as their volunteers move to other interests online.

It makes sense to me that organizations have to allow the youthful volunteers –who are often the backbone of groups — the freedom to connect with each other and with the organizations online, and become infrastructure for the cause and be a connection point.

My’s project with IBM and the World Bank created a toolkit for small businesses. The site has resources, forms, and content, can be found at http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en . Definitely worth a look!

An audience question asked about deploying social networks, and noted how in the traditional tech model, companies had Integrated Systems Vendors (ISVs) who would deploy hardware and help small to mid-sized businesses who needed coordination and might not have IT staff. What’s the equivalent to an ISV in social media? This ended up being a soft-ball question for me, and I replied that this is part of the role that my company is playing. Many fimrs will deploy a software-as-a-service social network, but not have the strategy abiliites in-house to make a community grow. My consultancy focuses on this strategy component, and I work with other consultants and have relationships with multiple vendors. (end of commercial).

There were lots of other panels, and I will blog about them in the near future. I look forward to questions and comments from attendees and others, and thank UN-GAID and Gary Bolles for this unique opportunity to contribute.

America’s Camp grew out of the work I did at the Twin Towers Fund.

I’ll be checking mail occasionally, but mostly offline, until next Monday.