TechSoup's online event: Online Activism: Social Media Tools for Social Change this Wed. sparked all sorts of discussions about how to use social networking tools effectively for your organization's goals. Hosts Heather Mansfield and Carie Lewis offered their experience and expertise on best practices for using a variety of different social networking sites from Change.org to MySpace to Facebook.

This coming Monday, May 19 from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., East Bay Innovation Group will present a talk on Best Practices for Web Form Design in Emeryville, California.

From eBig's Web site:

We recently reported about the DonateNow mashup challenge. On May 4 from 12-5pm, TechSoup's NetSquared project, in partnership with Sun Microsystems, is inviting you to bring your mashup for social impact project to the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Citizen Schools and the Public Learning Media Laboratory have released the result of a survey on how nonprofits can make effective use of Web 2.0 and social networking tools. 

Key results include:

Fundraising is increasingly dependent on donor management software. Are you getting the software you need to run your organization? Here's a chance to compare satisfaction levels on donor databases. 

The survey is being run by Brian Dowling of the University of Michigan. It is designed to be "software agnostic" rather than focusing in on individual vendors.  It should only take a few minutes to complete. The results will be shared with participants.

Rate your donor database.

No, I'm not talking about the NCAA championship games. I'm referring to the Case Foundation's Make It Your Own Awards.

Last weekend I conducted a workshop on using social media tools for activism for groups of college student activists. These select students came together as part of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)’s Youth Advocate Leadership Training (YALT) conference. Top promising activists were selected from colleges around the country to take part in a weekend of strategizing, networking, and developing action plans for social change.

Know a nonprofit that has done an exceptional job of developing open source solutions for its constituents? Then be sure to nominate them for the 2008 Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration (MATC Awards)

Spring is in the air and so is the March meeting of the San Francisco Online Community Report MeetUp