43 Folders reports that Google Docs has just added a selection of over 300 templates, including calendars, letters, labels, and more. For a service that started as an odd curiosity in the back of the Google catalog, the new templates may be a sign that Google Docs is finally ready for public consumption.

Avatars representing survivors, caregivers, their families and the millions of passionate supporters engaged in fighting cancer worldwide will take center stage virtually, July 19-20, when the American Cancer Society conducts its fourth annual Relay For Life® event in the Second Life virtual world.

In a world of TripAdvisors, Yelps, and Epinions, I rarely feel short of other people's input on my decisions. Where to go to dinner? I  check out Zagat or Yelp. Going on a trip? TripAdvisor to the rescue. Buying a new gadget... well you get the jist. Reviews and opinions abound in the public sphere on all these topics, but in large part have never been available before about the nonprofit community.

Citizen Schools and the Public Learning Media Laboratory have launched a survey to gather detail about specific Web 2.0 and social networking technologies that nonprofits are using.

This follows a survey the groups published in March, called Web 2.0 & Social Networking Nonprofit Survey (PDF).  That survey found:

You may not want to spend any more time on your computer than you have to, but the following online seminars will make it worth your while. The following is listing of some upcoming online seminars offered specifically for nonprofits in July. If you offer online seminars and would like to be included on this list, contact ols@techsoup.org for more information.

Mission Critical: Databases/Constituent Relationship Management, hosted by NTEN
Wednesday, July 2 • 11:00 a.m. PST

If you haven't already watched this video on YouTube, I recommend you do if you're a nonprofit manager considering how to create one for your orgnaization.

Not only does it have a nice message about saving the world one girl at a time, but as a former nonprofit manager trying to come up with sticky viral campaigns, I think this video does a great job. And the part I like best about it, is that the message is clear and simple.

For those of you at organization's grappling with a jump into social networking sites like Facebook, our pals over at the Wild Apricot blog have some helpful primers on how to maximize your presence. This time around, they've got a great "how-to" on setting up a nonprofit page on Facebook.

How does that differ from having a Group on Facebook? Well, they've got the answers. And, if this is your first foray into the wild and wiley world of Facebook, they've got a beginner's guide for nonprofits and some specifics on Facebook applications that can sassy-up your page too. Check it out!

If you haven't already gotten on the YouTube bandwagon, they're working hard to give nonprofits little reason not to jump into video. Added a few days ago, is a new video from YouTube's dedicated Nonprofits in Activism Manager, Ramya. She highlights the services and benefits the YouTube Nonprofit Program is expanding for it's nonprofit users.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet--that is the question posed by Michaela G. Hackner in TechSoup's online event: TechSoup Talks Twitter. Michaela, along with Marshall Kirkpatrick, hosted the free, all-day, asynchronous online event in the TechSoup Emerging Technologies forum. The forums event followed up TechSoup's webinar the day before and dove deeper into the uses of Twitter and the benefits and value that Twitter has to offer individuals and nonprofits alike.

TechSoup's Sarah Washburn captured a picture of her busy computer screen during the webinar (and posted it to Flickr, of course), while I did some "live tweeting" (live updates to the TechSoup Twitter account) during the webinar and periodically during the forums event. You can see all the event-related Tweets with the #tstweet tag here.

We talked about the ways that Twitter can be used to market your organization and discussed what mix of personal and professional updates you should have to effectively engage (and keep) a group of followers. Some attendees bemoaned the recent persistent downtime with Twitter and wondered whether other similar applications will capture Twitter's user base. We also chatted about using Twitter via mobile phones and how nonprofits have been using Twitter for international development and activism efforts.

Better late than never, so the saying goes. This "live discussion" with author and social marketing guru Seth Godin was posted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy a couple of weeks back.

The outcome of the conversation between Seth and the varied nonprofit org participants revealed some true nuggets of wisdom on how nonprofits can better use marketing (both on- and offline) to harness new audiences and rejuvenate the existing ones.

The questions ranged from tips on nonprofits entering the world of social networking to using cell phones to send text messages about action campaigns. Godin has a fun, to-the-point style in fielding them with zingers like this:

The ultimate spam is cell phone spam. If you send me an unanticipated, impersonal, irrelevant ad on my cell phone, I will hate you forever. On the other hand, if I sign up, if I raise my hand, to hear from you with alerts, then it’s hugely effective.

You have to be vigilant that your team doesn’t cross the line. Just because it’s important to them doesn’t mean it’s important to me!