1. Great to see the growing numbers! More interesting people doing more innovative work than ever before. It's clear to me that the nonprofit community sees technology, and the web specifically as a critical component to creating social good.
   
2. Despite no singular massive success with the Social Web, it's clear that organizations are recognizing that their constituencies and target audiences are more sophisticated than ever, and nonprofits are working hard to align their communications with the next generation of donors, activists, thinkers, and doers that have already bought into the social web.
   
3. Open interoperability breeds innovation - and software providers are starting to get it. Most software vendors I spoke with saw open access to data and services as a must have feature to remain competitive - this is good news!

1. I noticed a positive continued commitment from software vendors to open the door to NTEN members and smaller organizations. I sat in on a session led by Google's Frederick Vallaey who promised to expedite Google Grant approvals for NTEN members. This provides any registered 501(c)(3) three months of free Adwords) I also participated in a session titled "SalesForce for Good Not Evil" in which some smaller organizations showed how a central commercial platform using SalesForce's offer of 10 free licenses for charitable orgs. Other attendees including Mozy, ReadyTalk and (ahem) Forum One's own ProjectSpaces also offer discounts. Lesson learned: Always ask product vendors whether there is a nonprofit discount.


2. Mobile technologies are growing slowly but steadily in the United States. They are still the big exception to the open interoperability Kurt mentions above. At the Mobile Advocacy session I heard compelling case studies, but each was unusual and still rather fledgling. Once again, the closed systems of the greedy wireless carriers -- AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. -- are the main constraint to real innovation here. For instance, it still costs an organization $1,000/month to have a vanity mobile short code or "mobile URL."


3. The conference continues to be one model for how to extend an event through friendly, open (and sometime frenzied) sharing of conference notes and artifacts. During the conference, over 300 attendees were Twittering -- about one out of five. In some sessions, the panels took questions from people in other breakout sessions. At one point, I "tweeted" a key finding from one session, and, within a few minutes, I received (and posed to the panel) a follow-up question submitted by an attendee at a different session in another room. And I'm still working through all of the blog posts, presentations, videos, and photos tagged with "08NTC."

CGAP, a leading consortium of organizations working to expand global microfinance, is looking for a Web Editor. Sounds like an interesting position:

Web
2.0, social networking, Kiva, Microplace, and other online lending platforms are revolutionizing microfinance. We’re looking for someone to lead CGAP’s Web strategy, develop a CGAP blog, and take us into the new media era.

CGAP seeks a Communications Officer with high energy and fresh thinking who can generate innovative ideas for communicating CGAP’s work to a wide range of audiences through electronic tools. The ideal candidate will be an experienced Web editor with knowledge of Web marketing techniques, the ability to write well, and a track record in effective Web campaigns. The Web Editor will work with colleagues to effectively communicate CGAP’s work online, developing and operationalizing our strategy for Web, new media, and social networking.

We’ve already taken some baby steps in this direction, the fruits of which will be evident with the relaunch of cgap.org in a couple of months. cgap.org is CGAP’s most important external communications tool. And yet over the past few years it has been neglected, and become outdated. With the relaunch and redesign of the site, we are looking for the right person to lead CGAP’s Web strategy and online marketing and take the organization forward, capitalizing on new media opportunities to reach out to new audiences, and to established audiences in new ways.

Resumes with cover letter should be sent to: webeditor@collab.cgap.org by March 31. CGAP requests no phone calls, please.