As readers of my blog know, I complain fairly frequently that we need to use nptech to make it easier to bring resources and needs together.  All the information that's online needs to be mashed up so that, even if there is more out there for mission-based organizations and their stakeholders, we can have that information distilled for use in a timely and effective way.

So.  I hope it's clear that we don't have a burning need for another social network that helps individuals and mission-based organizations find constructive ways to take action about issues that matter to them.  What we need is an uber-tool that aggregates information from all the existing online sources and delivers it to us is a format that is inviting rather than overwhelming.

Let's have a rousing cheer for the good folks at Social Actions, who have wrangled that information into news we can use!  They draw upon the following web sites...
...so that you don't have check each of them every time you go looking for opportunities to invest your time, effort, or money to further a social goal that's important to you.

Some of their partners, which they call social action platforms, are already particular favorites of mine. These include Changing The Present,* Pledgebank, and Change.Org.  But I can't help wondering why Facebook Causes isn't one of them. I don't necessarily think that the latter is the most finely honed instrument that a mission-based organization can use in the world of social networking, but I do think that it's a first stop for organizations that are looking to cultivate digital natives as new donors.

In addition to tapping into online social networks (such as Facebook) that have become social action platforms more or less by accident, there's something else I'd love to see Social Actions do.  I envision it as a sort of multi-dimensional version of Pledgebank.  Pledgebank is currently set up to allow me to promise that "I will do A, if B number of people will do C."  That's extremely helpful for relatively simple tasks.  But what if the tasks involved are many, and the project calls for collaboration among many individuals and organizations?  What I hope is that Social Actions - perhaps with help from Pledgebank - will create a tool that will enable diverse individuals, teams, and organizations to sign up for Tasks A through Y, and others to sign up donate amounts adding up to a total of Z dollars.  This tool could hold all of these pledges in moral escrow, and then notify them by email when the requisite number of commitments have been made.  It's a piecemeal approach, but most collaborations are, and this would simplify the process of putting one together.

The Social Actions team has made an amazing breakthrough in empowering us to aggregate information about opportunities to take action.  I'd like to see them take it to the next level, and aggregate opportunities to collaborate and create new initiatives.



*  Full disclosure:  Changing The Present is a sometime client of mine, but I'm not currently on their payroll, and they are not paying me to say nice things about them here.  Regardless, you should definitely support Changing The Present, since it ranks only slightly below indoor plumbing in the pantheon of things I like about Western Civilization.