I had the pleasure of attending the Net Tuesday Networking for Social Change event last week in SF, hosted by NetSquared, a project of TechSoup.

Oz Basarir and Dave Sanford served as the evening’s presenters. Oz Basarir, an independent web consultant, is leading the WiserEarth project. WiserEarth is a dynamic wiki-based networking forum for various nonprofits addressing social justice, poverty and the environment, and dedicated to sustainability - a project funded and supported by Natural Capital Institute.

The concept behind WiserEarth was to create a community-driven site for students, activists and nonprofit executives to locate information and connect with others supporting similar causes. We were fortunate enough to see a demo of the site which currently can be viewed by invite only.

The site is designed to include registration for users and guests, allowing them to create, maintain and share profiles of their individual nonprofit organization. Enhanced with a content tracker, a job post and events section, video hosting, and a link to make donations to your nonprofit of choice, organizations from all around the globe can communicate with each other. Another feature worth mentioning is that it allows users to view the location of each listed nonprofit via Google Earth. We’re told the test site currently has more than 125,000 entries to date. Stay tuned, as the beta version is expected to launch in April of this year.

LinkedIn For Nonprofits

Many of us use LinkedIn as a way to network and stay in contact with friends, peers and colleagues. Apparently LinkedIn has tons of utility for nonprofits too. Dave Sanford, a product and business strategist for LinkedIn, updated on us what we can expect to see next from the popular social networking site – social networking for good.

In the upcoming months LinkedIn’s platform will become more robust to help nonprofits and NGOs network, secure donations and share information across the web. Nonprofit organizations will be able to create and maintain a public profile, playing a key role in helping them achieve their goals. Once the public profile is activated, it not only will heighten their organization’s visibility and increase traffic to their site, but will also serve as a forum for meeting like-minded organizations and potential supporters, and provide a portal for spreading their messages beyond the immediate community.

Overall, it was a great event and reassured me that social networking really can be a good thing. Thanks to NetSquared for hosting the event and to LinkedIn for sponsoring the appetizers, beverages and the pie! Since I’m in PR and “all about promoting” (read: I really enjoyed the pie), next time you’re in San Francisco, stop by Mission Pie for a tasty slice of heaven. Proceeds go towards an urban renewal project.

/Leah McLean

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