Leda Dederich, my close ally and friend, has recruited me to contribute to this year’s Web of Change conference. I’m honored and excited, and since I know about half the invite list already, I’m looking forward to a fun and productive few days.

The description from their site:

Web of Change is an annual gathering connecting senior leaders working at the convergence of online strategy, technology, and social change. Held every fall at Hollyhock Centre on Cortes Island, British Columbia, Web of Change offers an exceptional environment for learning, engagement, and reflection.

I’ll probably end up facilitating two sessions. First, a discussion about “distributed phone banking” tools, which let any volunteer with a web connection make campaign calls from their homes. I know a good deal about the subject after running Congressman John Hall’s Home Team program in 2006.

Second, a conversation about the power of constituent data. As in, how can campaigns and social justice groups use constituent data to better inspire and mobilize their people? We live in the information age. It’s getting easier and easier to collect more about data about our constituents. (Though getting all that data in one place still is painful, which is where dotOrganize fits in … but I digress.) Once we have all that data — once we know our people better — what do we do with that information? How can it make us better organizers, not just better marketers?

Both discussions fascinate and inspire me. If I make any breakthroughs, I promise to report back here!

A few weeks ago I got an email over the transom about a Salesforce.com “Success Tour” conference coming to New York. Easy to read through that title – it means “sales pitch.” But it made me curious. How would SF.com present itself in public sales venue?

So here I am, sitting in a soaring ballroom in the Grand Hyatt, surrounded by … 200? 250? … prospective clients. And this is one of three similarly filled rooms. And this is one of 50ish events around the world this year. Yowzah!

In my line of work, it’s easy to forget the difference of scale between nonprofit / campaign software and enterprise software. Sure, I know intellectually that Salesforce has 32,300 customers (that’s maybe 100 times the average nptech vendor). But seeing a huge room full of these customers, and knowing it is just a tiny fraction of the total number, I’m viscerally reminded of an old axiom — when nonprofits can leverage enterprise technology, they should. Because nptech vendors just can’t compete.

Now, I’m not knocking the nonprofit / political software vendors. Not for a second. But the vast amount of resources getting plowed into the Salesforces of the world blow away the resources devoted to the DemocracyInActions of the world. Even the Convios and Kinteras, who are much more heavily capitalized than most, can’t keep up. There’s just no corporate money supporting those tools.

Obviously, cost is the #1 impediment to nonprofits adopting enterprise software. That’s why Salesforce has been such a disruptive technology in the nptech space – 10 free licenses for any 501c3.

The pitch itself is … whatever. If I was a potential customer already interested enough to come to this event, I’m not sure this presentation would seal the deal. Then again, I’m not going to muscle my way to the front of the line for 1-on-1 tutorial. In fact I’m about 5 minutes from leaving.

But one random detail I like – the name badges here are double-sided. So when your badge flips around people can still tell who you are. Why didn’t the NTC think of that?

Last month, Katrin Verclas of NTEN asked me to help run the New York City 501c Tech Club. We’re an informal group of nonprofit techies who share resources, trade tips & tactics, and meet up monthly for free booze and networking.

My first act as list leader was to move the monthly Happy Hours to a great outdoor space — the rooftop deck at La Quinta Inn. What’s that you ask? Why a rooftop deck in a cheap hotel in the middle of Koreatown? Yeah, its a bizarre location … but an amazing space.

If you’re in or around NYC this Thursday, June 21, come on up and get your free drinks!

When: June 21, 5:30 to ???

Where: The rooftop bar at La Quinta Inn (technically called “Mé Bar”); 17 w. 32nd st, 14th floor (map)

Who: You, me, and at least 20 other smart, fun do-gooder geeks

See you there!

The good folks at NetSquared have come up with a great idea. Their 2007 Conference is a meta-2.0 experiment — using web 2.0 principles to help launch web 2.0 projects. (So recursive!)

Anyone using web 2.0 technologies for social good is encouraged to apply to their Technology Innovation Fund. The top 20 projects, as chosen by an online community, will be featured at the May 29-30 conference in San Jose. All will get good advice and feedback from some smart people, and the project that most impresses the community will get a fat wad of cash to accelerate to the next level. Think venture capital fair for do-gooders, with less strings attached.

Marnie Webb of NetSquared told me today that she’s encouraging a wide variety of projects to apply. “We couldn’t have foreseen every type of good project when we wrote the criteria,” she said. So if you’ve got a project that even loosely fits the project guidelines, go nominate yourself now. At the very least, you’ll get some free publicity among a highly tech-savvy audience.

The API-apalooza conference I mentioned a couple weeks ago is picking up speed, and morphing. We’re no longer proposing a three-day, attend-some-panels, schmooze-in-the-lobby event. Instead, we’re putting together a whole training program that will span many months, and will be accountable to a very concrete goal – creating kick-ass APIs.

So the name API-apalooza didn’t work anymore. Too evocative of a single event. Instead, I’ve come up with a new name: the AP-iOpener. Get it? AP “eye” opener? Cuz it will open people’s eyes to the power of APIs?

And if that’s not funny enough for you …

Q: What do you call the AP-iOpener’s home on the web?
A: At the AP-iSite

Q: What do you call an angry AP-iOpener participant?
A: AP-iRate

Q: And if we have a party, what will it be called?
A: The AP-iBall, of course

If you’re not smiling at this point, you’re probably reading the wrong blog. :)

I’ve just returned from the excellent three day Nonprofit Software Development Summit, brimming with business cards and new ideas. The most exciting idea to emerge was API-apalooza, a proposed training conference for progressive developers to learn how to integrate their tools through great Application Programming Interfaces.

Why is such a conference needed? APIs are the foundation layer of integrated tools. We learned from the Summit that many progressive tools providers are willing to create APIs, but not able. Good APIs are hard to create. They take skill, resources and expertise. API-apalooza would rapidly spread those skills, resources and expertise to the developers who need it.

I’ll be leading the effort to get the conference off the ground and properly funded. Stay tuned for more, or email me if you’re interested.

If you’re in the Bay Area and reading this blog, you’ll probably like to know about the 2007 Nonprofit Software Development Summit. I’ll be there, facilitating at least two sessions about data integration. It’s thrown by the good folks at Aspiration.

The Summit will be a first-of-its-kind convening to bring together the range of developers, technologists, managers, eRiders, integrators, users and others who self-identify under the umbrella of “nonprofit software development”. The event will provide an opportunity both to gather as a community and to take stock of the field, while building connections and capacity.