In recent days, Causes has left MySpace and IdeaBlob has shutdown. To some, these events were unimportant. In reaction to the Causes announcement, Economist bureau chief Matthew Bishop tweeted “Who knew it was on MySpace?” to which New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom tweeted back “No kidding.”  But to many people active in online social action communities, these events had deeper meaning.

Visit the Tactical Philanthropy blog to read today's guest post from Amy Sample Ward, NetSquared’s Global Community Development Manager.

Last month Marci Bossow Schankweiler posted an idea for a home for cancer patients near Orlando, FL on Ideablob. Schankweiler is the President and founder of Crossing the Finish Line, a nonprofit organization that provides young adult cancer patients and their families with a break from treatment with a one-week expense paid "excursion." The Ideablob community chose her idea as the month's best, and she won $10,000 to start her project, funded by Advanta, a small business cr