I have to admit giving a heavy sigh over the recent post by the folks behind the Net2 Think Tank asking "How can organizations innovate to allow donors to effectively contribute their time, talent, and skills online?" It went on to say, "What are some examples of organizations allowing donors to contribute their time and/or talents virtually? Which specific tools or tactics are working for your organization and which are not working?"

Because, you see, there's a word for that. It's called volunteering.

Holly Ross, NTEN's Executive Director, posted a number of good nonprofit blogging tips in her piece yesterday, Blogs, Blogs, Everywhere, and Not a Thing to Write.

I though that her advice about how to find the time to blog was useful:

"But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. . . . It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes."--Lev Grossman, from, "Person of the Year: YOU", TIME.

By now you've probably seen the announcement that TIME has named "you" the person of the year. The you that writes blogs, creates podcasts, shares open source applications, creates entries on Wikipedia, posts videos on YouTube, meets friends on MySpace and chats with avatars on Second Life. But rather than the person of the year being the you in user, isn't it the us in users? Isn't the goal of the social web to create an us, a sense of connection, a community?