NTEN members are buzzing about the upcoming Nonprofit Technology Conference, and my favorite contributions include Deborah Finn's NTC wish list. Another list about the NTC comes from an unidentified NTEN member -- a list of favorite things about the NTC plus questions and reservations about the conference. I also have to give a shout-out to the LOLnptech blog for its comedic relief.

Everyone is invited to share their wish lists, reservations, and other conference buzz in the NTC08 Affinity Group.

In non-NTC news, NTEN member Social Solutions has been given a Future 50 award by Baltimore SmartCEO magazine. Social Solutions provides data tracking and reporting software and services to human services organizations (and provides a discount to NTEN members).

A couple of NTEN members were featured as important social media resources in an article from Global Voices. Beth Kanter and her contribution to Read Write Web, along with her own blog, are highlighted, along with TechSoup's definition of web 2.0 in the nonprofit context.

Social Signal, another organizational member of NTEN, is tackling the question of the ROI of social networking by kicking off a series of posts about how organizations can actually earn revenue with Web 2.0. I'm sure many organizations will be tuning in to this series. Be sure to note Alexandra Samuel's points for consideration, including public perception and tax regulations for nonprofits that generate revenue in this manner.

Finally, continuing her series of posts about open source tools for nonprofits, long-time NTEN member and new Board member Michelle Murrain discusses WordPress as an open source blogging tool: how it can be used and optimized for an organization's needs, and how its applications go beyond just blogging.

In looking over the news and activity of NTEN members online this week, the theme seems to be: Let's get together to make more happen.

First up, we've got an update from long-time and very active NTEN member Norman Reiss about his participation at the Aspiration-Idealware -- both long-time NTEN supporting organizations -- Managing Nonprofit Technology Projects seminar in New York. From what I've heard online and in the Twitt-o-sphere, the first conference from these folks on this topic went well, with a nice turn out of nonprofit techies from all over, including from across the pond.

Speaking of friends from Europe, NTEN members LASA and the ICT Hub are getting ready for a gathering of their own, the 2008 National Circuit Riders Conference, in Birmingham, England next month.

There's news of another gathering in NYC coming soon: the "Software Smackdown", the first meetup of 2008 for New York's NTEN 501 Tech Club, organized by the club's new cruise director, Charles Lenchner.

The first week of 2008 has already offered up some good advice and discussion from the nonprofit technology community. NTEN members contributed by focusing on lessons learned from 2007 that can be applied in 2008.

An effort spearheaded by social media guru and lifetime NTEN member Beth Kanter offered some honest and helpful takeaways on the state of social media from Britt Bravo, Katya Andresen, and our very own Holly Ross, including:

Just a couple of days ago, NTEN member and Social Media for Nonprofits expert Beth Kanter kicked off a great discussion about how NOT to use Twitter for your organization.

The key takeaways are:

• don't use Twitter as a blowhorn for your canned PR;
• don't think of Twittees as a captive audience;

and, everyone's favorite:

• don't Twitter without love.

I was really moved today to see one cause doing everything right with Twitter: the Frozen Peas Friday campaign from the Frozen Pea Fund.

Here's how it's working:

Long-time NTEN member organization VolunteerMatch made it into TIME's list of Top 10 Websites for 2007. Congratulations! You can check out VolunteerMatch's spot on the list here.

It was the only nonprofit-related website I saw on the list (or anywhere in the 50 Top 10 lists from TIME). I don't know if that says more about nonprofit websites or TIME.

I did see that another "Top 10" site, techPresident, has some familiar NTEN members (Alan Rosenblatt and Ruby Sinreich) listed as contributors.

Speaking of end of year "best of" lists, our December newsletter is a "best of" issue for 2007, so check it out!

Continuing my recent theme of sharing the advice NTEN members have for nonprofits who are wary about jumping into the seas of social media for their causes, I want to point out Michele Martin's post on her blog, The Bamboo Project.

It offers initial steps an organization can try within the comfort zone of its own network: its staff.

Evolving Tools for Your OrganizationIt makes sense that the best reason anyone has for learning and using a new tool is that it makes his/her life easier or better.

When organizations look at social media tools as a new obstacle rather than a tool, they're naturally going to be wary of them. If they can turn those perceived obstacles into useful components of their professional lives, they'll end up leveraging them for their causes with confidence -- and maybe even gusto -- rather than with fear.

Michele not only explains which tools (blog, wiki, a social network) an organization can employ internally, but great applications for them like project management and staff training resources. Check it out!

Last week, I pointed to Britt Bravo's blog post encouraging nonprofits to confront their fear of blog comments. But another NTEN member, Marnie Webb of CompuMentor, brings up some important points in the NonprofitTimes that nonprofits should consider when navigating the new terrain of the social web.

The topic of "social engineering" affects organizations whether they've launched a communications plan using the social web or not because, as Webb puts it, "whether they give their employees permission to or not, [the employees] have social networking sites."

This can be a good thing -- and usually is -- because it's likely that the staff members of a nonprofit organization believe in the cause and will be natural mouthpieces for the mission. But in some cases, as the article points out, there's the potential for sensitive information being released and, depending on the nature of the issue or cause, exploited, even harmfully.

Like Bravo, Webb thinks that nonprofits don't need to fear the social web -- but she offers some good tips in the article to help organizations avoid problems and stay in control.

NTEN Members are making news again! The Humane Society of the United States has been a member of NTEN for some time now. This weekend, Bev Magda, their CIO, was featured in InformationWeek. Check out her profile!

(Bev, I love Visio, too).

It's the final day of Member Appreciation Month here at NTEN, and we've saved the most coveted prize for last: we're giving away a free registration to the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference!

We're happy to invite:

Maria Palomino, from America's Second Harvest to join us in New Orleans, March 19-21, for the biggest -- and most fun, I might add -- conference for nonprofit technology professionals!

Thank you for being a member of NTEN, Maria and America's Second Harvest. And thank you NTEN Members one and all, for your support and participation in the nonprofit technology community.

Don't forget: Registration for the 2008 NTC opens December 1st.

We've been announcing programming, discounts, and prize giveaways for NTEN members all month here on our blog, and it's all been leading up to these last two days of Member Appreciation Month. Today, we're giving away a complimentary Individual Membership for 2008 to an NTEN member:

William H. P. Kaung, of the Organization of Chinese Americans. Thank you, William, for being a member of NTEN!

There are just two days left to take advantage of the special Member Appreciation Month offers, and only one more day of prizes. Tomorrow, we will be giving away a free registration to the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference.