The Case Foundation-sponsored "Make It Your Own Awards" just announced the 20 finalists.  In a sign that I'm not the only NPTechie who likes watching basketball, they even have a "Final Four" theme.

> Vote for your favorites

According to Rich D'Amato of the Case Foundation, "Make It Your Own is another of the Case Foundation's efforts to introduce the use of new technologies to NPOs, to do so by incentivizing the use of the technologies with grants, and to make the participation easy for them and for their supporters."

The 20 finalists have already won $10,000; the 4 finalists will receive additional funding.  And, in a cool, NCAA-pool-style twist, the first 10 voters who correctly identify the Final Four will receive $2,500 for their favorite charity.  They've even incentivized the vote!

The Flash-based site running the vote is pretty cool in itself, so go check it out and vote for your favorites today.  Voting will be open until April 22nd, 2008.

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges.]

Mark Miller, Children's National Medical Center

Today is the last day of the Parade and Facebook giving challenges. Unless we receive about 1,500 donations through our charity badge today -- there's still time to give! -- we won't be among the top four nonprofits that will win $50,000.

But as I wrote earlier, the value of participating in the Parade and Facebook challenges is that it's helped us attract new donors, raise our national profile, and educate our staff and supporters about the potential of online giving. I applaud the Case Foundation, Parade magazine, and Facebook Causes for their creativity in designing these initiatives, and I can't wait to see what they do next.

Today's the final day of America’s Giving Challenge and the Causes Giving Challenge. We've given over blog space for updates from a few participants, and mentioned others in our newsletter, and as they round the corner into the home stretch, 3 of the causes we've touted are in position to finish in the final 4 of the Global Causes category:

• Michelle M's Route Out of Poverty for Cambodian Children (Beth Kanter's birthday cause) is currently in 1st.
• Scott Beale's Invest in International Development Leaders stands 4th, right at the cut-off for the $50,000 prizes.
• Suzanne P's Education for 900 Rural Girls in Burkina Faso is in 5th, but not far behind.

I've been following the leaderboard this week, and I believe the top 5 have all increased their number of donations by at least 50% just this week. Scott's cause, which has been as high as first, slipped to 5th before recovering today.

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges. You may want to read Mark's first post.]

Mark Miller, Children's National Medical Center

Watching the Facebook and Parade challenges unfold has been fascinating.  Because we are doing very well in the Parade challenge, winning that one has become our main focus.  In fact, we have had some success using Facebook to drive people to our charity badge for the Parade challenge.

Last I checked, our charity badge, featuring Mike Green of the Washington Capitals, was a donation or two out of the top 10 leaders.  Among nonprofits focused on children or children’s health, we are first. (I have a dog and generally like animals, but I have to wonder if the current trend will hold up -- three of the top four leaders are nonprofits looking out for our furry friends.)

We’re picking up steam, thanks in part to the Washington Capitals, who have really gotten behind this challenge. They created an ad for their homepage, featured the campaign in their online newsletter, and helped us reach out to bloggers – whose support I can’t say enough about. And owner Ted Leonsis promoted it in his blog.

A few lessons:

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges.]

Scott Beale, Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)

With three weeks to go in America's Giving Challenge, the competition is heating up and we have a real race on our hands. We are in a tight race for first place with two other organizations. The prognosis: we are in a strong position to finish in the top four and win $50,000, but we have our work cut out for us to win the competition out-right. Nothing is certain in this kind of contest.

We're about half way through the six-week long America's Giving Challenge sponsored by the Case Foundation, Parade Magazine, GlobalGiving, and Network for Good. At this point, I am excited to share with you that Atlas Corps is in the second spot of the Global Causes category.

I want to share with you what has worked for us in this contest, as we have motivated over 275 people to give about $8,000, putting us in the second spot (for now).

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. The NTEN Blog has been running profiles on some of the participants.]

To celebrate her 51st birthday on January 11th, Beth Kanter is "...trying to get 51 people to donate $10 in 51 hours to the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge over at Global Giving."

Now, while we here at NTEN in no way believe that Beth is actually 51, we certainly support her efforts on behalf of the Sharing Foundation's Roteang Orphanage. NTEN community, you know what to do:

• Read Beth's birthday blog post
• Contribute to her cause
• Wish Beth a Happy Birthday on Friday

Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of the NPTech community and the world in general, Beth.  You rock.

Happy Birthday from Brett, Holly, Annaliese, Karl, and Anna.

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges. You may want to read Ruby's first post, as well.]

Ruby Sinreich, Fellowship of Reconciliation

First, an update: My attention to Facebook recruiting fell off during the holidays and has not recovered much since. In addition, the realization that we not going to win any prizes has been demotivational. Our cause, "Peace and Justice through Nonviolence", is now up to 81 members and $235 in donations. As Beth Kanter recently pointed out, social networks are often not as effective for fundraising as they are for awareness raising.

This week, I bring you some advice for marketing your cause on Facebook, or anywhere else: Write a personal note!

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges. This is the second from Scott Beale; you can also read his first post.]

Scott Beale, Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)

A lot has happened since my last blog entry on NTEN so let me bring you up to speed. My name is Scott and I am the founder of Atlas Corps, a new international organization that brings nonprofit leaders from the global south to volunteer in the U.S. for one year (some call it a "Reverse Peace Corps"). We have decided to enter America's Giving Challenge in an effort to motivate a large number of people to give us $10 (or more) donations in order to win $50,000. We have entered in the GlobalGiving category, because we are a very international organization, despite our U.S. 501(c)3 status.

I am excited to share that we've gotten off to a great start: we are in first place with 171 people. This is what we've been able to do so far:

[Ed. Note: As you probably know, the Case Foundation, together with Facebook Causes and Parade magazine, is going to award $750,000 to charity. To help illuminate the process and generate discussion and ideas, the NTEN Connect Blog will be posting occasional updates from actual participants in the Challenges.]

Scott Beale, Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)

I heard about Americas Giving Challenge through our partner GlobalGiving. I was immediately excited about the possibility of putting my political and social networking experience to good use for Atlas Corps.  We are making this competition a top priority for Atlas Corps. Atlas Corps is a new organization, so we see this as great way to increase awareness and also raise $50,000+.