Mashups make great sense when it comes to getting things done. I mean, why build it when you can mash it? Nonprofits, however, have mostly been slow to jump in the mashable fun.
As a meeting I was at recently of foundations at the Aspen Institute suggested, the majority of nonprofs are still asking questions like, “we’re considering whether this is a tool to build or buy.”
Best answer: Do neither. Share and mash, people!
This month, Netsquared wants nonprofits to join in on the fun, and they’re backing up their want with $100 grand.
For those of you do-gooders with API dreams, the Netsquared Mashup Challenge apps are due on March 14, and if you have a winning idea, you could land a piece of the big pot (big for do-gooders at least), as well a team of geeks to get your mashable dreams translated into reality.
“Uhh…this is interesting and all, but uhhh… what’s a mashup?” some may ask (read: my parents).
Wikipedia’s write up is pretty awesome, but it’s probably easiest to show a couple of examples I grabbed from Idealist’s blog post this week:
HousingMaps. We all know Craigslist is great for finding an apartment, but trust me, it’s even easier when you’re moving to see all the listings on one map. Essentially, all HousingMaps did was mash Craigslist apartment data with Google Maps location data. Done and done. They now have an incredibly useful site with lots of traffic and they didn’t even have to do any work!
ChicagoCrime.org. These guys take a feed of crime data from the Chicago Police Department and organize it by zip code and neighborhood, letting users easily view crimes near them. It’s been so successful they’re taking it to other cities with the site EveryBlock.
Here’s my idea for Idealist.org: Mash an XML feed of all the nonprofit organizations and NGOs in Idealist’s datbase with Google Earth and create a clickable layer that shows the location of all 75,000 organizations around the planet.
What are some others?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Lori Collins // Mar 2, 2008 at 4:28 am
You’re right. I didn’t know what a mashup was — thanks for the education! And the inspiring ideas. It’s amazing what’s possible . . . . .
2 Jared Goralnick // Mar 3, 2008 at 8:44 am
Great thoughts, Jake! I think this is a problem for nonprofits and corporations alike–few organizations realize how mixing a few good things is less expensive and just as powerful.
3 Britt Bravo // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Thanks for spreading the word about the NetSquared Mashup Challenge, Jake!
Britt
Britt Bravo
Community Builder
NetSquared • A Project of Tech Soup
http://www.netsquared.org
bbravo@techsoup.org
4 Nathaniel Whittemore // Mar 18, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi Jake,
I saw that you were writing about the Netsquared Mashup challenge and I wanted to share a little bit about our Mashup Challenge entry: Assetmap.org/uganda. You can read more at http://www.assetmap.org/uganda
The question behind the project is this: with peace on the horizon after 20 years of war in northern Uganda, and the big NGOs soon heading off to other war zones, who is going to support community organizations and northern Ugandan civil society as it transitions to peace time?
By mapping information about ongoing community-led philanthropic partnerships in northern Uganda, assetmap.org/uganda helps American citizens aggregate their resources to support post-conflict transformation.
We hope to facilitate collaboration among American donors and volunteers by providing a digital tool that:
•maps project locations so you know who’s working where
•tags information about the specific issues projects and organizations seek to address
•links tagged and mapped projects to the facebook and LinkedIn profiles of participating donors or volunteers
If you’re interested in supporting us, please visit and vote for us here:
http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference/projects/assetmap-org-uganda
Thanks!
Nathaniel Whittemore
Director, Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement
http://www.mycge.org
globalengagement at gmail
5 Adooga.com Launches! | The Realist Idealist // Mar 31, 2008 at 5:52 pm
[...] good,” and there were tons. Already many nonprofits and social-good websites are conducting contests to increase connection with their users and stakeholders, generate ideas, and simply have fun. [...]
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