Thanks to everyone who participated in the Community Vote this week for the FACT Social Justice Challenge! Voting is now closed. Your participation has narrowed the field of 90 innovatiove Project ideas down to the top 15 you think should be Featured Projects. 

All Projects will be notified on Monday and we will post on the blog and the FACT Challenge pages with the list of 15 Featured Projects moving on to the final round with the panel of judges.

If you have any questions about the FACT Challenge of the process, please do not hestitate to let us know: net2@techsoup.org

The public voting process is intended to empower the community to identify the Projects with the most potential for social impact. This guide covers every step of the voting process, but if you ever have questions you can contact us at net2@techsoup.org.

Voting is open from October 11 at 12pm Pacific time and ends October 15 at 5pm Pacific Time.

To avoid a popularity contest, we ask all voters to vote for at least (3) and up to (5)  Projects. 
Please use the guidelines below to get started:

Nonprofit Vote has recently created a toolkit help you improve your organization's voter engagement activities. It's designed to help you get started in planning and carrying out simple, effective, and nonpartisan voter engagement  - and all of the content is free and available online. 

Pepsi is looking for people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact to apply for Pepsi Refresh Project grants.

NetSquared is the online landing pad for social changemakers leveraging technology for social change.  Over the last four years, we have hacked and gutted the various Drupal modules that make up the online NetSquared experience to provide users with easy ways to connect to useful tools and each other. 

Translating Community Input Into Insight

During the N2Y4 Mobile Challenge, we created a feedback form for users to evaluate the Voting process but also the site in general.  More than 100 people weighed-in with their views and reviews, and someone even stepped up to help create some design concepts! (Thanks to Matthew of theCoup!)

This week is your only chance to vote for the Projects you care about in the N2Y4 Mobile Challenge and the Change the Web Challenge. But, many of you are finding the voting process and platform hard to use. We hear your cries for help! We feel your pain and are actively trying to make things better for everyone. Here are some details - we'd love your feedback!

Take a quick survey (just 3 questions) to let us know your ideas!

So, do you understand the electoral system yet? Thoroughly digested those platforms and polls? With both a Canadian and an American election on the go this autumn, there’s a lot of indigestible info out there. We’re going to show you some sites that will hopefully help you stay on top of it. More...

Hi Net2!

There are 44 mashup ideas in the NetSquared Mashup Challenge Project Gallery, and the deadline is still a week away (March 14th, 5 PM PDT). Very exciting!

Take a look through the projects, give them feedback in their comment section, and star them if you like their idea.

Please note that giving a project a star is not a vote. It is simply a way to engage with the projects, tell them you like their work, and help them gather attention from people who are skimming the NetSquared Mashup Project Gallery.

Voting will begin on March 17th. We'll have more info. for you about it soon.

Flickr photo credit: Star and Tree by Paul IJsendoorn

" There are about 50 social networks, and they each have thousands of groups of individuals in these little private circles. It is not like you can send out a blast to everyone on the list and expect them to respond enthusiastically. You really have to do what Jacob Colker did, and go door-to-door--the equivalent of door-to-door online and get to know people, spend some time."

Posted here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7Ll8s5O1dQieNPVfXSNpWw

Use as you wish...intended to allow anyone to make their decision process a bit less painful. :)

The first three bold categories are the criteria listed on the 11th-to-the-last page of the larger crazy-patterned book with 1-page profiles of each projects. I'm going to rate projects in some of the categories listed here on a 1-5 scale (5 being best) and tally the results to help me decide.

 If you'd like to suggest additional criteria, post it in the comments and I'll add it. Thanks to the Meebo'ers for a fab lunch and input @ the fountain!