Post: Moving beyond apps contests

The goal of all of this has been to harness the excitement of development for good, but also to go beyond the contests — to build communities of practice. Peter calls these innovator networks. If we’re lucky, these may grow into innovation marketplaces that just might be self-sustaining. — Beyond Apps from Peter Corbett

Post: Apps for Good

I love my phone. Not so much for the phone part, but for the little computer in there that connects me to the world, no matter where I am. The phone has our calendars, our mail – and, increasingly, our volunteer opportunities. It’s the day timer of our times. But better than a day timer, the phone offers discovery, too.

Lots of nonprofits and individuals are at work to make this discovery include nonprofits and volunteering. Here are a few of our favorite apps for good – apps that connect people to nonprofits and causes.

Interview: Marnie Webb on NetSquared's experience with public participation in grantmaking

Eric: Why not just have experts help develop ideas and directly fund them?

Marnie: There are many people — universities, foundations, private individuals — who find experts, give them resources to develop amazing and elegant solutions and fund them. That’s a model that has been around for a long time and, like any model, it has its strengths and weaknesses.

We wanted to do something different with NetSquared.

Katine project shows development and its beneficiaries

Just where are we paying attention?

I like Apple’s computers and phones. (It’s a vice, I know.) Over the past couple of weeks all of this iPad, iPhone iNews has allowed for plenty of indulgence of that vice. But yesterday, Steve Jobs said something that could impact how people find nonprofits - and everybody else - online. He said folks using the iPhone:

• Spend about 30 minutes a day using apps
• Are using apps, not searching