To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

• TakingITGlobal and Nabuur Launch New Action Guide on Online Volunteering | NetSquared, an initiative of TechSoupGlobal.org – "TakingITGlobal (TIG), an organization that operates the world’s most popular online community for young leaders, and Nabuur, an online volunteering platform that links Neighbours (online volunteers) with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America, announced today the release of a new Action Guide on Online Volunteering available for download on the TIG website." Check it out!
• Chase Community Giving Contest Ends With Yet More Controversy – Beth's Blog: How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change – Beth Kanter has an excellent post chronicling and compiling many posts and resources, as well as commentary and criticism surrounding the Chase Community Giving contest that just finished. "This contest was the culmination of a two-part "vote for me" cause marketing strategy that started in November and has been rife with controversy. In some ways, it comes as no surprise that the race to the finish line ended with more allegations of dubious behavior by contest participants and those watching them compete. It's left some nonprofit professionals wondering whether these types of contests are a good idea." I strongly agree with Hildy Gottleib's comment at the end of the post and urge you to read both the post and the discussion in the comments.
• Online Fundraiser's Checklist – "FREE DOWNLOAD: The Online Fundraiser's Checklist. How Do You Ensure Fundraising Success This Year? Take advantage of Network for Good's handy new eGuide, The Online Fundraiser's Checklist, to ensure you don't miss a thing."
• 3 Powerful Social Good Trends in 2010 – Ben Rattray, the founder and CEO of Change.org, has a great piece on Mashable showcasing the three trends he sees coming in 2010 for the social change sector. "2009 saw a proliferation of online charity events, competitions, and “friendraisers” that spilled across Twitter (Twitter) and Facebook (Facebook) and filled email inboxes everywhere with more requests for money than any Nigerian prince could ever hope to make. And while it’s hard to argue that this is a bad thing — anytime someone gives money to feed the hungry instead of buying another digital potato seed in Farmville, global karma rises, if even just by a little — this focus on using the web as an ever-more elaborate means of getting people to fork over cash misses the much bigger opportunities just over the horizon."
• Try These Dynamic Digital Storytelling Platforms | Community Organizer 2.0 – "Nonprofit organizations can tell the best stories. Stories about the impact that a nonprofit has on people’s lives can engage, recruit and solidify donors and members. As ImpactMax writes so beautifully, tying individual stories to overall contextual problems and societal issues can really change policies. Anecdotely, I see a lot of blogs and Flickr photo streams, some YouTube and Vimeo use. Why limit yourself? There are so many other tools and platforms that are exciting, innovative, incredibly engaging, and beautiful. Here are my top digital storytelling platforms and tools for your nonprofit to try out in 2010."

My Focus for 2010

Collaboration: This year will, as they always seem to do, build on some of the major developments last year.  In my view, that specifically means I’ll be focusing even more on the opportunities for, technologies that support, and issues involved in collaboration (across organizations, across sectors, across geographies).  There are some great examples out there that need to be highlighted and examined.  There are also many technologies, whether they are tools or approaches or actual platforms, that are working to enable collaboration and I’d like to do more to highlight those with interviews and reviews.  Lastly, I want to create some open spaces for people to not just cheer for collaboration but also examine and explain some of the issues and barriers that organizations, individuals, campaigners or community members face when trying to approach collaboration.

Community:  As much as I see collaboration as the key to success, I also community as the core of every sector, every campaign, and every movement.  This year will, I think, provide some great opportunities to compare, contrast, explore and analyze the differences and nuances of communities defined as:

• communities of practice
• communities of focus
• communities of cause
• communities of geography

Through continued work on Social by Social (expanding it to be even more useful as an out-of-the-box resource and toolkit), speaking and participating at conferences, and the conversations on this blog I think we will have some very interesting ideas to explore about community!

Your Focus for 2010

Now it’s your turn!  Writing a blog can be a lonely adventure but I’m so very thankful that you as the community of readers and commenters and conversationalists have kept me from ever feeling like I was alone in the conversation.  And I want to keep it that way!  So, let me know what you’re focusing on in 2010 so that I can have your ideas and highlights on my radar, too.

• What are you focusing on at work that’s new?
• What are you focusing on at work that isn’t new but you wish was?
• What are you focusing on that you wish you had more resources about?
• What tools, strategies or issues do you want to discuss?

I’m really looking forward to all that unfolds in 2010 and to all that we can explore together.  Thanks for all your contributions!