[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).

You've gotten used to evaluating software for use in your organization. You have a specific need to fill, you look around for the list of software that can fill that need, make sure that the feature set matches, that you have the budget, and that the company or vendor is reputable, and can provide the support you need. But how do you evaluate free and open source software?

Flickr Photo: pedrosimoes7I'm working on my presentation for the Legal Services Corporation's Technology Initiative Grants Conference -- say that three times fast! -- where I'm scheduled to talk about the un-Wired nonprofit. There are so many amazing things happening with wireless around the country, and so many more amazing things happening with mobile, that I'm having a hard time focusing.

It's a real joy to think about and explore such fun stuff for a good cause. It's definitely my favorite part of my work: dreaming big and making connections. And now is a great time to dream big. With all the buzz about social media, we've entered another heady period in the history of technology. It's cool to be a geek again!

In the middle of all that big dreaming, I was brought back to earth with a thud by an email we got here at the office this morning from marketing professional at a small organization asking about scholarships for the NTC.