What if there was an easy way for the public to get detailed information about the work of some of the world’s most successful social entrepreneurs?

Would it lead to better ideas that could someday solve some of the world’s most pressing problems?

The Skoll Foundation, PopTech, ideablob, and Civic Ventures are about to find out.

The four organizations said today that they are going to create an open database of social entrepreneurs based on information they have gathered and release it to the public as an application programming interface, or API.

“The Social Entrepreneur API will be the first open database of information about social entrepreneurs who have won fellowships and awards from social-enterprise funders,” the organizations said in a release. “The tool will allow philanthropists, investors, press, and fellow entrepreneurs to find social entrepreneurs based on keyword, ...

Even the smallest of nonprofit groups can design effective and engaging Web sites.

But many groups omit basic features that prevent them from making the most of their home pages.

Kivi Leroux Miller, a nonprofit marketing consultant, recently conducted an unscientific but instructive survey of about 30 nonprofit groups during a seminar she was hosting on nonprofit Web sites.

And the results suggest many nonprofit groups are wasting opportunities because they have failed to include some basic features on their home pages.

Among Ms. Miller’s findings:

“It’s a lot to absorb, but the good news is that all of these problems are very fixable,” Ms. Miller writes.

What features are must-haves on nonprofit Web sites? What are some examples of small nonprofit groups that have effective and useful sites? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.

Should nonprofit groups have formal contribution requirements for those who serve on their boards of directors? Or is the expectation of giving something that is simply understood?

Virginia Ikkanda-Suddith, a fund-raising consultant in Los Angeles, recently asked those questions, to members of the Chronicle‘s LinkedIn group.

The question prompted sharp disagreements among nonprofit officials and consultants about how charities should communicate giving requirements to their board members.

June Jimenez, director of development at the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, writes that her organization asks board members to either donate or raise $2,500 for the organization — an expectation that is spelled out in their job descriptions.

Peter Hansen, vice president of development at New Jersey Performing Arts Center, said the expectations should be spelled out differently, ...

What efforts should philanthropists be focusing on to help nonprofit groups deliver relief to those who have been hurt by the recession?

The University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy in April set out to answer that question. By June, the center’s organizers plan to create a guide that will help philanthropists identify some of the best ways they can use their money to help those who are being affected by the economy.

Katherina Rosqueta, the center’s executive director, discussed this effort with the Chronicle, and offered some ideas on how nonprofit groups can use the report to do a better job of delivering services in response to the recession.

You can hear excerpts of our discussion here:

What approaches are working best to help combat the recession? Are there organizations and strategies that you think are effective models for others to follow?...

More than 300,000 people have watched a quirky music video peppered with complaints about the discount food store chain Trader Joe’s on YouTube.

The video takes shots at its crowded parking lots, once-popular items that it no longer carries, and its 10 brands of soy milk “that all taste the same.”

Knowing those facts, it would seem as though Trader Joe’s wouldn’t be happy with the amateur video recorded (against store policy) on a cell phone.

But marketing experts say the video is a huge win for Trader Joe’s because those complaints are included in a real-life piece that also praises its charms.

“I’m pretty sure the Trader Joe’s messaging guidelines don’t include complaints about the parking lots or the stuff you want that’s not in stock,” writes Jeff Brooks on Donor Power Blog. But that’s precisely why this is such a great video. “It’s not marketing. It’s relationship....

Sean Stannard-Stockton, a financial analyst and philanthropy blogger, doesn’t have a very kind view of the way the news media covers the nonprofit world.

“Philanthropy is full of exciting stories about innovation and impact, but too many media reports focus on big gifts without exploring the context or impact,” Mr. Stannard-Stockton writes on the blog Tactical Philanthropy.

That view is shared by Lisa Endlich, who wrote in a comment that news reports tend to focus too much on the rich and famous — and not enough on philanthropy’s efforts to attack social issues.

“The media often makes bold philanthropic efforts look like the purview of only the very richest and famous,” Ms. Endlich writes. “I know that the celebrity element makes for good copy, but it misses the point.”

Do you agree with these sentiments? Does the news media give enough attention to the world of philanthropy? If...

Just how much has technology changed the world of advocacy?

A new course offered at Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a clue.

MIT is offering a new graduate-level seminar on the use of “mobile technologies for social change.”

“By the end of the class, we hope to collaboratively create new sociotechnical repertoires for social change and technical activism. In order to foster this creation, we aim to provide participants with overviews of the conceptual, technical, and historical space for mobile technologies in social change,” according to an online syllabus for the seminar.

The blog MobileActive.org says the course is the first to focus exclusively on the use of mobile phones for social causes.

If you were structuring a graduate program on the use of technology for advocacy or fund raising, which topics do you think would merit their own courses? Click on the...

Twestival a fund-raising event in more than 175 cities that is organized on the social-networking Web site Twitter is under way in several European cities.

The event, which is raising money for Charity: Water, a New York organization that works to bring clean drinking water to developing countries, is the offshoot of a 2008 fund-raising event in London that was similarly organized by Twitter users.

The concept, however, is no longer confined to just one city. Organizers have used the Internet to spread the event worldwide and they expect to raise as much as $1-million for the charity at events tonight on six continents.

Predictably, Twestival is getting considerable attention today on Twitter.

But participants are using an array of other online tools to spread the word about and participate in the event.

Web browers can watch live video feeds from all of the Twestival venues....

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a reputation for using sensationalistic tactics to draw attention to its cause.

But a protest by the animal-rights group in New York this week has some saying that the organization has gone too far in its effort to attract attention.

According to the Associated Press, PETA representatives led a protest outside of Madison Square Garden on Monday to coincide with the annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

The organization contends that the show’s host, the American Kennel Club, encourages pure-breeding of dogs — a practice PETA says isn’t healthy.

To call attention to the issue, the organization compared pure-breeding to the Ku Klux Klan’s efforts to create a “master race.”

“‘Welcome AKC Members,’ read a banner hanging from the table — with AKC crossed out and KKK written above it,” the Associated Press wrote in its report on the...

Executives at companies that receive federal bailout money could soon face a $500,000 salary cap under a plan released this week by the Obama administration.

But at least one critic says the federal government shouldn’t stop there.

Paul Streckfus, editor of the subscriber-only newsletter EO Tax Journal, writes today that top officials at nonprofit organizations should be subject to the same pay limits.

“Why not impose a $500,000 salary cap on organizations that get the benefit of tax exemption and tax-deductible contributions?” Mr. Strekfus asks. “A few executives might flee to the for-profit sector, but I foresee no great difficulty in replacing them with equally-qualified individuals.”

Mr. Streckfus does note that such limits would probably hurt colleges and universities that hire big-name football and basketball coaches.

But he quickly dismisses that concern: “Somehow I...