ReadWriteWeb

Raising funding is hard any way you slice it, but the emergence of cause-base resources is helping pave the way for ethical startups that might have otherwise gone unseen. A few years ago we featured 13 seed funding options for entrepreneurs. Since then a few investment groups have come forward with a different approach. One such funder is the education-focused incubator Startl.

It's been a long and winding road for serial volunteer and social media philanthropist Sloane Berrent.

Since her unplanned departure from an L.A.-based startup in 2008, Berrent has traveled through eight countries, documenting and publicizing the struggles of those in developing areas through her blog posts, tweets, images, videos, and her own presence at events at home and abroad. From post-Katrina New Orleans to a trash dump in Manila to a monastery in Burma, read on for her story of trying to achieve social good through social media.

It's been a long and winding road for serial volunteer and social media philanthropist Sloane Berrent.

Since her unplanned departure from an L.A.-based startup in 2008, Berrent has traveled through eight countries, documenting and publicizing the struggles of those in developing areas through her blog posts, tweets, images, videos, and her own presence at events at home and abroad. From post-Katrina New Orleans to a trash dump in Manila to a monastery in Burma, read on for her story of trying to achieve social good through social media.

Just when you thought the Obama lovefest was dwindling, Photographer Rick Smolan released his latest book, The Obama Time Capsule. The book includes photography, maps and election results from President Obama's road to the White House. What makes this project unique is that Smolan offers readers a chance to upload their own photographs and personalize their copies.

Individuals often have to sacrifice their livelihood for a cause. It's not fair, but it happens. But what happens when they're forced to volunteer at a corporate job? This morning CNBC and Web Guild published articles on how some individuals are "volunteering" to defer pay to maintain their positions or fill time between job interviews.

As "volunteering" is defined as "working on behalf of others without being motivated by financial or material gain," this seems like a strange use of the word. In the case of employees deferring pay, this seems more like an unfortunate burden rather than an act of volunteerism. If you're an experienced professional looking to stay sharp and you've got the freedom to contribute to actual volunteer-driven efforts or you'd like to try working for a cause-based organization, below are some great resources:

Robert Scoble and Rackspace have just launched the long anticipated Building43 in an effort Scoble describes as, "helping usher businesses into 2010." Said teammate Rocky Barbanica, "Companies can gain so much insight through the people on Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook. We're hoping to help them talk and listen to their customers."

Scoble describes the project as "a community for people who are fanatical about the Internet." What exactly does that mean? Scoble gave ReadWriteWeb a demo to explain.