With a controversial article last month in the LA Times that the undertook a "value-added" analysis of local teachers to ascertain their "effectiveness," and with the release this week of the new documentary Waiting for Superman by Oscar winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, the subject of education is getting a lot of press over the last few weeks. And while a national "conversation" about the subject is crucial, our schools - our kids - deserve more than talk.

Zuckerberg's money is being matched by $100 million from Newark Mayor Cory Booker. In exchange, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be ceding some control of the Newark public school system to Booker, who has long been an advocate for charter schools. The state of New Jersey seized control of the failing Newark schools over a decade ago, but since then test scores and graduation rates have not improved.

All told, this $200 million amounts to over 20% of Newark's budget of $940 million. It's not clear yet what the funding will be used for, and Zuckerberg said in a press conference this morning that there were "no earmarks" for how his money will be spent. Instead, he said it's an investment in "great leaders" and in Booker in particular.

In a blog post this morning, Zuckerberg wrote that, "Education has always been important to me and my family. Growing up, my parents emphasized the importance of learning and academic success." Zuckerberg says he's like to see a "startup approach" to fixing education, challenging the slow-moving educational bureaucracy to respond with the sort of flexibility and speed he identifies with Facebook.

While some cynics point to the timing of Zuckerberg's donation to coincide with the release of The Social Network, others are skeptical that the philanthropy, while commendable, will really bring about a sustainable transformation to the struggling Newark schools.

Still, there are organizations such as Kiva, The Extraordinaires or SocialVibe and many others that do turn user microactions and technology to affect change and do good in very tangible ways. Those are just three of the tech nonprofit or philanthropic organizations I can think of at the moment, but we at RWW would love to know more. Tell us in the comment what your favorite tech nonprofit is and why.

SocialVibe is a company that helps brands and users create positive social change. In a typical SocialVibe setup, a brand "sponsors" users, who take small actions and engagements to raise money for the charity of their choice. In some ways, it's kind of like a broader-in-scope version of The Hunger Site, which gets advertisers to shell out cash to feed hungry people when users click around the site.

And The Extraordinaires is a program we just recently discovered while finding out how to help our readers use their personal time and online actions to help folks in Haiti. This site allows organizations to create missions. Users can complete micro-tasks from their mobile devices or computers toward those missions. Currently, the site has around 50 participating organizations and about 6,000 members who have completed in excess of 35,000 micro-tasks. Missions range from mapping safe places for children to play to helping first-aid responders reduce fatalities.

But there are many ways tech can be used to help others, not just the social media-focused, crowdsources companies we've mentioned here. For example, Inveneo helps to give access to information and communications technologies, including phones, computers and Internet access, to people in remote parts of developing countries. And there are many organizations focusing on getting tech hardware into the hands of those who need it, including students and injured veterans.

We'd love to know more about similar projects and organizations, whether large or small, new or longstanding. In this open thread of comments, please tell us your favorite nonprofit or philanthropic tech organization and let us know what they do. And please spread the good word and invite others to share, as well!

While the Knight Foundation's endowment has been hurt by the current economic climate, the Foundation is still committed to granting a total of $24 million to local media projects over the next five years.

Another good example for an organization that was awarded a grant by the the Knight Foundation is the Coral Gables Community Foundation in Coral Gables, Florida. This group, together with the University of Miami, will use its grant to train seniors to report, write, and blog about local affairs.

A complete list of sponsored projects can be found here. A second round of grants will be awarded later this year.

Google is definitely using its 10th anniversary to enhance the visibility of its philanthropic efforts. Google has lately been using its official blog to talk about its energy and health initiatives. Just yesterday, Google wrote about its Predict and Prevent initiative, a project that is looking at novel ways to detect the threat of a pandemic before it can turn into a crisis.

Submissions for Project 10^100 are due by October 20.

"The main theme that jumped out at us is that major donors -- or the wired wealthy as we call them -- are very active online with the intention of becoming even more so when it comes to their philanthropic support," said Vinay Bhagat, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Convio in a press release. "Based on what these important donors told us, we believe a tremendous opportunity exists for nonprofit organizations to better leverage their online presence to improve the online experience of the wired wealthy."

Convio, Edge, and Sea Change expect that the results of their research will change the way some charities approach online fundraising. Specifically, they found that more than half of those surveyed preferred giving online, and 80% said they did at least some of their donating via the Internet (and a good portion do it via credit card to get the frequent flier miles). That's imporant because even though the "wired wealthy" made up just about 1% of donors to the charities involved in the study, they accounted for approximately 32% of their annual gifts.

Unfortunately for charities, less than half of respondents thought charity web sites were generally well-designed, that charities did enough to connect with them online, or that they were inspired by charity sites. So how can organizations better connect with these important constituents? Email is one method. According to the study, 65% of the "wired wealthy" always open email sent from charities they support, and about 3/4ths of respondents said that email reminders about the renewal of an annual gift are "appropriate." But just 43% thought emails from charities were usually well-written or inspiring, indicating that thus far email has been a lost opportunity for many non-profit organizations. Further, a large majority of respondents said an email letting them know how their donation was spent would make they more likely to give again, as would controls on how often a charity was allowed to email them.

More than half of respondents also use YouTube, which points to online video as another pontential way to connnect with wealthy donors online.

"We believe this research will fundamentally shift the way some nonprofit organizations approach their relationships with major donors online," said Mark Rovner, Principal of Sea Change Strategies.

The study revealed three distinct personality types among the "wired wealthy."

• 29% are Relationship Seekers - Relationship seekers put the most stock in how a charity web site forms a connection with them. They tend to skew younger (under 45) and are most likely to engage in social activities with the charity. 2/3rds of relationship seekers say that a charity's web site plays a role in whether or not they give money.
• 41% are Casual Connectors - Like relationship seekers, so-called casual connectors also seek a connection with the charity. However, for them it is less personal -- they're more interested in things like how efficiently the charity is using their money and want easy access to that information.
• 30% are All Business - The all business set doesn't care about feeling connected to the charity, rather they want the donation process to be as easy and painless as possible. They also tend give the most money.

It certainly seems possible to appeal to each of those personality types via a single web site, which is exactly what the authors of the study hope will happen. "The research provides important insight into the ways non-profits can better connect, motivate and retain these donors. The results of this research will provide a variety of different non-profit organizations -- both large and small -- the tools to assess their online strategy and make adjustments where necessary to better capture big opportunities," said Rovnar.

In September, we wondered if the web was still a windfall for non-profits. With online donations up 37% in 2006 according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, it is clear that the web, if not yet the main point for charitable donation, is playing an increasingly more important role. As part of that online fundraising strategy, targeting the "wired wealthy" is something that charities should be taking into account.