Change Magnet

Okay, Web developers, bloggers, cause-wired enthusiasts—listen up. April 3 is the deadline to apply for a new cash prize being offered by Social Actions to encourage the creation of new tools to make it easier for people to "do good" on their favorite Web sites and social networks.

Social Actions already offers an open, searchable database of some 60,000 opportunities to take action—such as signing petitions, volunteering, or giving money to any number of good causes. But Social Actions Founder Peter Dietz wants more people to get involved, so has kicked off Change the Web Challenge to encourage third parties to figure out ways to bring these opportunities directly to the sites that people already visit, regardless.

Social Actions is offering $10,000 in prizes to be divvied up between the three best applications, which will be named April 28, the final day of this year's NTEN conference in San Francisco.

"The economy is in the doldrums and people need to help each other out wherever possible," Dietz says. "We have the chance to make the Web more philanthropic and do more with the technologies available to us and the audiences already assembled on social networks to engage more people to make a difference."