Google's nonprofit program offers a variety of services your organization can leverage to the benefit of your community. If you aren't a member of the program (read their eligibility guidelines) here is a run down of what the service offers:

• Free or discounted version of Google Apps for your organization
• Free AdWords advertising
• Premium branding and increased uploads on YouTube
• Free licensing for Google Earth, SketchUp, and Maps API

The services they offer at a free or discounted rate are worth the time it takes to apply, which isn't very long.  A few thoughts on proceeding:

• Apply to the nonprofit program with an email address that's not your personal account, like googlegrants@yournonprofit.org. After approval, at the very least enroll in Google Grants (which will give you up to $10,000/month to spend on AdWords) and YouTube for Nonprofits.
• When setting up AdWords, you have to set up a unique account that's not already in use.  You might want to consider using the same googlegrants@yournonprofit.org.
• For ease of access, use that same email to set up your YouTube channel.  You'll want to link your YouTube channel to AdWords.  Once you're in AdWords, look to the bottom left corner to link them.
• Use the same email address again to set up both Google Analytics and the Google Webmaster Toolkit. Both of these services require you to install meta data and code snippets into your site to verify ownership. Once in place you should link AdWords to Google Analytics, and then Analytics to the Webmaster Toolkit.
• To link AdWords to your Google Analytics, head to the Tools and Analysis tab in AdWords and click on the Google Analytics option, this will walk you through connecting the two services.
• To link Google Analytics to the Webmaster Toolkit, go to your site profile in Analytics, click Admin, then Property Settings, scroll down to the toolkit section, click Edit and link the profile on Analytics to the profile on the toolkit.  When you are finished, click Apply on Analytics.

The point in linking these services  is to gain an understanding of how users find your content and to allow you a level of control in that process. And using one designated account to manage access will save a lot of headaches.  With this account, you can grant access to other users, but this master account remains untied to any one person.

You'll also note the benefit of linking these various tools when the data from one service begins to appear in another.  For instance, you'll see better query data from the Webmaster Toolkit appear in Analytics or traffic data appearing in AdWords.

For more information on the nonprofit program - http://www.google.com/nonprofits/

Broadcastr "is a social media platform for location-based stories. It enables the recording, indexing, listening, and sharing of audio content. Just like in human memory, every story is bound to a place."  Broadcastr simplifies the process of recording your story, allowing you to easily peg it to a location on the map and discovering other shared stories.  Currently the service is in beta, but they were quick to send me an invitation when I signed up.

A brief look at the platform shows stories from all over the world, from the rescue response to the tsunami in Japan to a story about George Moscones's time as mayor in San Francisco. The site adds the context of location and the emotion of human events heard through voice, which isn't always reflected though the written word, lending greater meaning to a story or a movement.

So how does it work? It's simple actually. Either click the 'record' button in the upper left corner or the 'Add a Story' button in the upper right corner. You will then see a screen that will allow you to record your voice through the microphone in your computer in Step 1, add general information about your story in Step 2...

...and pin it to a location on the map in Step 3:

After you've pinned the recording, this is what it will look like on the map -

Using the 'More' and 'Edit' links, you review and change your meta descriptions if necessary.  If you were to do a search for opengov or savethedata, this is what the results would like like on the map -

This platform, even with its weaknesses and quirks, has the potential to add interesting, dynamic context to the stories we share online. Do you have an opengov or savethedata story you want to share? Record it and pin it Broadcastr and we'll highlight the best stories.

Politicalwire.com highlights how Google layered county voting results from the last seven presidential elections on to Google Maps and Google Earth. It's an incredibly quick way to look at past election results. It really is a "great resource" for history buffs, political junkies and geeks. Google also has a good page to keep you up to the second on the twist and turns of Election 2008. They have a index of various election maps, including this one showing the "fundrace," which highlights where in the country the campaign cash is coming from.