Catching a bad case of the economic droopies? How better to buck up than at a conference where one speaker's job title is "Director of All Things Fun, Meaningful and Rewarding."

The director of salesforce.com's foundation zapped digital illumination into some of the 200 people who attended last week's Corporate Community Involvement Conference in San Francisco, sponsored by the Conference Board and Public Affairs Council. Many were serious-minded folks who've survived staffing/dollar downsizing and generally were trying to figure best practices to innovatively donate dwindling resources.

Julie Trell of Salesforce and Amanda Webster of National Instrument took the topic of technology-driven employee-volunteer programs. They talked about "living in the cloud" and using "disruptive technology" to engage/excite staffers. (The "cloud" and disruptive technology, essentially mean using new electronic gear -- like fee-based, Internet services -- to push aside, ahm, a more centralized "computer industrial complex.")

It sounds a bit like "we are the machine," but it's got some high-powered users/believers. Imagine posting volunteer opportunities and allowing employees to match their skills with groups needs (I can balance your books, so don't ask me to just answer the phone)? Or posting community needs and allowing staff to vote for the ones that get more resources? Or competitive volunteering -- department vs. department (Our IS department has a comma more in donated hours than accounts payable) ? Or employees posting their volunteering videos on YouTube or company-related sites?

OK, it's a lot more than that. So, here are some helpful/thoughtful Web sites I gleaned:

www.salesforce.com -- go to the foundation link. It even contains detailed how-to's on establishing a foundation from the ground up.

www.thinkfinity.org -- from the Verizon Foundation. It's got thousands of lesson plans for teachers -- and it's fun/informative for everyone to poke around.

www.wegiveback.com -- a Bay area company that invests a chunk of its earnings back into the local community.

www.thecloroxcompany.com/community/ --- One strategy Clorox pursues is giving just $1,000 to scads of organizations -- so they can build leverage/credibility, saying Clorox helped them, when they solicit bucks from others.

As one conference speaker said, "The best nonprofits give themselves tools to go to the next level." So, if being one with the cloud takes you there ...

 (For some of the programs available at nonprofit Community Medical Centers, go to http://www.communitymedical.org/311.htm )