Phillip,

I think that the unconference and open space format is perfect for bringing together passionate people. The goals of a conference are very different than the goals of other movements. We can take the basic framework from these events and start applying them to different domains. For example, DemoCamp is a semi-structured evening using many of the organizational and coordination concepts of BarCamp. The goal for DemoCamp is very different: get geeks together on a regular basis and let them show/share what they've been working on. It's a social event.

The power of BarCamp comes from it's definition as an unconference, the culture of openness including encouraging others to start their own BarCamps, and the wiki.

What would events for Not-for-Profits look like? Societal change? Are they group discussions? Raising public awareness? Or providing opportunities for participation with those traditionally outside these spaces? What does a traditional Not-for-Profit conference look like? Is it a technology conference for not-for-profits? Bring together agencies, tech companies, government agencies. All you need to do is provide the space, a wiki, and invite a bunch of interested people.

Can we do something like SuperHappyDevHouse to build a tool that is needed by social-service agencies or national advocacy networks? Spend a Friday afternoon and evening with where an agency pitches their problem, then spend Saturday and Sunday building a solution on top of an open-source platform. Maybe break it down into phases where the work happens over multiple weekends. Weekend one - problem definition and deep dive. Weekend two - design competition among 3-5 teams, judges pick best solution at end. Weekend three - build the winning solution.