Welcome to Wednesday, folks! We have a good bundle of local and non-profit news items coming your way …

CSG’s 2011 State of the Washington Region — Following the State of the Union, Greater Greater Washington has an excellent post this week from Coalition for Smarter Growth’s Laura DeSantis on the state of our community, focusing on “our top five opportunities and challenges.” She summarizes that “adopting a range of smart growth policies — from transit-oriented development to a range of housing options — will set us firmly on a course to become the most energy efficient, and environmentally and fiscally sustainable region in the nation.” I would only add that CSG’s call for more mixed-use corridors and broader housing options are particularly apt: “We must ensure every community throughout the region has a full range of affordable housing choices through mixed-use revitalization, housing trust funds, affordable housing preservation strategies, and inclusionary zoning policies.”

What Works: Untying the Knots of Transportation in the Developing World — Over at Worldwatch Blogs, Nourishing the Planet has a cool series entitled “What Works?” Pointing out that “it should come as no surprise that per capita GDP is directly correlated with the number of roads in an area,” this week’s post focuses on developing more functional transportation networks to benefit poorer farmers in remote areas. While offering several possible solutions, the post then asks readers for “other ways where solving a problem in transportation can yield a solution in agriculture.” Head over there to add your thoughts!

Canadians use multiple channels to give — The Philanthropy Journal reported on The Next Generation of Canadian Giving Report, citing that “younger donors have helped online giving surpass giving by mail … driven by Generation Y donors, who are under age 30, 32 percent of Canadians overall have given online, surpassing the 27 percent that have mailed in a gift.” Interestingly, American donors are more than twice as likely to give to charity via their phones than their Canadian counterparts.

Pepsi, Google, Salesforce.com: Philanthropy, Social Media Style — Along similar lines, with a certain major sporting event around the corner, Forbes revisited on Monday how “much was made of Pepsi Co.’s decision to forgo advertising during the Super Bowl last year. Instead, the company launched a campaign for ‘refreshing ideas that change the world.’” While tweaking the campaign this year, and eliminating their largest grant category, “Pepsi is clearly onto something … charitable giving, especially when adorned with social media elements, has become downright popular.” But the article concludes that, while the soda giant’s campaign might be the most well-known, “of all the tech companies’ philanthropic efforts, probably the most diffuse, in terms of reach, is salesforce.com’s, which gives its employees 6 paid days off a year … to devote to any charity of their choice”

Any other news to add? Let us know below!