May 12, 2012
Women
Tools for Change: Applying United Nations Standards to Secure Women's Housing, Land, and Property Rights in the Context of HIV, a report from the Open Society Foundations and United Nations Development Programme, provides strategies and case studies of successful efforts to help women across the world mitigate the lack of control over their own economic, social, and sexual lives that leaves them more vulnerable to HIV infection....
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May 9, 2012
Children and Youth
Prevention in Middle School Matters: A Summary of Findings on Teen Dating Violence Behaviors and Associated Risk Factors Among 7th-Grade Students, a report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson and Blue Shield of California foundations, describes the risks, prevention, and long-term consequences of electronic dating abuse among pre-teens....
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May 6, 2012
Science/Technology
The Zero Divide report Funding Mobile Strategies for Social Impact: The Future Is Now urges more investment in mobile strategies to create social change — something that has lagged despite the catalytic role mobile played in Haiti after the earthquake and in last year's Arab Spring uprisings....
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May 3, 2012
Public Affairs
Bolder Together, a report from California Civic Participation Funders, explores the potential of funder collaboratives to effect policy change by describing a project led by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund in partnership with ten other funders to increase civic participation in California....
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More Connections
The Democratic Republic of Congo: Taking a Stand on Security Sector Reform (April 30, 2012)
Suspended Education in California (April 27, 2012)
Emerging Opportunities: Giving and Participation by Silicon Valley Asian American Communities (April 24, 2012)
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Igniting Passion Through Volunteering
Lisa Marie Nickerson, Associate Director, Women Build, Habitat for Humanity International
I've built a life that follows my passion: undergraduate degree in social work, three years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer, and more than ten years as a nonprofit professional at Habitat for Humanity.
I remember the first time that passion was ignited with Habitat for Humanity. It was just over a decade ago; I was in the Peace Corps, standing as a first-time Habitat volunteer on a build site in Jamaica. As I gathered with my fellow volunteers, I felt anxious and unsure about what to expect or whether I had the skills to do the work. I was a young woman in my 20s and had barely swung a hammer in my life. If asked to, I'm not sure I could have picked a 2 x 4 out of a pile of lumber.
Those fears were soon replaced by the knowledge that I could actually do the work. I discovered, as all Habitat volunteers do, that you learn on site; the only prerequisite is a willingness to help. Standing with the partner families and my fellow volunteers at the end of the day, surveying the fruits of our labor, and realizing — in language expressed in the heart rather than the mind — exactly what we had built was an experience I will never forget....
Read Nickerson's commentary»
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The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector
In the latest article in our SSIR series, the researchers of a recent study on nonprofit branding share details of how the sector is pushing beyond the boundaries of brand as a fundraising tool into a broader and more strategic approach designed to create greater social impact....
Nonprofit brands are visible everywhere. Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, and the World Wildlife Fund are some of the most widely recognized brands in the world, more trusted by the public than the best-known for-profit brands. Large nonprofits such as the American Cancer Society and the American Red Cross have detailed policies to manage the use of their names and logos, and even small nonprofits frequently experiment with putting their names on coffee cups, pens, and T-shirts.
Branding in the nonprofit sector appears to be at an inflection point in its development. Although many nonprofits continue to take a narrow approach to brand management — using it as a tool for fundraising — a growing number are moving beyond that approach to explore the wider strategic roles that brands can play: driving broad long-term social goals while strengthening internal identity, cohesion, and capacity.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, recently appointed Tom Scott as director of global brand and innovation. Oxfam International embarked on a confederation-wide "global identity project." And GBCHealth was one of several organizations completing a rebranding process. Brand managers in these pioneering organizations were focusing less on revenue generation and more on social impact and organizational cohesion. Indeed, some of the most interesting brand strategies are being developed in endowed private foundations with no fundraising targets at all.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, recently appointed Tom Scott as director of global brand and innovation. Oxfam International embarked on a confederation-wide "global identity project." And GBCHealth was one of several organizations completing a rebranding process. Brand managers in these pioneering organizations were focusing less on revenue generation and more on social impact and organizational cohesion. Indeed, some of the most interesting brand strategies are being developed in endowed, private foundations with no fundraising targets at all....
Read the article»
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Funding Nonprofit Technology to Support Innovation
In the latest article in our TechSoup column, MAP for Nonprofits and Idealware describe their study, Unleashing Innovation: Using Everyday Technology to Improve Nonprofit Services, which examined tech use by human service groups in Minnesota.
What does it take for an organization to innovate the way it delivers services? The answer may not be what you think; our research shows that significant dollar investments in technology are not necessarily the best way for nonprofits to improve their effectiveness. Rather, we found that subtle innovations can enable organizations to do more with less and still have enormous impact on their ability to deliver services. And by investing thoughtfully, funders and other support organizations can create significant opportunities for nonprofits to better serve their constituencies.
Last year, MAP for Nonprofits and Idealware partnered on a research project that surveyed a hundred and eighty human service organizations in Minnesota about the technologies they were using and the different ways they applied those technologies to improve their ability to deliver services. Based on their responses, we selected thirteen nonprofits for detailed follow-up interviews, which in turn revealed some remarkable stories of innovation in unexpected circumstances....
Read the article»
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Conference Calendar
Connections: Children and Youth, International Affairs/Development, Public Affairs, Science/Technology, Women
Commentary:
"Igniting Passion Through Volunteering"
NPO Spotlight
Work Activity Center
Off the Shelf
Us Before Me: Ethics and Social Capital for Global Well-Being
On the Web
Creating Quality
PhilanTopic
The PND Blog
SSIR@PND
"The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector"
TechSoup@PND
"Funding Nonprofit Technology to Support Innovation"
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Work Activity Center
The center provides a range of therapies and independent living training to adults with disabilities in Utah....
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Us Before Me: Ethics and Social Capital for Global Well-Being
In her book, Northeastern University professor Patricia Illingworth shares her ideas about the role social capital can and should play in society, lawmaking, and global development....
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Creating Quality
The recently launched Creating Quality site provides resources for those working to improve arts education and creative learning in public schools....
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PhilanTopic
On the blog, we chat with Helena Monteiro, executive director of Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support; Brooklyn Philharmonic CEO Richard Dare looks at three for-profit strategies that nonprofits can learn from; and Regina reports from 92nd Street Y, where Charlie Rose interviewed Eli Boad about his new book The Art of Being Unreasonable....
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June 5 - June 6, 2012
Corporate Philanthropy Summit
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy
New York, NY
June 6 - June 7, 2012
2012 Conference
Aid and International Development Forum
New York, NY
June 8 - June 10, 2012
2012 Annual Convention
Americans for the Arts
New York, NY
June 18 - June 20, 2012
2012 National Conference: Turning Point
Points of Light Institute and the Corporation for National and Community Service
Chicago, Illinois
August 3 - August 5, 2012
2012 National Leaders Conference
Young Nonprofit Professionals Network
San Francisco, California
September 14 - September 15, 2012
2012 Boardsource Leadership Forum: Designing Change
Boardsource Leadership Forum
Chicago, Illinois
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