Our weekly roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....
Communications/Marketing
Back from the Conexion Colombia conference in Bogota, Katya Andresen has some advice for nonprofits seeking partnerships with large corporations on her Non-Profit Marketing blog.
A "Snickers Bar Hunger" ad in the latest issue of Rolling Stone leaves Nonprofit Board Crisis blogger Mike Burns wondering whether there "is [ever] a time when cause-related marketing isn't just selling out the nonprofit brand?"
Journalism/Media
On the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Give and Take blog, Caroline Preston asks whether WikiLeaks -- a "stateless" Web platform that promotes "radical transparency" in the public and private sectors and recently published a cache of classified Pentagon documents related to the war in Afghanistan -- should be more transparent about its own sources, donors, and activities.
Philanthropy
If Sokunthea Sa Chhabra is right and "do-gooding" has gone mainstream, what if, anything, are the downsides? "Although it's fantastic that this idea of doing good [has become] part of our nation's general culture and psyche," writes Chhabra on the Social Citizens blog, "does it mean that people will lose sight of real impact and will it be an excuse for people to feel like they don't need to do more?"
Referencing posts by Sean Stannard-Stockton and Nathaniel Whittemore that expressed contrasting views about the inaugural cohort of Social Innovation Fund grantees, nonprofit consultant Adin Miller offers his take on the fund's announcement. Writes Miller: "I side more with Nathaniel and wish the process had focused more on true innovati[on] and risk with the chance of creating true disruption instead of taking the safer route by funding what works." In his post, Miller goes on to examine the specifics of the announcement and shares a useful, exportable spreadsheet populated with information about the grantees.
Poverty
After receiving a lot of comments on a recent blog post in which they asked whether it was okay "to profit from the poor," Philanthrocapitalism co-authors Michael Bishop and Matthew Green hosted a debate about the topic on Twitter. You can read a transcript of the conversation here.
Social Entrepreneurship
Philanthropy Action editor-in-chief Tim Ogden has posted a list of news stories about the SKS IPO and the decision by Seattle-based Unitus, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing innovative, market-based solutions to global poverty, to exit the microfinance space.
Social Media
On her Philanthropy 411 blog, Kris Putnam-Walkerly shares a useful list of twenty social media resources for nonprofits.
"While it is definitely true that [social networking] sites could be here today and gone tomorrow, your supporters will indeed migrate with you on to The Next Big Thing," writes Heather Mansfield on the Nonprofit Tech 2.0 blog. "The trick is to know when to begin to encourage your supporters to move on...."
Guest blogging on Beth's Blog, MomentFeed founder Rob Reed explains how geolocation technology will change the world by connecting individuals "in more meaningful ways to the people, organizations, events, information, and companies that matter most...namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are."
Technology
On a related note, PhilanthroMedia founder Susan Herr suggests on the Communications Network blog that if "the past fifteen years has been about disseminating content in new ways (think site design, search engine optimization and social networking), the next fifteen will force fundamental changes in how we produce what we produce." Adds Herr: "Central to this position -- advanced by Jeff Stanger in the most recent episode of the Communication Network's Diavlog Series -- is [the creation of] native digital content...."
That's it for now. What did we miss? Drop us a line at rnm@foundationcenter.org and have a great week!
-- Regina Mahone
