Weekend Link Roundup (May 15 - 16, 2010)

Our weekly roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Communications/Marketing

"The biggest thing that needs to change this year is how we think about our donors," writes Katya Andresen in a post on her Non-Profit Marketing blog. "We are in the midst of an enormous generational shift that has major implications for our work. Younger donors expect engagement and involvement. They are anything but passive. Think of it this way," adds Andresen. "Just as in marketing we have left the broadcast era where consumers passively take in promotional messages, we have left the low-expectation donor era. This generation is going to keep us on our toes...."

Corporate Philanthropy

Back from a blogging hiatus, Jessica Stannard-Friel of the Reimagining CSR blog shares a recent Q&A she did with Margaret Coady, director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy. In it, Coady discusses the challenges facing CSR professionals and opportunities for the field.

Fundraising

Looking to get the most out of your use of video for fundraising purposes? On the Future Fundraising Now blog, Jeff Brooks suggests that nonprofits stick to videos that are "compelling for the slice of people who are or could be your supporters," rather than creating videos with the hope/expectation they will go viral.

Philanthropy

On the Its Your World blog, World Affairs Council of Northern California president Jane Wales shares the story of a woman from Taiwan who lives on $3 a day and uses the rest of her income to support orphans and support a library in her school and then asks, "How many of us with much larger earnings could be just a bit more frugal so as to put our funds to a larger purpose?"

Cary Lenore Walski explains on the Philanthropy Potluck blog why mapping a grant in real time could help grantmakers to "identify gaps where communities are underserved and use that data to make more informed decisions about their work...."

On the Actually Giving blog, Brigid Slipka considers the pros and cons of nonprofit staffers giving to their own organizations. Is it something donors pay attention to when choosing which organizations to fund, asks Slipka? And isn't it enough that nonprofit employees already give a lot to their organizations with their time and effort? What do you think? Use the comments section to share your thoughts....

Social Media

In the latest installment of the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Social Good podcast series, Allison Fine chats with the National Wildlife Federation's Danielle Brigida about nonprofit organization's use of mobile geolocation features and capabilities.

On the Mashable site, Geoff Livingston, co-founder of Zoetica, a cause-related consulting firm, explains how nonprofits can use social media to turn "slacktivists" -- folks who do good "without having to do much at all" -- into activists.

A couple of weeks ago, the Case Foundation co-hosted a public-private strategy session with the White House on the topic of "driving innovation and civic dialogue through the use of prizes, challenges, and open grantmaking." On the foundation's blog, Sokunthea Sa Chhabra shares footage of the event, including an interview with X Prize Foundation chair and CEO Peter Diamandis and Tom Kalil of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. (You can read a PND Q&A with Diamandis here.)

Technology

The release of the iPad has many in the nonprofit world talking about the potential of the new device to transform the sector. Don't worry, advises social media guru Beth Kanter. The new tablet computer from Apple is a pretty nifty gadget, but "we're still in the early stages and there's no compelling rush to get seduced by shiny object syndrome."

On her Philanthropy 2173 blog, Lucy Bernholz explains why it's important to "actively learn from and listen to people about what they need [and] what they want to do with [technology]," when building new tools. "It is about getting those apps, games, and data into existing community initiatives -- from health to environmental justice to neighborhood safety to worker safety and environmental protection -- and find[ing] out what those folks need and can contribute...."

Voluntarism

Last but certainly not least, DC Central Kitchen president Robert Egger unveils the organization's new Volunteer Bill of Rights. "Some of these rights are, of course, pretty obvious," writes Egger, "but by publicly committing to these standards, we hope that volunteers will...ask us hard questions and push harder still for details, which we are, to a team member, double down ready to provide...."

That's it for now. What did we miss? Drop us a line at [email protected] and have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone

Comments

[Mazarine]

Ms. Slipka raises a good point. how many of us DO give to our own organizations? This should be a metric of whether a nonprofit is worthy of our support.

The reason I think this is because if a nonprofit is paying above the level required for people to earn a decent living ($45,000) then it would make sense that people at the nonprofit would feel generous enough to donate back to it.

But too often we devalue our nonprofit staff to the point where we pay them almost nothing. Very few people at nonprofits that I know have ever donated to the nonprofit. And there's a reason for that. If the nonprofit devalues them, why should they donate something of their value to the nonprofit?

Mazarine
http://wildwomanfundraising.com

[Cary Walski]

Hey Regina,

Thanks for the link back to my post about Ushahidi! :)

-Cary

[Regina Mahone]

No problem -- we really enjoy reading Philanthropy Potluck. It gives us lots of 'food for thought'!