Weekend Link Roundup (October 16 - 17, 2010)

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

Corporate Philanthropy

"When the Shell Foundation was created 10 years ago, the company was still near the top of the anti-globalization protestors 'hit-list', not least because of the rich resonance of the 'Shell to Hell' slogan," writes Matthew Bishop and Michael Green on their Philanthrocapitalism blog. "Has the Shell Foundation turned the company's reputation around and sent it to heaven? No....But it does show that corporate philanthropy that is run professionally and independently of the PR departments that still dominate much CSR, has a much greater impact...."

Environment

For this year's Blog Action Day, an annual event that this year invited bloggers around the world to weigh in on the global water crisis, Idealist.org's Diana Hsu compiled a list of water-related organizations that are working to assist underresourced communities. A handful of Foundation Center bloggers also contributed posts (here, here, here, here, and here).

Fundraising

On her Non-Profit Marketing blog, Katya Andresen shares a few takeaways from a recent Seth Godin webinar on what it means to be a "linchpin."

Future Fundraising Now blogger Jeff Brooks reminds fundraisers not to "mistake your psychology and preferences for your donors."

Philanthropy

On the Deep Social Impact blog, Maureen O'Brien explains why she doesn't think Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million donation in support of the Newark public school system is representative of his generation, the Millennials.

In his latest Chronicle of Philanthropy column, Tactical Philanthropy's Sean Stannard-Stockton offers five questions "that donors should ask when they are considering a significant gift."

Social Entrepreneurship

Social Velocity founder Nell Edgington has a few suggestions for next year's Social Capital Markets Conference, including adding a session "about how we educate philanthropists about the need for capacity and growth capital in the nonprofit world."

On the Chronicle of Philanthropy-hosted Money and Mission blog, the Nonprofit Finance Fund's David Greco suggests that "instead of trying to create new models based on the private sector or create for-profit social enterprises that use market mechanisms to address social ills, maybe we should ask, 'How do we release the potential of the social sector?'"

Social Media

In the latest installment of her Social Good podcast series, Allison Fine discusses the power of social media with Jennifer Aaker, co-author (with husband Andy Smith) of the Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change.

That's it for now. What did we miss? Drop us a line at rnm@foundationcenter.org and have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone