Weekend Link Roundup (October 2 - 3, 2010)

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

Communications/Marketing

A couple of months ago, Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced that it would challenge in court "kite fliers, kayakers and dozens of other themed fund-raisers" using its trademarked "for the cure" phrase. In response, Dan Pallotta on his Harvard Business Review blog writes, "Some would say it's wrong to sue a charity because it hurts the poor or those in need. It's going to hurt them a hell of a lot more if good companies avoid business with charity because trademark, patent, and contract law don't apply."

Fundraising

Guest blogging on Katya Andresen's Non-Profit Marketing blog, Joe Garecht of the Fundraising Authority offers five reasons why your supporters are not interacting with your nonprofit online.

Impact/Effectiveness

Guest blogging at the Tactical Philanthropy blog, Peggy Hill, chief strategic relations officer at Nurse-Family Partnership, has a few recommendations for foundations and government looking "to increase the odds of success in moving evidence-based programs into broader practice."

Social Entrepreneurship

In advance of the sold-out Social Capital Markets Conference in San Francisco, Social Entrepreneurship blogger Nathaniel Whittemore shares ten tips for those lucky enough to have snagged a ticket.

Social Media

New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell's article about technology and activism caused quite a stir last week. In the article, Gladwell argues that today's social media tools fail to engender the type of "strong ties" that fuel social movements and drive change. "More than misunderstanding the role and power of social media," writes Allison Fine, co-author of The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting With Social Media to Drive Change, on her blog, "what I found most disturbing and disappointing about the article was that Gladwell doesn't understand [the nature of] activism."

Elsewhere, Personal Democracy Forum's Nancy Scola says Gladwell's piece starts out well but eventually veers off "in the wrong direction in search of premature conclusions." Writes Scola: "Rather than comparing Woolworth sit-ins to the much-hyped Twitter Revolution, finding the latter coming up wanting, and stopping there, Gladwell might have given some space in the New Yorker to dig a little deeper to find examples of folks using technology to organize in intriguing, successful ways," adding that the "examples are there...."

On a related topic, Zoetica co-founder Geoff Livingston explains why he believes "the end of the technology adoption curve for social media" is near.

Technology

And gearing up to host this month's Nonprofit Blog Carnival, Jake Seliger of consulting firm Seliger + Associates has put out a call for posts about the tools -- hardware, software, or techniques -- that "have made your life substantially better, easier, or more interesting."

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

-- Regina Mahone