Weekend Link Roundup (October 9 - 10, 2010)

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

Cause Marketing

On her Getting Attention blog, Nancy Schwartz shares an interview with expert cause marketer Joe Waters in which Waters identifies the types of nonprofits most likely to benefit from corporate partnerships.

Guest blogging at Katya Andresen's Non-Profit Marketing blog, Network for Good's Kate Olsen announces the release of the organization's newest e-guide, Cause Marketing Through Social Media: 5 Steps to Successful Online Campaigns, which was created in partnership with communications/marketing consulting firm Zoetica.

Corporate Philanthropy

On the Social Citizens blog, Kristin Ivie takes a look the 2010 Cause Evolution Study, a new report from marketing and communications firm Cone which finds, among other things, that "purchasing and employment decisions [by consumers] are increasingly influenced by how corporations align themselves with a cause."

"There is no doubt about it -- cause marketing influences what we buy and from whom," writes Lucy Bernholz on her Philanthropy 2173 blog. "There is nothing but doubt, however, that the money that is raised this way goes where it is supposed to....We do not track these dollars, companies don't need to report them (nor even identify the organization to which they are giving them), no one is required to report them in aggregate form or any other way, and there is not, at this time, any way to know for sure that the money is going for good."

Education

On the Deep Social Impact blog, Joanne Duhl applauds Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and the new documentary Waiting for Superman for putting urban school reform back in the spotlight. "The problem is that the spotlight will once again move on to a new hot issue," writes Duhl, "while the children in these communities will be literally left behind."

Governance

On the Venture Philanthropy Partners site, VPP chairman Mario Morino takes another look at the trend toward greater transparency in the social sector and argues that "an organization’s performance...and its transparency are highly intertwined and co-dependent." Moreover, writes Morino, as the transparency revolution accelerates,

we must not allow skin-deep, compliance-driven transparency to become an acceptable substitute for values-driven, culturally ingrained efforts. One way to convince nonprofits to turn toward deeper transparency is to make transparency less scary. Today, transparency is not used enough as a tool for helping organizations to learn, improve, and adapt—to hold themselves accountable to themselves first! Far more frequently, it’s used to find fault and even punish.

...

Transparency is inevitable. New tools and often-well-deserved suspicion of our key societal institutions make that so. But transparency for transparency's sake -- or for punishment's sake --is ineffective and even counterproductive. We must use our society's focus on transparency to encourage a broader ethic and culture within the social sector that will build and reward true transparency. And just as we want to encourage organizations to be mission-driven and to "manage to outcomes," we want to encourage their being open and transparent for their own effectiveness -- so they can do the very best they can for those they serve....

Philanthropy

Guest blogging at Sean Stannard-Stockton's Tactical Philanthropy blog, nonprofit consultant Adin Miller provides thorough coverage of the Tactical Philanthropy track at last week's Social Capital Markets Conference in San Francisco.

Social Entrepreneurship

Nathaniel Whittemore shares a chart from technology research firm Gartner that illustrates the "hype cycle of emerging technology" and asks, two years after the global financial crisis, whether the social entrepreneurship field has "come through the trough of disillusionment."

Social Media

It's not enough for organizations to create a mobile app or mobile-friendly version of their Web site, says Zoetica co-founder Geoff Livingston on his blog. The key is "Understanding how mobile impacts your stakeholder....Whether that's easier experiences with less input because of the device, or actual hard location based use depends on the organization. What is clear is that this is a trend that companies and nonprofits can no longer avoid."

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

-- Regina Mahone

Comments

[Geoff Livingston]

Thank you for including me.

[Regina Mahone]

Geoff, we enjoy reading your blog and are happy to include it in the roundup. Thanks for stopping by!

[Reinhart Law]

Several industry professionals will discuss nonprofit board governance and other hot topics in a free Webinar on Oct. 18.

http://www.reinhartlaw.com/Events/Pages/DirectorIndependenceandOtherHotTopicsinNonprofitGovernanceWebinar.aspx

The presenters will cover:
• IRS Standards on Director Independence in Nonprofit Organizations

• How should a tax-exempt organization analyze ongoing director independence?

• The "Lead Director" Concept

• How does a Lead Director become designated?

• When do financial or business interests of directors affect director independence?

• Competency-based Governance

• Board Leadership Succession Planning

• Implications of Independence Requirements for Board and Committee Composition

• Best Practices in Handling Conflicts of Interest