Weekend Link Roundup (November 19-20, 2016)

Our weekly roundup of noteworthy items from and about the social sector. For more links to great content, follow us on Twitter at @pndblog....

Climate Change

William McDonough, an author/architect and inventor of the concept of "cradle-to-cradle," wants to change the way we talk about carbon. FastCoExist's Adele Peters explains.

Communications/Marketing

Consultant (and former Chronicle of Philanthropy reporter) Peter Panapento shares some tips designed to help you write an op-ed that actually gets published.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Looking for a job that offers more than a check? Amy Elisa Jackson and her colleagues at Glassdoor have compiled a list of eleven companies that give back — and are hiring.

Current Affairs

If the 2016 presidential election told us anything, it's that the divide between rural and urban America is widening. To learn more about what that might mean for the country, The Atlantic's Sommer Mathis spoke with Kathy Cramer, whose new book The Politics of Resentment "traces the rise of conservative Gov. Scott Walker and the political evolution of Wisconsin." (The Badger State went for Trump in this election, the first time a Republican candidate has won there since 1984.)

"The scandal [of this election]," argues Travis LaCouter in a piece for Philanthropy Daily, "lay in the fact that that outcome came as such an utter surprise to half the country, and as such a desperate necessity to the other half." Looking ahead to 2020, 2024, and beyond, this is something foundations can have a direct impact on. "Programs that [bring] together partisan Democrats and Republicans to teach them the basics of dialogue," writes LaCouter, "would help bridge the empathy gap currently wrecking our politics. It sounds childish, perhaps, but also necessary given the tone and quality of this electoral season."

It's been a tough couple of weeks for a lot of folks in the nonprofit sector. As Vu Le writes in his latest blog post, "It will take us a while to understand what happened and what we need to do." In the meantime, Le, in his latest post, shares seven "agreements" designed to help folks navigate through the difficult weeks and months ahead.

Fundraising

When it comes to crafting an effective fundraising strategy, understanding your donors is key. In a guest post for the JCA blog, Sarah Tedesco, executive vice president of DonorSearch, shows you five ways you can use prospect research to enhance your donor communications.

What's the one donor question every nonprofit should be able to answer? According to Jack Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement, it is: Are we making a difference?

Global Health 

In The Lancet, Jocalyn Clark and Linsey McGoey give three reasons why the global health community should pay more attention to the potentially adverse effects of philanthrocapitalism. 

Nonprofits

Not sure where to turn with a Trump presidency just months away? Nonprofit Chronicles blogger Marc Gunther shares a list of nonprofits compiled by Agora For Good that are active in areas most likely to be affected by Trump administration policies. 

Philanthropy

Foundation leaders — including the Surdna Foundation's Phil Henderson, the Heinz Endowments' Grant Oliphant, and the Ford Foundation's Darren Walker — continue to weigh in with their thoughts about Donald Trump's election as president and what it means for the social sector going forward. Got a thought you'd like to share? Use the comments section below.

And be sure to check out this great roundup of post-election resources from the folks at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.

The Rockefeller Foundation has just published its 2015 annual report, which looks at the foundation's efforts over the last decade to help communities around the world build resilience to the shocks and stresses of the twenty-first century world.

On November 22, philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, along with nineteen other Americans, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. (You can watch a livestream of the event here.)

And on the NCRP blog, Lisa Ranghelli look at what turmoil at the top of the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation — the foundation has gone through four executive leadership changes in five years — has meant in terms of its community impact.

Got something you'd like to share? Drop us a line at [email protected] or post it in the comments section below....