Picks of the Week: May 4 - 10, 2008

Website of the Week -- Leader to Leader Institute

Established in 1990 as the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, the Leader to Leader Institute furthers its mission -- to strengthen the leadership of the social sector -- by providing social sector leaders with essential leadership wisdom, inspiration and resources to lead for innovation and to build vibrant social sector organizations. It is this essential social sector, in collaboration with its partners in the private and public sectors, that changes lives and builds a society of healthy children, strong families, decent housing, good schools, work that dignifies, all embraced by the diverse, inclusive, cohesive community that cares about all of its people. The Leader to Leader Institute helps social sector organizations achieve excellence in performance and community building by providing guidance in:
• Managing for the mission
• Making innovation a part of all strategy
• Developing productive partnerships, collaborations and alliances
• Facilitating dispersed leadership
• Promoting and building richly diverse, inclusive organizations and communities
• Using self-assessment resources for establishing mission, goals, and objectives

Also be sure the check out The Knowledge Center. Go to: http://www.leadertoleader.org/about/index.html.


Publication of the Week -- Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide to Using Web2.0 Technologies to Recruit, Organize and Engage Youth by Ben Rigby and Rock the Vote

From the publisher: Mobilizing Generation 2.0 is a practical and immediately useful guide for nonprofits, political campaigns, organizers, and individuals who want to better understand how to use Web 2.0 technologies. In easy-to-understand terms, this accessible book describes how readers can leverage new media—blogs, online social networking, photo- and video-sharing sites, mobile phones, wikis, online maps, and virtual worlds—to recruit, engage, and mobilize young people. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Pro Bono Skills-Based Volunteerism Skills: Untapped Resource for Nonprofits

According to the fifth annual Volunteer IMPACT Survey by Deloitte, the overwhelming majority of human resource professionals view skills-based volunteerism as a powerful and cost-effective professional development tool, yet very few companies are leveraging volunteer programs for this purpose. The national survey of Fortune 500 human resource managers found that, while training and development is perceived as vital to corporate success, many managers are laboring under shrinking or flat budgets, underscoring the need for cost-effective innovation. One solution could be found in an unlikely place — the company’s volunteer program. Fully 91 percent of respondents agree that skills-based volunteering (which involves the contribution of business knowledge and experience to help nonprofits increase their capacity) would add value to training and development programs, particularly as it relates to fostering business and leadership skills. However, only 16 percent make it a regular practice to intentionally offer these opportunities for employee development, suggesting a missed opportunity to boost learning in a way that offers substantial benefits. Go to: http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/press_release/0,1014,cid%253D203257%2526pv%253DY,00.html.


Resource of the Week -- A Cure for Founderitis

This article addresses the symptoms, causes and treatment of “founderitis”. The term "founderitis" or "founder's syndrome" refers to the unhealthy condition that afflicts many nonprofits whose founders maintain a stranglehold on organizational leadership. While many nonprofits owe their success — and in fact their very existence — to their founders, those same individuals can create chaos that ultimately leads to the organization's collapse. The challenge to founding CEOs and boards of directors is to take steps to change conflict and chaos into opportunities for growth. The article appearing in the Center for Association Leadership website, was authored by Maryll Kleibrink, CFRE, the director of development at the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice. Go to: http://www.asaecenter.org/PublicationsResources/EUArticle.cfm?ItemNumber=11531.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Selecting Text in Word

Have you ever had trouble selecting text with the mouse, especially between pages, and you just can't seem to get that pesky thing to stop? One of my favorite tricks is selecting with the keyboard because you have total control over where the selection starts and stop. To select text with the keyboard, position the cursor at the beginning of the selection, hold down the Shift key and move the cursor arrows.

• To select to the end of a line: Shift + End
• To select to the beginning of a line: Shift + Home
• To select everything in the document: Ctrl A

Selecting text with the mouse:

• To select a word: point to the word and double-click
• To select a sentence: hold down the Ctrl key, point to the sentence, and click
• To select a paragraph: position the cursor within the paragraph and triple click

These tips work in 2007 as well as earlier versions. Most of these tricks also work in Excel, PowerPoint, FrontPage, Access, and other Microsoft Windows-based programs.