Picks of the Week: June 1 - 7, 2008

Website of the Week -- Nonprofit Jobs Cooperative

The Nonprofit Jobs Cooperative is a collaboration of nonprofit Management Service Organizations (MSOs) from across the United States who have combined their efforts to create a nonprofit jobs site by nonprofits, for Nonprofits. The goal of the Cooperative is to use a regional focus and local presence to provide service on a national scale. Nonprofit Jobs Cooperative believes that the regional focus that each partner offers is the best way to find qualified staff dedicated to the nonprofit sector. For the job seeker eager to find opportunities in the nonprofit sector, the Nonprofit Jobs Cooperative provides a one-stop source for nonprofit jobs from coast to coast. Individuals can search by geographic region, job title, category, organization name, or salary to find their ideal position. To learn more about the Nonprofit Jobs Cooperative, go to: http://www.nonprofitjobscoop.org/about.


Publication of the Week -- Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors: Best Practices for Achieving Performance Breakthroughs by Patricia Keehley and Neil Abercrombie

From the Publisher: The first edition of Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors offered public officials and administrators at all levels of government a unique and practical guide to identifying best practices and implementing them in their organizations. Based on the most current research, this new edition of the best-selling guide provides an updated, solution-driven methodology for benchmarking in both the public and nonprofit sectors. Unique in its focus solely on benchmarking, the authors take a step-by-step approach to two benchmarking techniques, differentiating between the two and then providing a new approach to solution-driven benchmarking that requires less time and fewer resources.

Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors provides new tools, many updated case studies, and additional examples not only from government and nonprofit agencies, but also from the international community. This important resource will help practitioners implement a quick, proven method as they search for solutions to their most pressing problems. To preview the book on Amazaon.com, click here.


Trend of the Week -- America's Nonprofit Sector Growth Trends

According to the Nonprofit Almanac 2008 just published by the Urban Institute Press,
America's nonprofit sector continues to grow faster than its business sector or its government. The nonprofit sector’s role in the economy has expanded by most key measures since 1998. It employs more people, draws in more revenue, and contributes more to the gross domestic product than it did a decade ago. Key findings include:

• Sector highlights: In 2006, nonprofits contributed $666.1 billion to the U.S. economy, and received $1 trillion in revenue, a 5.7 percent increase over 2005. In 2005, 12.9 million people worked for nonprofits, up from 11.1 million in 1998.
• Giving highlights: Private giving (individuals, foundations, and corporations) reached $295 billion in 2006, more than double 1996’s $139 billion. Individuals donated $222.9 billion in 2006, compared with $107.6 billion in 1996; personal bequests added another $22.9 billion in 2006, up from $12 billion in 1996. Foundations gave $36.5 billion in 2005, a 197 percent increase from 10 years earlier.
• Volunteering highlights: 61.2 million people said they volunteered in 2005. About 12.9 billion hours were volunteered in 2006, the equivalent of 7.6 million full-time employees.
• In 2006, the estimated wage value of volunteer time was $215.6 billion—equivalent to 43.3 percent of all nonprofit wages.

To order a copy of the Nonprofit Almanac, go to: http://www.urban.org/books/nonprofit_almanac/


Resource of the Week -- Professional Practice Statements

Founded in 1916, the Association Forum of Chicagoland today serves 47,000 Chicago area association professionals whose efforts serve 37 million members and 9 million donors. In 1996 the Association Forum Board of Directors approved what is believed to be the first professional practice statements ever adopted by a professional society of association professionals. The collected practice statements can be adapted by other nonprofits as appropriate. Topics covered by the practice statement include:

• Achieving Diversity in Associations
• Facilitation of Effective Board Decision Making
• Ethical Behavior of Association Leaders
• Volunteer Leader and Staff Relationship
• Evaluating the Performance of the Association Chief Executive Officer
• Recruitment and Retention of Quality Staff
• Strategic Alliances
• Association Strategic Governance
• Role and Function of an Audit Committee
• Role of the Chief Executive Officer in the Nomination Process
• And more.

To view the practice statements, go to: http://www.associationforum.org/resources/pps.asp.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Using Quick Parts in Microsoft Word 2007

Quick parts is a new feature in Word 2007 which allows you to add preformatted boilerplate text to documents. The text can be used as often as you need. For example, you can use Quick Parts to insert cover pages, footers with page numbers, tables, text boxes, watermarks, and more.

To use Word 2007's Quick Parts:

• Click Insert on the Ribbon
• In the Text group, click Quick Parts
• Click Building Blocks Organizer to browse the list of building blocks
• To preview an item, click it and it appears in the pane to the right
• When you find an item you'd like to insert, select it and click Insert
• Or click Close to close the dialog box without inserting anything