Picks of the Week: May 24 - 30, 2009

Website of the Week -- National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy

For more than 30 years, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy has served as the country’s independent watchdog of foundations. Over time, institutional grantmakers, federal and state governments, and individuals have taken NCRP recommendations and turned them into policy, such as promotion of comprehensive financial reporting for foundations as well as the inclusion of advocacy organizations in the Combined Federal Campaign—now both widely accepted as "good practice." NCRP played a critical role in the development of alternative workplace giving funds, such as Community Shares, Earth Shares and Community Coalition Funds. Go to: http://www.ncrp.org.


Publication of the Week -- Building Evaluation Capacity: 72 Activities for Teaching and Training by Hallie Preskill and Darlene Russ-Eft

Building Evaluation Capacity provides 72 activities for learning how to design and conduct evaluation studies. These activities address the entire evaluation process. Each activity includes an overview, instructional objectives, time estimates, materials needed, handouts, and procedures for effectively using the activity, whether there are a few participants or an unlimited number in small groups. To help the reader locate specific kinds of activities, the book includes a chart that names the activity, the time needed to implement the activity, and whether background information or knowledge is required prior to implementing the activity. The book also includes several strategies for forming groups and a glossary of instructional strategies. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Update Value of Volunteer Time

Independent Sector has just released an updated figure for the estimated dollar value of volunteer time: $20.25 per hour for 2008. The estimate helps acknowledge the millions of individuals who dedicate their time, talents, and energy to making a difference. Nonprofit organizations can use this estimate to quantify the enormous value volunteers provide. For more information, go to: http://www.independentsector.org.


Resource of the Week -- Avoiding Common Hiring Pitfalls

There are a number of ways that recruiting and hiring processes can go wrong, and hiring the right people into the right positions is too important to leave to chance. Whether your organization has dedicated human resources professionals or not, there are a number of common hiring mistakes that can be easily avoided as outlined in this article from GuideStar. Go to: http://www.guidestar.org.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Entering the Euro in Word 2007

To enter the Euro symbol in Word 2007, use this simple keyboard shortcut:

• Hold down the Alt key and the Ctrl key, then Type the letter e.

This trick also works in earlier versions.