Picks of the Week: November 1 - 7, 2009

Website of the Week -- Institute on Race & Poverty

The Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) investigates the ways that policies and practices disproportionately affect people of color and the disadvantaged. A core purpose for IRP’s work is to ensure that people have access to opportunity. Another is to help the places where people live develop in ways that both promote access to opportunity and help maintain regional stability. Go to: http://www.irpumn.org.


Publication of the Week -- The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan by Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey R. Solomon

From the publisher: From world-renowned philanthropists Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies comes a comprehensive guide on how to be a canny, street-smart, effective philanthropist, regardless of your income level. It is also a perfect companion for nonprofit program and development executives who would like to introduce donors to their work and their organizations. Despite their critical importance to philanthropy, donors have few resources for solid information about making their gifts-deciding what type of gift to give, how to structure it, the tax implications, what level of follow-up and transparency they should ask for and expect, and countless other complexities. This book fills that vacuum and helps you gain a special understanding of philanthropy as a business undertaking as well as a deeply personal, reflective process. Drawing on decades of experience, the authors offer a fresh, enlivening approach to the nonprofit enterprise that, too often, is undervalued and thought of as the province of the burnt-out and the overwhelmed. Along with its many candid insights and memorable anecdotes, The Art of Giving also offers instruction on how to create a business plan for giving that works for you. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Trends in Foundation Giving

Rob Blizard, Director of Gift Planning at George Washington’s Mount Vernon has compiled a list of 14 trends in foundation giving recently appearing in the Mal Warwick Newsletter. Some of the trends include the following: a continuing reliance on personal relationships, little support for operating funds, a continuing focus on outcomes and results, process changes due to technology, reduced giving from corporate sources, and more. To access the first seven trends, go to http://www.malwarwick.com. To access the remaining trends, go to http://www.malwarwick.com.


Resource of the Week -- Nonprofit Social Media Primer

Having a social media strategy is not its own objective. Rather, social media strategies can support your existing objectives. Reflect on your organization’s current objectives: Do you want to cultivate supporter relationships, build cause awareness, do online fundraising, or connect with new supporters? Those are all goals social media can help support, and the Nonprofit Social Media Primer examines a multitude of ways to get started and how your organization can benefit. The Nonprofit Social Media Primer was authored by Frank Barry, Director of Professional Services, Blackbaud Internet Solutions. To download a free copy, go to:
http://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/WhitePaper_BBIS_SocialMediaStrategy.pdf.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Keep a file on the Office 2007 Recent Documents List

An excellent new feature in Office 2007 which works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access, is the ability to keep or “pin” a file in the Recent Documents list, here’s how:

• Click the Microsoft Office Button
• Click the pin icon beside the document you want to keep on the list
• The pin button changes to a push pin viewed from the top