Picks of the Week: December 20, 2009 - January 2, 2010

Website of the Week -- The Center for Collaborative Planning

The Center for Collaborative Planning (CCP) promotes health and social justice by providing training and technical assistance and by connecting people and resources. CCP supports diverse communities in key areas, such as: Asset-based Community Development (ABCD), Leadership Development, Working Collaboratively, Community Assessment and Strategic Planning. The site contains an extensvice reource library organized into 13 categories. Go to: http://www.connectccp.org/index.shtml.


Publication of the Week -- Nonprofit Guide to Going Green by Ted Hart, Adrienne D. Capps and Matthew Bauer

A first of its kind, The Nonprofit Guide To Going Green is a practical and comprehensive learning tool dedicated to guiding nonprofits and NGOs towards becoming more green. The book is an outgrowth and companion to GreenNonprofits, Inc., a nonprofit organization founded to be an accessible source of information about greening the nonprofit workplace, and to be a desktop tool for any nonprofit to become green[er]. Dozens of expert authors from around the world have joined in this effort to provide accurate and helpful guidance for charities that want to become more green, support sustainable business practices and the environment. As people and corporations around the world become more green they in turn expect the nonprofits they support to also take proactive steps to protect the environment. GreenNonprofits, and the Nonprofit Guide To Going Green, will lead the way in helping nonprofits and NGOs around the world meet this challenge. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Five Trends That Will Reshape the Social Sector

The James Irvine Foundation commissioned La Piana Consulting to develop a monograph entitled Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector. The publication seeks to illuminate several key trends — and their interrelationship — which will be especially relevant to nonprofits as they look to the future. The Foundation’s intention in funding the development and publication of this thought piece is to spark discussion across the nonprofit sector and to have these ideas inform ongoing planning and strategy development, given a new economic reality. In identifying the key trends discussed in this document, La Piana Consulting drew upon months of conversations with clients and partners in the field, extensive literature reviews and in-depth interviews with thought leaders. In addition to describing key trends, the monograph identifies core competencies for those nonprofits that will be best equipped for the future. The five trends are:

• Demographic shifts redefine participation
• Technological advances abound
• Networks enable work to be organized in new ways
• Interest in civic engagement and volunteerism is rising
• Sector boundaries are blurring

To download a copy of the publication, go to:
http://www.lapiana.org.


Resource of the Week -- The Troublemaker's Teaparty, A Manual for Effective Citizen Action

The Troublmaker's Teaparty is an updated and expanded version of The Citizen's Handbook. It contains all of The Handbook plus additional material on preventing grassroots wilt, strategic action, direct action and media advocacy. To download a copy, go to: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Display Tabbed Documents in Access 2007

A new feature in Access 2007 is the option to use a tabbed interface. This allows you to open multiple objects (tables, forms, reports, or queries) at once. Each object is a separate tab so you can easily see the available objects and click on the one you want. To use this feature:

• Click the Office button in the left corner of the screen
• Click the Access Options button at the bottom of the window
• Select the Current Database in the left pane
• Under Document Window Options, select Tabbed Documents