Picks of the Week: October 3 - 9, 2010

Website of the Week – Serviceleader.org

Serviceleader.org offers specialized resources for volunteers, leaders and managers of volunteers, and instructors and thought leaders. Serviceleader.org is operated by the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. Site content is developed by Center faculty, guest authors, and students engaged in the study of volunteerism. Go to: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/rgk/serviceleader.


Publication of the Week -- Leading the Way to Successful Volunteer Involvement: Practical Tools for Busy Executives by Betty B. Stallings and Susan J. Ellis

From the publisher: Lay the foundation for achieving impact with volunteer engagement! Move forward from thinking "volunteers are nice to have" to initiating strategic plans for engaging community members as key ingredients in accomplishing your organization's mission. Hit the ground running with step-by-step worksheets, checklists, idea stimulators, reallife examples, self-inquiry assessments, and other practical how-to tools to:
• Develop a philosophy statement about volunteers and make it a mantra for everyone in the organization
• Create a budget for volunteer involvement
• Secure funding for volunteer engagement
• Write a position description (and pick the right title, salary, and placement) for a director of volunteer involvement
• Integrate support for volunteers into every unit and department of your organization
• Assess staff training needs for working with volunteers, and much more!

Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Social Good

According to Mashable, social media has had a profound effect on the way social good organizations approach global problems. From the Red Cross, which used text messages to raise $5 million in relief funds for Haiti, to organizations like micro-lender Kiva, which wouldn’t even exist without the concept of social networking, altruistic organizations and individuals are finding new ways to embrace social media. Mashable asked social good experts about trends that will shape the way we use social media for positive change in the future. The five trends identified were:

• Crowdsourcing
• Location, Mobile Apps and Other Experiments
• Mobilizing Actions
• Benefiting From Cause Marketing
• Cooperation Between Non-profits and Individuals

For more information and lots of great examples of each trend, go to:
http://mashable.com.


Resource of the Week – Nonprofit Webinars for October 2010

Wild Apricot, a Canadian based software development company has compiled a list of webinars on a number of nonprofit management topics being offered this month at no charge – useful for fundraisers, board members, administrators, active volunteers and volunteer coordinators. Go to: http://www.wildapricot.com.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Change Text Case in Word

To change the case of text in Word, try this:

Select text

• Press Shift + F3 until it changes to the desired case style
• Pressing Shift + F3 toggles the text case between all caps, lower case, and initial cap styles.

Be sure to hold down the Shift WHILE you press F3. You can also try this in PowerPoint.