Picks of the Week: December 25 - 31, 2011

Website of the Week -- Center for Nonprofit Management

As one of the nation's leading management support organizations, the Center for Nonprofit Management brings the most current tools for best practices in nonprofit management to thousands of nonprofit boards, staff and volunteers each year. The mission for the Center is to build stronger communities by increasing the performance and impact of nonprofit organizations. In the late 1970's, the Meadows Foundation in Dallas recognized a significant need for staff development and management assistance to charitable organizations. In 1980, with the support of other local funders, Meadows provided the seed funding to establish the Center for Nonprofit Management. Today, the Center receives support from donations, grants, fees for services and annual membership dues at a minimal cost and is a United Way service provider. The site houses an excessive collection of resources for nonprofits. Go to: http://www.cnmdallas.org/about_the_center.aspx.


Publication of the Week -- Shift and Reset: Strategies for Addressing Serious Issues in a Connected Society by Brian Reich

From the publisher: In these challenging economic times, it is more important than ever for nonprofits to focus on shaping policy, building capacity, developing talent, improving their marketing and promotion, fundraising, and developing partnerships/collaboration for organizational success. Shift & Reset: Strategies for Supporting Causes in a Connected Society teaches the nonprofit/social change/philanthropy/cause community how to take advantage of rapidly changing technologies and new communication ecosystem that exist in our connected society.

• Addresses the most critical challenges facing the nonprofit/social change/philanthropy/cause community
• Re-envisions how we support causes and address serious issues in our connected society
• Outlines how organizations must operate—and what happens when they don't re-think their work
• Features interviews with over twenty-five leading thinkers/authors/organizational leaders

Innovative and right on time, Shift & Reset equips nonprofit professionals with a set of three core principles, a five-step checklist of immediate action items, as well as a list of ten "must-read" items.

Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – Growth of Suburban Poverty

The Brookings Institution released a report on the growth of poverty in the suburbs of four major metropolitan areas in the US and how foundations have reacted to these changing demographics. Using data from local funders in the Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, and Detroit regions, as well as interviews with practitioners, the report found several key takeaways from philanthropy’s involvement in suburban poverty. Most of the community foundations in the suburban areas are smaller and newer, and do not give out enough grants compared to their urban counterparts proportional to the poverty levels in the areas they served. Additionally, the report highlighted the need for capacity building in suburban social service nonprofits, but noted that most suburban funders are not providing this necessary support. To download the report, go to: http://www.brookings.edu.


Resource of the Week – Board Leadership Resources

Consultant Robert C. Harris has complied an excellent collection of practical tools for managing various aspects of board operations. Go to: http://www.rchcae.com/board-leadership-dowbloads.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Calendar Templates for Office

Gearing up for the new year? Microsoft has a collection of templates for creating calendars using Word, Excel. PowerPoint, Access, and other programs. You can download them for free. Check it out. Click to download free calendar templates. http://office.microsoft.com.