Picks of the Week: March 11 - 17, 2012

Website of the Week -- Social Impact Exchange

The Social Impact Exchange is a community of funders, advisors, wealth managers, intermediaries, nonprofits and researchers interested in funding and developing practices for scaling-up social solutions. The Exchange’s purpose is to establish a marketplace ecosystem that consistently enables effective social interventions to achieve scaled impact. The Exchange has three main functions: Facilitate increased funding of nonprofit scaling initiatives through funder networks and growth capital markets in specific issues and geographies ; Develop and share knowledge, including research, information and education that leads to more effective scaling efforts; Build Field Infrastructure to enable a capital marketplace to emerge, including standards, funding platforms, and distribution channels to efficiently connect funders with growth initiatives. For more information, go to: http://www.socialimpactexchange.org.


Publication of the Week -- POLICY vs. PAPER CLIPS - THIRD EDITION: How Using the Corporate Model Makes a Nonprofit Board More Efficient & Effective by Dr. Eugene H. Fram

From the publisher: POLICY vs. PAPER CLIPS is an unusual how-to book. It is a serious subject – improving nonprofit board governance while enhancing a management focus – but it is written in a highly user friendly way. Two old friends with ties to vastly different nonprofit organizations discuss via email what it takes to adopt the Corporate Model, an approach that can position your nonprofit to meet the demanding realities of the 21st century world. Given today’s difficult times for nonprofits, hardly any can continue to operate as they have in the past. For most, it is no longer possible for a volunteer group of directors to be involved in day-to-day operations of the organization. The Corporate Model establishes a framework for separating policy development from operational activities. When customized appropriately to your own nonprofit, the Model promotes growth. This book shows you how to tap the creative energies of the board of directors to address critical issues about vision, direction, assessment of outcomes; how to adapt to new challenges and how to capture emerging opportunities – while turning over day-to-day operational matters to management. The Corporate Model works best for nonprofits that have an annual budget of about $1 million or more and staffs of about 15 or more. However, anyone associated with a nonprofit group can benefit from reading this book. It provides an essential self-examination that can serve as a catalyst for becoming a more dynamic organization.


Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – Voluntary Turnover Rates To Double in 2012

According to a new study, nonprofits expect their voluntary turnover rates to double in 2012 to 14% from 7%. And, since the same survey indicates that three-quarters of nonprofits say they do not have a formal strategy for retaining staff, some nonprofits, for whatever reason, may be sailing into danger when the economy picks up steam. Not only may they see their top talent walking out the front door, but they may be faced with skills and competency gaps particularly at the entry to mid-level career mark. Many nonprofits cannot afford this type of talent shift as it can affect the organization's mission. Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey, conducted annually by Nonprofit HR Solutions, found that most nonprofit organizations (87%) do not anticipate their overall turnover rate to increase this year when compared to last year, however more organizations expect turnover through retirements and voluntary resignations to increase. The survey shows that last year, only 1% of organizations anticipated turnover to increase due to retirements compared to 13% of organizations surveyed this year. For more information, go to: http://www.nonprofithr.com.


Resource of the Week – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of 360 Degree Evaluations

This article by CompassPoint staff members Michelle Gislason and Marissa Tirona in The Nonprofit Quarterly thoroughly discusses the features, pros, and cons of a 360° performance evaluation process. With careful planning and forethought, this tool can surface powerful insights on an employee's work patterns that can serve as a springboard for personal development and new organizational contributions. See if it's right for your organization. To access the resource, go to:
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Run PowerPoint 2010 Slide Show in a Window

Have you ever wanted to be able to run a PowerPoint slideshow in a window? This can be done by adding a button to the Quick Access Toolbar. Here’s how:

• Click the File tab on the Ribbon
• Click the Options button at the bottom
• Click Quick Access Toolbar in the left pane
• Under Choose commands from, select Commands Not in the Ribbon
• Scroll down and select Slide Show in a Window
• Click Add to add this button to the Quick Access Toolbar
• Click OK

To run a slideshow in a window simply click "easel stand" button on the Quick Access Toolbar in the upper left of the screen.