Picks of the Week: December 2 - 8, 2012

Website of the Week --  Capacity Building for Non-Governmental Organizations Portal The Capacity Building for Non-Governmental Organizations portal was created for the eGranary Digital Library by the staff, students, and volunteers of United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD), and The WiderNet Project at the University of Iowa. Funding for the portal was provided by a grant from United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Find tools and resources that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-profits can use to learn how to design, implement, and evaluate social change projects; how to raise funds and write grant proposals; how to establish and run an organization and increase the capacity of your organization to influence society. There are some broken links but nonetheless a very useful website. Go to: http://www.widernet.org/portals/index.php?PortalID=28&view=public

Publication of the Week -- Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Facilitator's Tool Kit
From the publisher: Based on the success of the book Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Collaborate Today, Thrive Tomorrow, authors Jill Friedman Fixler and Beth Steinhorn have written a new tool kit designed to help organizations engage volunteer leaders to facilitate a successful volunteer engagement initiative. This facilitator's tool kit features 28 new worksheets, including meeting agendas, position descriptions, evaluation tools, and more. Together, Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Collaborate Today, Thrive Tomorrow and the new Facilitator's Tool Kit provide a straight-forward, step-by-step guide to harnessing the talents and skills of eager volunteers in your community to help your organization survive and thrive now and into the future.

Click to preview this book on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Boomer-Volunteer-Engagement-Facilitators-Tool/dp/1452015376/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&tag=createthefuturec

 

Trend of the Week – Nonprofits’ Impact on the Economy

The Rebecca Gordon Group has compiled information from Forbes, the Giving USA report the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Atlas of Giving and Johns Hopkins University to create a visual guide to the complex ways nonprofits influence the economy. From the info graphic, one can see that the nonprofit sector has been growing steadily, both in size and financial impact for more than a decade. For purposes of this info graphic, nonprofits are defined as entities exempt from income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. We will let the info graphic speak for itself (that's the point of an info graphic!") But here are a few key findings:

·        After two consecutive years of drops in charitable giving in 2008 and 2009, giving is once again on the rise. Giving is expected to increase to 360 billion in 2012.
·        From 2000 to 2010, nonprofit employment increased in all 45 states reporting data, a total of 2.1% overall. During that same time frame, for-profit employment decreased by .6%

To view the info graphic, go to http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/21287-nonprofits-and-the-economy-infographic-style.html.

Resource of the Week – “How To” Guides For Leadership Program Staff
As part of the Leadership for a New Era (LNE) initiative – a collaborative research initiative that seeks to promote more inclusive, networked and collective leadership models – the Leadership Learning Community (LLC) has generated a series of “how to” guides for leadership program staff. The guides are supported by funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The guides, which can be read separately or as an interconnected series, offer recommendations on these important topics:
·        How to use action learning to achieve your results
·        How to recruit to maximize the value of your cohort
·        How to cultivate and activate your network

To download the entire report go to: http://www.leadershiplearning.org/draft-download-how-series-webform

Tech Tip of the Week -- Move or Copy Sheets between Workbooks in Excel 2007/2010

·        Open the sheet you want to move or copy
·        Click the Home tab on the Ribbon
·        In the Cells group, click Format 
·        Under Organize Sheets, select Move or Copy Sheet
·        Choose where you want the sheet to be copied or moved to
·        Be sure to select the create a copy box if you do not want your sheet moved