Picks of the Week: April 6-12, 2014

Website of the Week -- Volunteer Wisconsin

Volunteer Wisconsin is managed by Marshfield Clinic and partners with Volunteer Centers and Serve Wisconsin to connect volunteers, promote volunteering, and support the capacity of nonprofits. Its mission is to leverage volunteer capabilities and local assets to enhance Wisconsin communities. Local volunteer centers mobilize people and resources to deliver creative solutions to community problems. To achieve this vision, volunteer centers use the following core competencies:

• Connect people with opportunities to serve,
• Build the capacity for effective local volunteering,
• Promote volunteering, and
• Participate in strategic initiatives that mobilize volunteers to meet local community needs.

For more information, go to: www.volunteerwisconsin.org

Publication of the Week --  Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken

From the publisher: Paul Hawken has spent more than a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and centuries of hidden history. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire all who despair of the world?s fate, and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself.

Click to preview this book on Amazon.com

Trend of the Week --  Charity and Philanthropy in Russia, China, India, and Brazil

Charity and Philanthropy in Russia, China, India, and Brazil, by Joan Spero and published in collaboration with WINGS, builds greater awareness and understanding of the diversity and challenges of civil society in the so-called BRIC countries. In the absence of comprehensive data on philanthropy in these emerging market economies, the report identifies the cultural, economic, social, and political forces shaping giving in the BRIC countries and describes the growth and nature of their philanthropic activities. To download the report, go to: http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/research/pdf/philanthropy_bric.pdf

Resource of the Week –  The Smart Chart

The Interactive Smart Chart is based on the Spitfire Strategies Smart Chart 3.0 – a planning tool that helps nonprofits make smart choices and develop high-impact communications strategies. This online version of the Smart Chart offers an interactive approach to the planning process. As you work your way through the Chart, you'll have several opportunities to evaluate your answers and ensure you are making the smartest choices. You can also stop and save your answers at any time, and come back and finish later. This allows you to finish the planning process in your own time – and gives you maximum flexibility so you can get input on your choices from staff, board members or other outside resources as needed. At the end of the process, you will have a fully completed Smart Chart that links your organization's goals to the many strategic decisions necessary for a successful communications effort.  Go to: www.smartchart.org

Tech Tip of the Week -- Compress Pictures in PowerPoint 2010

If you’ve ever tried to email a PowerPoint presentation containing several pictures, you have probably discovered that the file size can be quite large. There is a way to reduce the file size. Here’s how:

• Select a picture to display the Picture Tools Format tab
• In the Adjust group, click the Compress Pictures button to display the Compress Pictures dialog box
• If you want ALL pictures compressed make sure the Apply only to this picture box is NOT selected
• In the Target Output section there are three compression options
• Choosing the last option, Email (96 ppi), will result in the smallest file size
• Click OK to apply the settings and close the dialog box

Remember that the more you compress the pictures the less quality there is for printing. But if you just want to share these photos online, give it a try. The procedure in PowerPoint 2007 is nearly identical.