Picks of the Week: March 30 - April 5, 2008

Website of the Week -- Nonprofit Centers Network

The Nonprofit Centers Network is a community of Multi-tenant nonprofit Centers and their philanthropic, government, academic and real estate partners. Through conferences, peer networking, mentoring and the internet, The Network provides education and resources for the creation and operation of quality nonprofit office and program space. Face-to-face educational events to increase the operational effectiveness of existing MTNCs. To date, the Network has achieved three national and one regional Collaborating for Success conferences attracting participants from over 29 states and 5 countries. Online educational resources and peer guidance to enable emerging Centers and facilities projects in development to learn the field. An Online Resource Center at www.nonprofitcenters.org enables users to find documents ranging from a model lease to an actual pro-forma to a fact sheet on program related investments. Go to: http://www.nonprofitcenters.org/index.php.


Publication of the Week -- Leader to Leader 2: Enduring Insights on Leadership from the Leader to Leader Institute's Award Winning Journal edited by Frances Hesselbein and Alan Shrader

From the Publisher: Leader to Leader 2 brings together the best and most popular articles from the award-winning journal Leader to Leader by some of the best-selling authors and thought leaders of our day. With thirty-five new chapters not included in the previous volume, this book is designed as a resource for leaders at all levels. Each of the book’s five parts opens with guidance and ideas on how to enact the concepts discussed, practical action steps, thought-provoking questions, and handy tools. The Parts include: Understanding Leadership, Improving Your Personal Effectiveness, Developing People and Teams, Leading High-Performance Organizations, Leading Strategically in a World That Demands Innovation. Preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Charitable Giving Focusing On the Needs of the Poor

The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and Google partnered on a study to estimate how much of the charitable giving by households in the U.S. focuses on the needs of the poor. The report, entitled “Patterns of Household Charitable Giving by Income Group, 2005”, found that less than one-third of the money individuals gave to nonprofits in 2005 was focused on the needs of the economically disadvantaged. Of the $250 billion in donations, less than $78 billion explicitly targeted those in need. Only 8 percent of households' donated dollars were reported as contributions to help meet basic needs--providing food, shelter or other necessities. An additional estimated 23 percent of total giving from all sources went to programs specifically intended to help people of low income--either providing other direct benefits (such as medical treatment and scholarships) or through initiatives creating opportunity and empowerment (such as literacy and job training programs). For a copy of the report, go to: http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/Research/Giving%20focused%20on%20meeting%20needs%20of%


Resource of the Week -- Nonprofit Management Toolkits

The McKnight Foundation has prepared a set of nonprofit management toolkits. Each toolkit provides a variety of selected online resources in nonprofit management, linked by topic area. These selected online resources are provided as a service to the staffs of nonprofit organizations. Access toolkits on the following topics:
• General: Basic information to address a range of general needs for nonprofit management.
• Communications: Develop your key messages, and then share those messages with the media, the public, and policymakers.
• Evaluation: Capture ongoing assessments of all outcomes—successful and otherwise—to help inform future work.
• Fundraising: Raise funds effectively through successful grantwriting and other funding opportunities.
• Technology: Develop, or simply take control of, your organization's computers, network, and online presence.
• Volunteers: Recruit and use your most powerful workforce wisely, with an eye toward screening, evaluation, legal risks, and more.

Go to: http://www.mcknight.org/resources/toolkit.aspx.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Viewing and Navigating Documents in Word 2007

To view a document's organization and jump to different sections:
• Click the View tab on the ribbon
• In the show/hide group, click Document Map

When working on a longer document use Thumbnail view to navigate:
• Click the View tab on the ribbon
• In the show/hide group, click Thumbnails