Picks of the Week: April 27 - May 3, 2008

Website of the Week -- Nonprofit Finance Fund

Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is a national leader in financing nonprofits, strengthening their financial health and improving their capacity to serve their communities. With NFF's help, nonprofits build and renovate facilities, fund growth needs, and expand and sustain operations over time. NFF serves both nonprofits and their funders, offering an integrated package of financial and advisory services, including facilities and working capital loans and lines of credit; asset-building programs; intensive workshops; Nonprofit Business Analyses, and other consultations to help nonprofit management understand the impact on their finances of management and program decisions. A newly launched entity, NFF Capital Partners, helps nonprofits attract equity-like growth capital. NFF was established in 1980 and is now one of the nation's leading community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Go to: http://www.nonprofitfinancefund.org.


Publication of the Week -- Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy by Gary D. Bass, David F. Arons, Kay Guinane, and Matthew F. Carter

From the publisher: Seen but Not Heard: Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy provides new research findings about the extent of nonprofit advocacy while also detailing the barriers and incentives for nonprofits seeking to engage in various types of policy activities. Seen but Not Heard: Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy provides new research findings about the extent of nonprofit advocacy while also detailing the barriers and incentives for nonprofits seeking to engage in various types of policy activities, including lobbying. The book, written by Gary D. Bass, David F. Arons, Kay Guinane, and Matthew F. Carter, with assistance from Susan Rees, is the culmination of survey research, focus groups and interviews with nonprofit executives and board members around nonprofit policy engagement. It is a comprehensive analysis of advocacy – which includes lobbying – by charities and provides recommendations for strengthening nonprofit policy participation. Click here to preview the book.



Trend of the Week -- Involving Youth in Nonprofit Arts Organizations

The future of nonprofit arts organizations large and small depends on attracting the best new talent to administer their affairs, to serve as artists and audiences, and to act as advocates, boosters, and financial supporters. Given the shrinking pool of younger people and the increased competition for their attention, action to meet this pressing, and increasingly complex, challenge can no longer be left to a vague future date. This report, prepared by Barry Hessenius and commissioned by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, explores these issues and challenges with the hope of sparking a national discussion. Key findings and recommendations include:

• As a field, the nonprofit arts sector needs to intensify its efforts to convince young people of the value of involvement in the arts, widen bridges and lines of communication to the next generation, and involve young people in areas heretofore outside the scope of their experience, for example, financial support and advocacy.
• Launch a national dialogue about youth involvement in the arts. As soon as possible, leaders in the field should convene forums and discussion groups in major urban and regional centers across the country to address the issue of generational succession and youth involvement.
• Develop a sector-wide strategic plan to: 1) aggressively market the benefits of involvement with the arts to young people; and 2) create a nationwide grassroots corps of young activists and advocates for the arts.

To download an executive summary and full report, go to: http://www.hewlett.org/Programs/PerformingArts/Publications/YouthReport.htm.


Resource of the Week -- Online Advocacy Resources

The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest has assembled an extensive collection of online resources for advocacy. The links are organized in six categories: web based advocacy tool kits, organizations strengthening nonprofit lobbying, advocacy, public policy engagement and sites with lobbying & advocacy resources - by state, public policy web portals, take action on public policy issues and track bills web sites, and nonprofit sector and civic infrastructure organizations. Go to: http://www.clpi.org/Links.aspx.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Creating a Template in Excel 2007

Templates are boilerplate worksheets that can save time and promote standardization. To create an Excel 2007 template:

• Enter all necessary data and apply required formatting
• Click on the office button to open the drop down menu
• Choose the Save As option
• Choose the Other formats option
• Choose the Save As option to open the Save As dialog box
• Click on the Save as type option to open the drop down list
• Scroll through the list to find the template options
• For most templates, choose the Excel Template (*.xltx) option
• If your template contains macros, choose the Macro Enabled Template (*.xltm) option
• If you plan to use your template with older versions of Excel, choose the Excel 97 - 2003 Template (*.xlt) option

To use your template to create a new worksheet, click the office button and select New. Your template will be listed in the My templates… folder.

On the Web you can find thousands of Excel templates for just about anything you can think of. A good place to start is office.microsoft.com