Picks of the Week: August 10 - 16, 2008

Website of the Week -- Ethics Resource Center

The Ethics Resource Center is devoted to independent research and the advancement of high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions. For 85 years, the ERC has been a resource for institutions committed to strong ethics cultures. Additionally, ERC undertake research and projects to develop new resources, in order to advance knowledge and practice in the field. The online resource library includes an Ethics Toolkit, which includes answers to frequently asked ethics questions, practical guides to organizational ethics, an Ethics Effectiveness Quick Test, an archive of questions answered in our newsletter by ERC staff subject matter specialists, and a timeline of business ethics over the course of five decades. Go to: http://www.ethics.org.


Publication of the Week -- Grantseeker's Guide to Winning Proposals by Judith B. Margolin

From the publisher: This latest addition to The Foundation Center’s best-selling Winning Proposals series includes 35 actual, funded proposals reprinted in their entirety. The Grantseeker's Guide features proposals to international funders including the Mott Foundation; large regional funders such as the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation; corporate funders including the Mitsubishi Foundation, as well as regional/local foundations. Featured examples cover a wide variety of projects, from start-up costs to a major medical center. Each proposal includes remarks by the program officer who approved the grant. Click here to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Private and Community Foundation Trends

The Foundation Center’s recently published Foundation Yearbook, 2008 Edition, provides an overview of the state of foundation giving in the current year and beyond, comparisons of foundation activities by foundation size, and breakdowns of foundation resources by geographic location and grantmaker type. The edition's key findings include:

• Overall foundation giving rose 10 percent in 2007 to an estimated $42.9 billion
• Giving by the nation's more than 72,000 grantmaking foundations increased 7.1 percent in 2006 to $39 billion
• Assets of all active U.S. foundations were up 11.6 percent to a record $614.7 billion in 2006
• The West posted the fastest rate of growth in number of foundations, total giving, and assets in 2006

For a copy of the report highlights, go to: http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/research/pdf/fy2008_highlights.pdf.


Resource of the Week -- EEO Compliance Resources

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the enforcement body that will challenge an employer's hiring or employment practices when a discrimination complaint is lodged by an employee, a former employee or an applicant. According to attorney Jennifer Chandler Hauge, the EEOC is also in the business of helping employers avoid acting in a discriminatory manner. In this way, the EEOC can be seen as a nonprofit's risk management partner. Guidelines and fact sheets published by the Department of Labor and available on the EEOC's Web site are very helpful. Among the most helpful information recently made available is the EEOC's 2006 Compliance Manual. Published in April 2006, the manual describes common pitfalls and best practices for employers striving to avoid discriminatory practices. Go to: available at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/race-color.html#VIB2conviction.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Freeze a Formula into its Current Value

To freeze a formula into its current value:

• Select the formula
• Press F2 (Edit)
• Press F9 (Calc)
• Press Enter

Now you can copy or move the value anywhere you need it. This trick works in all versions of Excel, even 2007!