Picks of the Week: April 5 - 11, 2009

Website of the Week -- HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector

The HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector (HR Council) works with organizations, educators, labor and government to identify and address issues related to paid employment in the voluntary and non-profit sector. Priorities include:

• Build and share knowledge
• Promote good HR practices
• Foster training and learning opportunities
• Provide leadership on HR issues
• Engage voluntary and non-profit organizations in our work

Even though the Council is based in Canada, resources will be of great use to nonprofits outside of Canada. Go to: http://www.hrcouncil.ca/about/overview.cfm. Of special interest is a publication entitled “Better Together”. It describes a shared HR services framework for non-profit organizations developed by the HR Council. This framework is based on the experiences of a number of existing non-profit shared HR services models.


Publication of the Week -- Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Leaders by Holly Ross, Katrin Verclas and Alison Levine

From the publisher: Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission is a practical resource that will help nonprofit professionals make smart, strategic decisions about technology. The book shows how to effectively manage technology and offers practical advice for decision makers and staff alike who often have little or no experience with technology. With contributions from the top experts in the nonprofit technology field, this must-have guide addresses technology planning and people. It includes the tools you need to get the work done, and the knowledge that will help you communicate better, evaluate technology investments, raise money, and more. Written in non-technical language the book covers a broad spectrum of topics including:

• Achieving IT Alignment with Your Mission by Steve Heye, YMCA of the USA
• Managing Technology Change by Dahna Goldstein, PhilanTech
• Measuring the Return on Investment of Technology by Beth Kanter, trainer, blogger and consultant
• IT Planning and Prioritizing by Peter Campbell, Earthjustice
• Budgeting For and Funding Technology by Scott McCallum and Keith R. Thode, Aidmatrix Foundation
• And much more

Click here to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Nonprofit Employment Expected to Fall in 2009

In 2009, nonprofit organizations will have fewer employees and almost no disciplined function to manage them, according to the 3rd Annual Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey. The Nonprofit HR Solutions 2009 survey reveals that 41.6 percent of nonprofits intend to create new full-time positions, down from 61.9 percent in 2008. In addition, 26.1 percent indicate that they intend to downsize or lay off staff in 2009 vs. 7.6 percent of nonprofits that planned reductions in 2008. Despite the dim industry outlook, responses to the 30-question survey show that more than 50 percent of nonprofits have no formal staffing or recruiting budget. Of organizations with formal recruiting budgets, almost 60 percent allocated $5,000 or less per year and instead relied primarily on formal and informal networks of colleagues and friends to fill vacant positions. Close to 30 percent of respondents have one staff person dedicated to managing the human resources function, an almost 8 percent increase from 2008; however, the majority of participating organizations said their human resources function is managed by someone with shared job responsibilities, outsourced to a third party, or simply too small to have any dedicated resources. To download a copy of the report, go to: http://www.nonprofithr.com.


Resource of the Week -- VolunteerSpot

VolunteerSpot is a free online sign-up tool that simplifies grassroots volunteering. The site makes it easy for anyone to quickly mobilize and coordinate volunteers in their community, congregation or social network. This is a tool for all-volunteer group officers, committee chairs, special event planners, and others who need to schedule and organize many other volunteers. The leader creates a schedule of volunteer needs on the online calendar and invites people to sign up with an e-mail. Volunteers click a link to see what spots are available and choose when and how they want to help. VolunteerSpot sends automated confirmation and reminder messages, helping everyone keep their commitments. Since it happens in real-time, the schedule is always current, significantly reduces coordination time, and makes the process easier for everyone. VolunteerSpot is a free service for local-level volunteers. Corporations and larger groups wanting to brand the Web site or obtain planned premium features, such as hours tracking, will be charged a fee. But you can test the system immediately at no cost. Go to: www.volunteerspot.com.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Automatic Hyperlinks in Word 2007

By default, Word 2007 automatically creates hyperlinks whenever you type a Web address. To turn off this feature:

• Click the Office button
• Click the Word Options button
• Click Proofing
• Click AutoCorrect Options
• On the AutoFormat as you type tab and on the AutoFormat tab, click to clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box and click OK
• Click OK again to close the Word Options dialog box

If you've already typed a document and you want to remove the hyperlinks, simply select the entire document by pressing Ctrl + A and press Ctrl + Shift + F9.