Picks of the Week: May 31 - June 6, 2009

Website of the Week -- NetSquared

Today the global community stands witness to a momentous time in history where progressive change is not only necessary, but imminent. NetSquared believes the social Web is key to making change. NetSquared works toward this goal by mobilizing individuals and communities, providing Web-based tools, and awarding financial support to leverage social action projects. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, NetSquared - an initiative of nonprofit TechSoup Global - has worked internationally since 2005. In that time the organization has fostered monthly face-to-face meetups for social innovators in 25 cities around the globe, incubated hundreds of social action projects in various stages of development, awarded over $240,000 in financial support through prized-based Challenges, and provided a platform for cross-sector collaboration. Go to: http://www.netsquared.org/about.


Publication of the Week -- Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards by Richard P. Chait, William P. Ryan and Barbara E. Taylor

From the publisher: A new framework for helping nonprofit organizations maximize the effectiveness of their boards. Written by noted consultants and researchers attuned to the needs of practitioners, Governance as Leadership redefines nonprofit governance. It provides a powerful framework for a new covenant between trustees and executives: more macrogovernance in exchange for less micromanagement. Informed by theories that have transformed the practice of organizational leadership, this book sheds new light on the traditional fiduciary and strategic work of the board and introduces a critical third dimension of effective trusteeship: generative governance. It serves boards as both a resource of fresh approaches to familiar territory and a lucid guide to important new territory, and provides a road map that leads nonprofit trustees and executives to governance as leadership. Governance as Leadership was developed in collaboration with BoardSource, the premier resource for practical information, tools and best practices, training, and leadership development for board members of nonprofit organizations. Through its highly acclaimed programs and services, BoardSource enables organizations to fulfill their missions by helping build effective nonprofit boards and offering credible support in solving tough problems. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Nonprofit Leadership Gap Widens

According to the Bridgespan Group report, “Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits Despite tightening budgets, nonprofits foresee a need to fill 24,000 vacant or new roles in 2009.” Over 400 U.S. leaders of nonprofits with $1 million or more in revenues were interviewed for the report. Many of those surveyed cited a need to fill roles such as finance and fundraising amid increasing management complexity and baby boomer retirements, yet they foresee challenges in finding candidates who are both qualified for the roles and who are cultural fits with their organizations. Other key findings include:

• Respondents reported that actual senior job openings in 2008 were running at 77,000, or 43 percent above the leadership gap previously forecast in Bridgespan’s 2006 study, “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit”.
• Twenty-one percent of those hired between June 2007 and December 2008 were “bridgers”—people transitioning into the nonprofit sector for the first time. Only 15 percent went in the reverse direction, indicating a net gain for non-profit organizations relative to their for-profit counterparts.
• Twenty-five percent of nonprofit leadership vacancies in the past 18 months were filled through career progression, 41 percent through in-sector hiring.

To download the full report, go to:
http://www.bridgespan.org/LearningCenter.


Resource of the Week -- Web.Dots

Web.Dots is a technology resource guide designed to provide nonprofit organizations with links to online information on a broad range of topics. These resources have been identified through the Nonprofit Management Fund's ongoing research efforts towards advancing nonprofit technology. This guide is a categorized compilation of Web sites that will assist a nonprofit organization's efforts to improve effectiveness through technology. Web.Dots is maintained by ENTECH. ENTECH provides technology consulting and direct service to nonprofit organizations in Southeast Wisconsin. ENTECH has no vested interest in any particular technology, product or approach, and looks at your needs from a genuinely independent perspective. Go to: http://epic.cuir.uwm.edu/entech.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Remove Recent Documents List in Word 2007

• Click the Office button
• Click the Word Options button
• Click Advanced in the left pane of the Word Options dialog box
• Scroll down to the Display section and change “Show this number of Recent Documents” to 0