Picks of the Week: August 30 - September 5, 2009

Website of the Week -- The Center for Social Innovation

The Center for Social Innovation was created in 2000 by a group of faculty, alumni, and other leaders committed to social change at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Building on a long history at the School of engaging students and alumni in social and environmental issues, the Center has quickly developed new ways to strengthen the capacity of individuals addressing social problems. The Center has begun to build a vibrant community of active change agents through a variety of activities that contribute through thought leadership, student engagement, and community engagement. Through basic and applied research, case writing, course development, and publications, the Center creates new knowledge and disseminates important ideas and tools for social innovation. Go to: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/csi/about/index.html.


Publication of the Week -- The Annual Campaign by Erik J. Daubert

From the publisher: The Annual Campaign reveals how to run a well-managed and well-coordinated annual campaign effort from the perspective of the large or small nonprofit organization. Centering on real-world campaigns and best practices in the 21st century for annual support, this book presents step-by-step guidance and practical tools including diagrams of annual campaign structures for use in local nonprofits, checklists for annual support campaigns, assessments for annual support campaign readiness, annual support campaign case statement examples, sample pledge cards, cultivation tips for obtaining larger gifts, and much more. The author Erik Daubert currently serves as Association Financial Development Consultant for the YMCA of the USA, assisting YMCA associations across the country with consulting for annual, capital, and endowment efforts. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week -- Shrinking Generational Digital Divide

Americans 50+ are increasingly becoming immersed in the Internet and in many ways can be compared to users who are decades younger, according to findings from the Center for the Digital Future released in conjunction with AARP. The study takes a look at online behaviors of those age 50+ compared to the under 50 demographic. The following are selected key findings from the study comparing Internet users 50 + to those under 50 that will be of interest to nonprofits:

• Participation in online communities – A large percentage of Internet users 50 and older who are members of online communities report extensive involvement in their communities and benefits from their participation. Fifty-eight percent of members 50 and older log in to their online community daily or several times a day, compared to 47 percent of members under 20.
• Social activism – Thirty-six percent of members 50 and older said their social activism has increased since they began participating in online communities for social causes, compared to 29 percent of members under 20.
• Importance of online information - A larger percent of users under 20 compared to those over 50 (85% vs.76%) said that the Internet is an important or very important source of information. However, the percentage of those over 50 who state this has grown substantially in five years (2002 to 2007), up slightly more than half (51%).
• Importance of online communities – Both 50+ and under 20 online community members say their online community is very important or extremely important to them: (70 percent of members 50 and older, and 58 percent of members under 20).

Go to: http://www.digitalcenter.org.


Resource of the Week -- Hallmarks of A Risk Aware Nonprofit

Over the past two years, the Nonprofit Risk Management Center has identified 12 Hallmarks, along with practical strategies and tools to help turn your nonprofit organization into one that manifests the hallmarks of a risk-aware nonprofit. This Hallmarks tool developed by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center has three purposes:

• To inspire thoughtful risk-taking by nonprofit leaders
• To illuminate risk management Hallmarks common in risk-aware nonprofits, and
• To provide specific and practical guidance as well as ‘how-to’ insights for leaders seeking to strengthen risk management practices in their nonprofit organizations.

Each Hallmark is followed by practical suggestions and additional resources to help you get started. To access the Hallmark Tool, go to: http://nonprofitrisk.org/tools/hallmarks/intro.shtml.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Creating Charts in Word 2007

Charts are great for presenting data in an easy-to-understand way. Here’s how to create a chart in Word 2007:

• Position your cursor where you would like to insert the chart
• Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
• Click Chart in the Illustrations group
• Select the style of chart you would like to insert
• Click OK
• The chart appears in your document and an Excel worksheet opens
• Enter your data in the Excel worksheet
• Your chart data is automatically updated in Word as you change it in Excel
• Use the Chart Tools in Word to change the chart style, layout and formatting options