Picks of the Week: July 25 - 31, 2010

Website of the Week – Idealware

Idealware, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides thoroughly researched, impartial and accessible resources about software to help nonprofits make smart software decisions. From the most basic questions (like how to use software to help manage emailing hundreds of people at once), to the more complex (like understanding the role of social networking and mobile phone text-messaging in fundraising strategy), organizations need a trusted source for answers.
Idealware provides an authoritative online guide to the software that allows U.S. nonprofits—especially small ones—to be more effective. By synthesizing vast amounts of original research into credible and approachable information, Idealware helps nonprofits make the most of their time and financial resources. Go to: http://www.idealware.org.


Publication of the Week -- Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Strategic Approach, 3rd Edition by Joan E. Pynes

From the publisher: Public and nonprofit organizations face difficult challenges today that make the strategic management of human resources crucial. This book shows how to integrate HR practices with the mission of their organization. An accessible tool complete with an instructor s manual, this book provides an integrated approach to current HR concerns and is unique in its focus on both public and nonprofit agencies. Offering guidance and techniques for implementing effective human resource management strategies job analysis, performance evaluation, recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, and collective bargaining Pynes demonstrates how strategic human resources management is essential to proactively managing change. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – Trends in Program-related Investments

The Foundation Center has released For four decades U.S. foundations have had the ability to make below-market-rate investments in activities consistent with their missions and count these investments as part of their annual charitable distributions. Of the nation's more than 75,000 grantmaking foundations, the Foundation Center has tracked 173 private and community foundations that made program-related investments (PRIs) totaling $742 million in 2006 or 2007. According to a new report from the Foundations Center, Doing Good with Foundation Assets: An Updated Look at Program-related Investments, while the development of low-cost housing, community development, and microfinance have historically attracted PRIs, there is growing use of PRIs in areas such as education, arts and culture, social and health programs, and environmental sustainability. To download a free copy of the report, go to: http://foundationcenter.org.


Resource of the Week – The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide

Social media can be useful to your organization… but how useful? For what? What tangible results are people seeing from it? Created in partnership with the New Organizing Institute, the Decision Guide walks you through a step-by-step process to decide what social media channels make sense for your organization via a workbook, guide, and the results of more than six months of research. And through the included Consultant Directory, you can find a professional to help define and implement your strategy. The Decision Guide walks through:

• What social media is, and why it might be useful for you
• How your goals, audiences, and metrics should drive the decision making process
• Specific information on the tangible value nonprofits have seen in using Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Photo Sharing Sites, Video Sharing Sites, and more.
• Choosing an effective social media mix
• Integrating all your communications
• A workbook that helps you walk through all of this for your own needs

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


Tech Tip of the Week -- Adding Paste Values to the Quick Access Toolbar in Excel 2007

Using the Paste Values option in Excel lets you strip formulas from your data and paste only the resulting values. In Excel 2007 the Quick Access Toolbar is a great way to simplify using this feature. Here's how:

• Click the Office button in the upper left corner of the Excel 2007 Screen
• Click the Excel Options button at the bottom of the Office window to display the Excel Options dialog box
• Click Customize in the left pane
• Under Choose commands select All Commands
• Select Paste Values
• Click Add and then OK