Picks of the Week: September 19 - 25, 2010

Website of the Week – Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

The Shriver Center on Poverty Law develops its advocacy agenda in accordance with the needs of the low-income communities that it serves. Through policy, advocacy, and legal resources, the organization "identifies, develops, and supports creative and collaborative approaches to help achieve social and economic justice." The major clearinghouse on poverty law, the center's Web site provides access to an enormous collection of publications and case studies. The site also has information about advocacy, news, and an advanced search function. Go to: http://www.povertylaw.org.


Publication of the Week -- ROI For Nonprofits: The New Key to Sustainability by Tom Ralser

From the publisher: Nonprofits face the same challenges as for-profits when it comes to raising money and keeping investors happy. When investors in nonprofits are shown that their money is making a difference-that their investment is paying off-they are more likely to keep investing. Written by Tom Ralser-a CFA uniquely qualified to apply ROI methodologies to the nonprofit sector-ROI For Nonprofits: The Key to Nonprofit Sustainability details the methods and processes your nonprofit can effectively use to demonstrate the value of your organization's efforts. Filled with an abundance of case studies as well as pragmatic tips, tools, and methods used successfully by hundreds of nonprofits, this practical book covers topics including

• Defining ROI
• The Leverage of Investors
• Learning from the For-Profit World
• Moving to an Investment-based Mindset
• Treating Investors as Investors

Your nonprofit's prospective investors want to know "What are you accomplishing with my money?" ROI For Nonprofits: The Key to Nonprofit Sustainability offers you immediately useful concepts that accentuate, enhance, and augment solid fundraising and represents a major change in how to capitalize on the motivations of those who are likely to invest in your organization. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – Influence of Family on Giving Decisions

According to a new study of donor attitudes and giving behavior released this week by Russ Reid, parental involvement in nonprofits increases the odds of a child becoming a donor by more than 80 percent; with parents who don’t, there’s only a 25-percent chance the child will grow up to be a donor, the study found. Nonprofits can build their donor pools of tomorrow by encouraging adults to volunteer their time at an organization, to talk to their kids about nonprofits they support, or to give money to their church. Key findings include:

• The dollar breakdown of estimated yearly giving among age groups: People ages 18 to 24 donated $350, those 25 to 39 gave $544, people ages 55 to 69 gave $805, and those 70 and older donated $1,200. “The older you get, the more generous you are. Fund-raising expenditures should be “invested accordingly” toward segments that are more likely to give, with a higher gift value.
• On average, individuals gave in three ways—55 percent gave online as well as via mail; 20 percent who gave online also gave through a telemarketing call. Sending a check through mail still was the most popular method at 61 percent.
• Don’t bet on social media yet. While 57 percent of all donors use social media, only 6 percent actually gave money that way. There’s a big difference between following and giving.

To reserve a free copy of the full study, go to: https://www.2dialog.com.


Resource of the Week – Leadership and Race: How to Develop and Support Leadership that Contributes to Racial Justice

A new report released by the Leadership Learning Community and other thought leaders in the leadership development and racial equity fields, discuss how current approaches to leadership development actually maintain and promote racial inequalities. This is the first report to analyze the link between major philanthropy investments in the racial equity and leadership development fields. The report, How to Develop and Support Leadership that Contributes to Racial Justice, suggests that a large number of leadership programs associate leadership with equal opportunity and individualism. This thinking does not recognize that current systems (i.e. policy, culture and institutional practices) can cause racial identity to limit one’s access to life opportunities. It also focuses too narrowly on changing the behavior of individual leaders. Instead, leadership programs should:

• make their programs more accessible for people of color;
• help participants understand how race limits access to opportunities – in other words, the impact of structural racism; and
• promote collective leadership. This approach will help participants work together to tackle the systems that maintain racial inequalities.

This report is the first in a series of publications, the Leadership for a New Era Series, launched by the Leadership Learning Community in 2009 to promote inclusive, networked and collective leadership approaches. To download this free report, go to: http://leadershiplearning.org.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Recording Narrations in PowerPoint 2007

Did you know you could easily record narrations for your PowerPoint slides? Here’s how:

• Click the Slide show tab on the Ribbon
• In the Set Up group click the Record Narration icon
• In the Record Narration dialog box you can set microphone level and change recording quality
• Click OK and choose to start from the current slide or from the first slide
• When you are finished you will be asked if you want to save the timings for each slide

For more information on recording narration for your PowerPoint slides, go to office.microsoft.com.