Picks of the Week: January 30 - February 5, 2011

Website of the Week – The Center for Nonprofit Management

As one of the nation's leading management support organizations, the Center for Nonprofit Management, based in Dallas, strives to bring the most current tools for best practices in nonprofit management to thousands of nonprofit boards, staff and volunteers each year. The mission of the Center is to build stronger communities by increasing the performance and impact of nonprofit organizations. In the late 1970's, the Meadows Foundation in Dallas recognized a significant need for staff development and management assistance to charitable organizations. In 1980, with the support of other local funders, Meadows provided the seed funding to establish the Center for Nonprofit Management. Today, the Center receives support from donations, grants, fees for services and annual membership dues at a minimal cost and is a United Way affiliate. Nonprofits everywhere will find t he extensive collection of resources including sample documents helpful. Go to: http://www.cnmdallas.org.


Publication of the Week -- Donor-Centered Planned Gift Marketing by Michael J. Rosen

From the publisher: Donor-Centered Planned Gift Marketing helps nonprofit organizations move beyond traditional marketing techniques that have historically yielded only modest results and reveals how putting the focus on the donor can produce the best outcomes for all. Here, nonprofits new to gift planning will learn to market effectively from the start while those with established programs will discover ways to enhance their efforts. You will learn about various donor-centered marketing channels and techniques, as well as how to generate internal support for an improved planned gift marketing effort.

• Full of useful and proven tips you can implement for immediate results
• Offers practical tools including forms and checklists
• Includes a worksheet to help organizations calculate their planned giving potential

Sharing the latest research findings, this book shows you how to identify who your planned giving prospects are. You will learn how to effectively focus on them through meaningful communication that ultimately inspires them to give-and give more. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – Major Demographic Shifts

According to a new report by researchers at the University of North Carolina, "Six Disruptive Demographic Trends: What Census 2010 Will Reveal," identifies major shifts in U.S. demographics and their implications for business, consumer markets and the nation's competitiveness in the global marketplace. The six trends are:

• South-shifting population. More than half of the nation's population growth during the past decade (51.4 percent) occurred in Southern states, driven in part by an in-migration of an estimated 2.3 million newcomers from nearly all demographic groups.
• "Browning" of America. Nonwhites accounted for an estimated 85 percent of U.S. net population growth during the past decade.
• Intermarriage increase. Marriage across racial and ethnic lines has doubled since 1980, further contributing to the browning trend, with 41 percent of all intermarriages in 2008 between Hispanics and whites.
• "Graying" of America. The first baby boomer born in America turned 65 on Jan. 1, sparking a "silver tsunami" of 79 million baby boomers who will exit the U.S. workforce over the next 20 years. About 8,000 Americans will turn 65 every day over the next five years, and they will live longer than previous generations because of advances in health care and lifestyles that are more active.
• Gender shift. Women now hold nearly half of all paid U.S. jobs (49.8 percent), own 40 percent of all businesses and hold 43 percent of executive, administrative and managerial positions in the U.S. economy
• More grandparent-headed households.

Researchers identified these trends by analyzing demographic and economic statistics compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and a number of other sources. The complete report is available at www.kenaninstitute.unc.edu/Census2010Trends.


Resource of the Week – Nonprofit Spark

Nonprofit Spark is a weekly radio show for nonprofit leaders. Renee McGivern, founder and CEO of Spark Plug Consulting, started Nonprofit Spark in 2008 to provide training and communications consulting to small businesses, trade associations and nonprofits. The intention of the radio show is to spark learning and purposeful action so leaders and board members of new and emerging nonprofits succeed. Each week's show covers the nuts and bolts of managing and governing organizations. Renee's guests are nonprofit leaders, consultants who share practical tips and insights. For your convenience, each podcast is archived so you can get at what you need when you need it. Go to: http://webtalkradio.net/shows/nonprofit-spark.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Combining Text from Two Cells in Excel

In Microsoft Excel you can combine the text in two or more cells into a single text string by using “concatenation”. The result is displayed in the cell where you type the formula. For example, If you have a worksheet that contains the First name in cell A1 and the Last name in cell B1, enter the following expression in cell C1 to create a text string that displays the values of the First and Last names separated by a space: =A1&" "&B1.

Be sure to put a space between the double quotes in the expression. Copy this formula down to each row containing the names. Then copy the cells containing this formula back to their original position using Paste Special to convert the formula into a value:

• Select the column by clicking the column name
• Choose Copy
• Right click and choose Paste Special from the short-cut menu
• Choose Values and click OK

This tip works in Excel 2007 and 2010 as well as earlier versions.