Picks of the Week: July 10-16, 2011

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 -- Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations by Hayagreeva Rao

From the publisher: Rao, professor of organizational behavior and human resources at Stanford University, explores the role of collective action in promoting or hindering business innovation. Drawing heavily on theories of social movements, the author posits a cycle of hot causes, unexpected events or innovations, and cool mobilization, activities that channel emotional responses into popular mass actions that anchor new identities embracing or rejecting the hot cause. Rao presents several case studies in which activist behavior either encouraged or impeded the creation and expansion of new markets, technologies or new organizational structures. For example, early 20th-century automobile enthusiasts were able to placate fears about car safety (the hot cause) by staging hundreds of reliability contests that demonstrated the car's safety and practicality to a wide audience (the cool mobilization). Though dryly written and repetitive, the case studies themselves are fascinating and challenge traditional economic models that privilege individual consumer choice while ignoring broader social mobilizations. A final chapter offers advice and strategies for would-be market rebels looking to harness collective action, making this book a useful resource for both citizen activists and corporate leaders and marketers seeking popular support for their products

Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – Involvement in Causes Can Trigger Individual Behavior Changes

Americans who donate, volunteer or otherwise support a cause may be looking to impact the world around them, but new research shows that they may find that the experience of being involved in a cause actually impacts their own behavior as well. According to new findings from the Dynamics of Cause Engagement study, conducted jointly by Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication and Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, more than half of Americans (52%) say they have changed their actions or behavior because of their involvement in a cause. The study examined trends in cause involvement among American adults age 18 and over, as well as the role of a variety of activities in fostering engagement with social issues. Nearly half of Americans (48%) report changing their voting behavior as a result of being involved in a cause, making it the most common type of behavior change. Changing recycling habits (40%), becoming more energy efficient (34%) and becoming more tolerant of differing opinions (25%) also neared the top of the list. Health-related behaviors, such as changing one’s physical activity (12%), visiting a medical professional (9%) or requesting a specific medical test or screen (8%), fall lower on the list. For more information, go to: http://csic.georgetown.edu.


Resource of the Week –The Online Fundraiser's Checklist 2.0

Network for Good has put together a collection of 10 checklists that cover essential basics of online fundraising: your website home page, donation form, writing style, email lists, email campaigns, thank-you programs, and creating and marketing your next event. Check the boxes on these worksheets, and if you don’t score well, use the helpful (and free!) resources listed on the bottom of the page to improve your online fundraising practices. To download this resource, go to: http://www.fundraising123.org.


Tech Tip of the Week - Presenting with PowerPoint

Trying to improve your PowerPoint-driven presentations? Check out Presenting with PowerPoint: 10 dos and don'ts, published on the Microsoft.com website. This article discusses the following tips for improving your presentations:

• Hold up your end with compelling material
• Keep it simple
• Minimize numbers in slides
• Don't parrot PowerPoint
• Time your remarks
• Give it a rest
• Use vibrant colors
• Import other images and graphics
• Distribute handouts at the end — not during the presentation
• Edit ruthlessly before presenting