Picks of the Week: March 4-10, 2012

Picks of the Week: March 4-10, 2012

Website of the Week -- Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy

The Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy (CNP) conducts and disseminates research on the role and impact of nonprofit organizations and philanthropy. In addition, CNP conducts research on and analyzes trends in the operations and finances of U.S. charitable organizations through data developed and maintained by its National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) and other sources. NCCS serves as a comprehensive source for information regarding U.S. nonprofits through its extensive databases of information collected by the Internal Revenue Service and others. The data provided by NCCS provides the foundation for the many research projects at CNP. NCCS is also actively involved in improving the quality of nonprofit sector data by, among other initiatives, encouraging and supporting the use of electronic filing of required IRS forms for nonprofits. Go to: http://www.urban.org/center/cnp/index.cfm.


Publication of the Week -- How Good Board Members Become Great Fundraisers by Bill Young

From the publisher: How Good Board Members Become Great Fundraisers If you are a veteran Board member or volunteer or ready to join a Board of Directors for a nonprofit, Bill Young's book conveys a proven system created over 15 years that will help you transform from a good Board member to a great fundraiser. Steeped in real-world fundraising experience, Bill has logged over 5,000 consulting and volunteer hours with several nonprofit Boards. His book, simple and to-the-point, helps you understand what can inhibit fundraising efforts and guides you through seven innovative strategies with specific steps. How Good Board Members Become Great Fundraisers is a new and innovative approach for nonprofit Board members challenged with raising funds in the marketplace where less money is available and limited time to devote to fundraising.

Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.


Trend of the Week – More Children Living in High Poverty Areas

A new report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, using the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, indicates that after declining between 1990 and 2000, both the percent and the number of children living in high-poverty areas increased over the last decade. The 2006-10 five-year estimates produced by the American Community Survey replaced the decennial census for many data points and are the most recent data available to estimate concentrated poverty at the census-tract level. Estimates from 2006 through 2010 suggest that 7,879,000 children lived in areas of concentrated poverty. The percent of children living in these areas increased from 9 to 11 percent over the past decade. While two-thirds of children living in areas of concentrated poverty are in large cities, millions live outside urban areas in suburbs and rural communities. Overall, children living in rural areas (10 percent) and large cities (22 percent) are considerably more likely than those in suburbs (4 percent) to live in a community of concentrated poverty. Among the country’s 50 largest cities, Detroit (67 percent), Cleveland (57 percent), Miami (49 percent), Milwaukee (48 percent), Fresno (43 percent), and Atlanta (43 percent) have the highest rates of children living in areas of concentrated poverty. For more information, go to: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Initiatives/KIDS%20COUNT/D/DataSnapshotonHighPovertyCommunities/KIDSCOUNTDataSnapshot_HighPovertyCommunities.pdf.


Resource of the Week – 25 Tips for Optimizing Online Communication with Volunteers

Energize, Inc. has compiled "25 Tips for Optimizing Online Communication with Volunteers" into a 5-page booklet. It is available as a free download at: http://www.energizeinc.com.


Tech Tip of the Week -- Clear Recent Documents List in Word 2010

• Click the File tab on the Ribbon
• Click Options in the left pane
• Click Advanced
• Scroll down to the Display section
• Change “Show this number of Recent Documents” to 0

If you want to turn the feature back on at any time, go back to this menu and choose a new number of files to display.