Picks of the Week: April 15 - 21, 2012

Website of the Week -- Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University is a university-wide center for the study of nonprofit organizations and civil society. The Hauser Center seeks to expand understanding and accelerate critical thinking about the leadership of nonprofit and non-governmental organizations through the key goals of research, education, and practice. The Center’s goals include:

• Research: Explore the critical questions affecting nonprofits and NGOs and widely disseminate the findings.
• Education: Support teaching about nonprofit organizations across Harvard University and development of curricula in the field.
• Practice: Connect current and future leaders with new thinking and scholarship.

For more information, go to: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hauser.


Publication of the Week -- The Nonprofit Board Answer Book: A Practical Guide for Board Members and Chief Executives by BoardSource
From the publisher: This third edition of the bestselling book for nonprofit board members and professionals offers a thoroughly revised and updated resource that answers the most-commonly asked question on board governance. The book covers such topics as board structure and process, board member recruitment and orientation, board-staff relations, and financial management. This new edition includes updated information on topics that have recently increased in importance including new Form 990; dealing with the financial crisis, risk management, and mergers.

• Shows executives and board members how to be more effective, meet difficult situations head-on, and deal with commonplace challenges with confidence
• Topics include information on the viability of for-profit ventures, board retreats, board diversity, fundraising, financial oversight, strategic thinking, and the use of technology
• From Boardsource, the premier resource for practical information, tools, best practices, training, and leadership development for board members of nonprofit organizations worldwide

Offers insight gained from the BoardSource Governance Index Survey, hundreds of board self-assessments, and questions and challenges heard by BoardSource from thousands of nonprofit leaders.
Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.

Trend of the Week – Online Advocacy Continues Gaining Momentum
Online advocacy actions grew at a solid 17 percent clip from 2010 to 2011, according to The Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study. The fastest growing sectors, each at more than 29 percent, are: Animal Welfare, Environment & Wildlife and Jewish. Advocacy actions are instances of sending some form of written communication to political leaders. In addition to an increase in online advocacy, advocates are also quickly becoming financial supporters of the organizations they support, growing at a 24.6 percent rate -- nearly four times the increase from 2010. Key advocacy findings of the study Include:

• Online legislative advocate counts grew by 17 percent: Overall, 75 percent of the verticals experienced more than 10 percent growth in their number of advocates.
• Animal Welfare, Environment & Wildlife, and Jewish grew the most: The verticals that experienced the greatest growth were Animal Welfare (30.12 percent), Environment & Wildlife (29.23 percent), and Jewish (29.21 percent).
• Donor advocates increased by 24.63 percent. This is nearly a fourfold increase from 2010 when the median change was 6.42 percent.

The full Benchmark study can be found at http://www.convio.com/2012benchmark.


Resource of the Week – Executive Transition Monograph Series
The ExecutiveTransitions Mongraph Series is a series of monographs on executive transitions and executive transition management, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. The series is a joint effort of TransitionGuides (Silver Spring, MD) and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services (San Francisco, CA). Go to: http://leadingtransitions.com.

Tech Tip of the Week -- Using the Data Analysis ToolPak in Excel 2007/2010
Most people are not aware of the Data Analysis ToolPak in Excel. This feature is disabled by default. To use the Data Analysis ToolPak you need to be familiar with Engineering and Statistical terminology. To enable it:

• Click the File tab (2010) or Office Button (2007)
• Click the Options button at the bottom of the menu
• Click Add-Ins in the left pane
• Click Go
• Select Analysis ToolPak
• Click OK

You can now access the ToolPak from the Data tab in the Analysis group