Picks of the Week: April 22 - 28, 2012

Website of the Week -- Nonprofit Resource Center
The mission of the Nonprofit Resource Center is to enhance the resources and improve the management of nonprofit organizations, primarily within California’s northern Central Valley and Sierra Nevada regions. Offering comprehensive resources, from a professionally-staffed library, access to a grant funder database, from fundraising workshops to management networking, the Center enables new and existing nonprofits to improve management, operations, fund development, marketing & public relations, board development and more. This resource rich website will be of great use to nonprofits everywhere. For more information, go to: http://www.nprcenter.org.

Publication of the Week -- Internet Management for Nonprofits: Strategies, Tools and Trade Secrets by Ted Hart, James M. Greenfield, Steve MacLaughlin, Philip H. Geier, Jr.
From the publisher: The rapid onset of increasingly advanced and complex technologies has challenged nonprofits to invest with their sparse resources in attempting, and failing, to keep pace with for-profit companies, with the result that most now cannot compete with new commercial products and commercial applications. Nonprofit Internet Management reveals how current technologies can be utilized in full measure most effectively by nonprofits and addresses how to manage various applications for maximum benefit to internal operations and community service.

• Covers management models, social networking information, case studies, fundraising strategies, collaboration and coordination examples, and sample communications techniques
• Includes chapters written by leading Internet professionals
• In-depth discussion of Website design, technology trends, social networks, managing the organization using online tools, E-governance and board leadership, prospect research and donor modeling, volunteer recruitment and management, mobile technology, stewardship and relationship management, and green technology applications

Filled with case studies, Nonprofit Internet Management also includes screenshots, tables, worksheets and checklists. It's an essential resource for every nonprofit organization operating in our modern wired world. Click to preview this book on Amazon.com.

Trend of the Week – Nonprofit Finance Trends
The Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has released results of its 2012 State of the Nonprofit Sector survey. More than 4,500 respondents at nonprofits across the country shared the details of how they are adapting their organizations and finances to current economic conditions. The survey reveals that while 2011 was a year of significant organizational and programmatic changes, many nonprofits are still facing fundamental challenges that threaten the stability of the sector and the well-being of the people they serve. Key findings include:
• 85% of nonprofits experienced an increase in the demand for services in 2011.
• This is on top of years of increased demand: previous NFF surveys found that 77% of nonprofits experienced an increase in demand in 2010; 71% experienced an increase in 2009; and 73% experienced an increase in 2008.
• 88% expect an increase in demand for services in 2012.
• 57% have 3 months or less cash-on-hand.
• 87% said their financial outlook won’t get any better in 2012.

For more information including state by state results, go to: http://nonprofitfinancefund.org.

Resource of the Week – The Nonprofit Social Media Policy Workbook
A good social media policy will provide clear guidelines as to what staff should and shouldn’t do when posting and interacting with the community on a day-to-day basis. Your organization can create a policy to help guide your whole staff simply by thinking about how you would like to make use of social media. Written using the research from the Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide, this workbook is designed to help you, as an organization, ask the important questions about social media, and take the next steps to growing a social culture. To download a copy, go to: http://www.idealware.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