Website of the Week
-- Human Services Research Institute
Since 1976 the Human
Services Research Institute has provided consultation and conducted research
efforts at both the state and federal levels in the fields of intellectual and
developmental disabilities, substance use and prevention, mental health and child
and family services. HSRI works to:
- Assist public managers and human service organizations to develop services and supports that work for children, adults, and families;
- Enhance the involvement of individuals and their families in shaping policy, priorities and practice;
- Improve the capacity of systems, organizations, and individuals to cope with changes in fiscal, administrative, and political realities;
- Expand the use of research, performance measurement and evaluation to improve and enrich lives.
For more
information, go to: http://www.hsri.org.
Publication of the
Week -- Connected for Good: A Gameplan
for a Generous Life by John Stanley
From the publisher:
The best kind of generosity is done with others, not for others. People of means
and substance are growing weary of fundraising run by charity leaders who’ve
adopted the tactics of professional salespeople. They’re looking for ways to
make change that’s important to them, rather than just responding to an endless
stream of appeals and campaigns. They may have been taught to donate and
volunteer as part of their faith or family tradition, but they haven’t learned
how to do so in a way that is effective and meaningful. In Connected for Good,
John Stanley explores the Generosity Gaps—places where men and women hold back
their giving. Stanley believes that we can act on our generous impulses to the
full if we start from the heart’s desire for connection. Giving that involves
personal relationship and engagement is then more satisfying and sustainable.
Going beyond the traditional time, talent, and treasure, Stanley encourages
giving from the full range of our renewable currencies:
- Giving in our relationships means practicing amazingly ordinary generosity with those close to us. It also means building bridges between people in our network for their benefit, not ours. Friends and family are a tremendous source of richness.
- Giving our strengths begins with the gift of presence and attention. We can then make sure that the charitable work we do draws on our skills and talents, making it more powerful for the organizations we serve and more enjoyable for ourselves.
- Giving our resources falls into proper perspective when we give relationships and strengths first. Our feet follow our money, and we also find creative ways to use our possessions, space, time, and assets.
Finally, Stanley
explores how to make use of the multiplier effect to greatly increase impact.
You give something away and receive as much or more back in return. You give
but your supply isn’t diminished. Building relationships, expanding strengths,
and leveraging resources contributes to the multiplier effect, as does giving
upstream to prevent problems at their source.
Trend of the Week
-- Relief Donors Stay Loyal, Tiring Of
Disasters
According to a study
by ORC International commissioned by The NonProfit Times, a majority of donors
given a choice between giving to a non-disaster charity or to disaster relief
response would not give to disaster relief. More people reached via cell phone
would give to the non-disaster charity. By a count of 47 percent to 44 percent,
with 9 percent unsure, donors would give to a non-disaster charity if they
could make only one gift. Of all respondents, 33 percent would give to a
non-disaster charity to which they have always given and 14 percent to a
non-disaster charity to which they have never given.
In the study, a
nationally-projectable sample of 1,005 Americans was asked the following
question: If you had $25 and could make just one charitable donation with it,
which of the following types of charities would you donate to? The choices were
a non-disaster relief charity or a disaster relief charity. Within those
distinctions, respondents were asked if it was an organization they have always
supported or if it was an organization they had not always supported. For more
information, go to:
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/9-1-13_SpecialReport_DonorResearch.pdf
Resource of the Week
– Volunteer Management Resource Library
The Volunteer
Management Resource Library, hosted by Susan Ellis and the Energize, Inc.
website, is organized by subject and each subject page provides Online
Bookstore links, free articles or excerpts, free electronic books or guides, as
well as an annotated list of Web sites with more material on the subject. This
is the most comprehensive – and up to date – resource of its kind available. Go
to: http://www.energizeinc.com/art.html
Tech Tip of the Week
-- Change Text Case in Word
To change the case
of text in Word, try this:
- Select text
- Press Shift + F3 until it changes to the desired case style
Pressing Shift + F3
toggles the text case between sentence case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, and
capitalize each word. Be sure to hold down the Shift WHILE you press F3. Also, it works in all versions of Word.
However, if you include text with punctuation at the end, it will skip the
option to capitalize each word. You can also try this in PowerPoint.
