Website of the Week -- The Case Foundation
The Case Foundation, created
by Steve Case and Jean Case in 1997, invests in people and ideas that can
change the world. The Foundation creates and supports initiatives that leverage
new technologies and entrepreneurial approaches to drive innovation in the
social sector and encourage individuals to get involved with the communities
and causes they care about. The Case Foundation has led a series of innovative
and collaborative initiatives that aim to leverage new technologies to empower
and engage citizens in the U.S. and around the globe. Through partnerships with
hundreds of nonprofits, private sector and corporate partners, as well as the
public sector, these efforts have helped to expand the role of individuals in
philanthropy and in giving back to their communities. Recent examples of
efforts to expand the role of citizen-centered philanthropy and experimentation
with new technologies, such as social media, include America’s Giving
Challenge, an online competition conducted in partnership with PARADE and
Causes that engaged tens of thousands of Americans to get involved with causes
they care about. In 2007, the Make It Your Own Awards called on citizens to
connect with others, form solutions and take action on community issues. The
website includes links to many resources that will be of use to nonprofits. For
more information, go to: http://casefoundation.org
Publication of the Week -- From
Passion to Execution: How to Start and Grow an Effective Nonprofit Organization by Lyn
Scott
From the publisher: Transform your vision and passion
as you learn how to effectively start, grow, and lead a nonprofit organization
with this practical, inspiring guide. From Passion To Execution: How To Start
And Grow An Effective Nonprofit Organization combines meaningful, real examples
and insights, based on the author's extensive experience, with a high-energy,
powerful presentation that equips you with the confidence to follow your dream
of starting a nonprofit organization. This reader-friendly book provides
specific how-to steps to start a nonprofit organization with a focus on long
term sustainability. The author shows you how to set the ground work, from
exploring your personal passion and effectively articulating a mission
statement to building a solid board. You also learn how to communicate vision,
design programs, ignite volunteers, assemble the right business team, craft a
strategic plan, seek supporters, and navigate differing personalities as the
organization grows. Finally, you learn to assess results and adjust plans to
effectively manage and continue to lead a successful organization.
Trend of the Week -- Nonprofit
HR Trends for 2014
Nonprofits are letting fewer
people go and plan to create more positions in the coming year, but they
continue to struggle to adopt new and innovative human resources practices,
according to the 2014 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey, conducted by
consulting firm Nonprofit HR. Of the more than 400 groups surveyed, 46 percent
reported increased hiring in 2013, the highest total in the last five years.
Only 17 percent said they decreased hiring, the third consecutive year that
that number has dropped. And, for the first time since the end of the Great
Recession, more groups said they plan to hire new staff to support new projects
(45 percent) than use current staff (43 percent). A number of staffing
challenges still present major hurdles and include:
- Extended time needed to fill positions, particularly for mid and high level vacancies
- The lack of formal diversity strategies and formal succession plans
- One fifth of nonprofits indicate that turnover is their biggest challenge
- Retention challenges from competitive pay, excessive workloads through to struggles to advance staff
The study also noted that entry
and mid-level professionals are the hardest to retain. This is a concern as
these are often going to be the front-line/public facing staff who most
typically are interacting with the donor audience on an individual basis. To
download a summary of the study report, go to: http://www.nonprofithr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014NEP_SurveyReport-FINAL.pdf
Resource of the Week – The Networked Nonprofit
The article by Jane Wei-Skillern
and Sonia Marciano appearing the Stanford Social Innovation Review describes a
new approach to long term partnership building. The authors suggest, with some
compelling examples and arguments, that nonprofits that pursue their missions
through networks of long-term, trust-based partnerships achieve more sustainable
mission impact than would be possible through traditional approaches to
organizational growth. Management wisdom says that nonprofits must be large and
in charge to do the most good. But some of the world’s most successful
organizations instead stay small, sharing their load with like-minded,
long-term partners. The success of these networked nonprofits suggests that
organizations should focus less on growing themselves and more on cultivating
their networks. Go to: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_networked_nonprofit
