Two reports have been released on the topic of capacity building: "Supporting Grantee Capacity: Strengthening Effectiveness Together," from GrantCraft, a service of the Foundation Center and "Strengthening Nonprofit Capacity" from GEOfunders. This post summarizes gems from both reports. While the reports are guides to funders, if you do work as a capacity builder, you will find some useful insights for your practice. . Supporting Grantee Capacity: Strengthening Effectiveness Together This … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2015
The Performance Imperative: A Framework for Social Sector Excellence
"The Performance Imperative: A Framework for Social Sector Excellence, the result of a full year of collaborative work by the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, a group of nonprofit leaders coalesced and coordinated by the Leap of Reason team (leapofreason.org), makes it debut today. The framework details the seven organizational competencies that can help nonprofits achieve high performance and deliver greater social impact - the holy grail of the social sector. The competencies … [Read more...]
Shadowing To Learn Web Video: DoGooder Awards Voting
Recently, I've been reading the ideas from The Presencing Institute (PI), an action-research community that "creates social technologies, builds capacities, and generates holding spaces for profound societal renewal." The Presencing Institute grew out of the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, which was founded by Peter Senge and his colleagues. The word "Presencing" blends the words “presence” and “sensing” and works through “seeing from our deepest source.” It's a systems leadership … [Read more...]
How To Make Meetings Work for Your Nonprofit (whether you are sitting,standing, or walking!)
[slideshare id=44836927&doc=finalwebinar2-150218101244-conversion-gate02] Last week, I co-presented a Guidestar webinar with Andrea Kihlstedt on the topic of healthy and productive meetings who talked about the basics for making meetings highly effective. I spoke about standing and walking meetings. This post shares some reflections and additional resources about both topics. Productive Meetings We all have lived through that awful conference call or equally horrendous in person meeting. … [Read more...]
I-WE-IT Framework: Transformative Leadership for Social Change
On April 6-8th, I'm co-facilitating a transformative leadership retreat with colleagues Heather McLeod Grant, Chris Block, Lance Fors, and Justin Ferrell. The retreat curriculum is built around the ALF's "I-WE-IT" - skills that today's social change leaders need as we move towards more collective approaches. You can learn more and register here. What is I-WE-IT? This an impact to impact developed and practiced by the American Leadership Forum in Silicon Valley, a network of social change … [Read more...]
