Note from Beth: I've learned a lot about how to cultivate your professional network so it returns value by reading Porter Gale's Your Network is Your Networth over the summer.   And, social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook can provide the petri dish for growing a vibrant personal network.    Although I sometimes hear from colleagues that "Facebook is personal and fun stuff" or just a lot of skepticism about how a particular social networking platform can provide professional value, it isn't … [Read more...]

This "Keep Calm and Shine On" t-shirt is a riff on the popular "Keep Calm and Carry On" meme used by Autism Speaks to help promote the annual World Autism Awareness Day. The California Coverage and Health Initiative used this variation to promote enrolling in health care coverage as of October 1st. And the American Society of Civil Engineers used it to promote the profession. Many charities are often stretch to find the time and resources to feed the content beast and riffing on popular memes … [Read more...]

No doubt you've taken a "selfie,"  a self-portrait taken with your mobile phone camera and shared on Facebook or other social media channels.   Although selfies have been around for years, they have gained popularity recently. In December 2012, Time magazine noted that selfie was among its the "top 10 buzzwords" of 2012 and in August 2013, the term selfie also made its debut in Oxford Dictionaries Online's quarterly update where it is defined as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, … [Read more...]

Images, visuals, videos, and infographics are being staples of nonprofit's content strategy, especially for social channels.   While Facebook recently launched a huge free stock photo archive for use in Facebook ads,  finding compelling, high quality images that are low cost or free for image overlays, blog post and other channels can be difficult.    I recently asked nonprofits on my Facebook brand page where they got their images.   Here's a round up of resources and advice. It is important to … [Read more...]

  Note from Beth: Mitch Arnowitz and I recently participated in an online discussion atVenture Philanthropy Partners/Leap of Reason about creating a community of practice for continuous improvement and high performance in the nonprofit sector.  We were part of an email thread with a small group of individuals offered input on community management systems and facilitator recruiting resources.  After I wrote up this summary on my blog, How To Get Started Thinking About Online Peer Learning … [Read more...]