I'm in Sao Paulo, Brasil to speak at Telefonica's Conference on virtual volunteering that takes place on December 2nd (GivingTuesday).  I'll be talking about how individuals and NGOS can have a great impact by building relationships online and inspiring their networks to take action - whether volunteering, giving money,or  educating others. I've been a champion for GivingTuesday , a global day of giving to kick off the giving season, since the beginning because the idea of encouraging everyone … [Read more...]

  #thankful4home: A Lesson in Project Based Learning & Gratitude guest post by Lisa Colton This fall and winter I’m working with a group of organizations in Chicago to raise awareness around homelessness, alongside screenings of the @Home documentary that features portraits of this issue through the eyes of activist Mark Horvath.  Through an impact-producing grant from the Polk Bros Foundation, we’re helping these local organizations raise awareness of their work and mature their online … [Read more...]

GiveMN launched its "Give to the Max Day" over 6 years ago.  It was one of the first 24-hour day of giving that rallies and inspires to donate to charities.  On November 13, Minnesotans broke a record Thursday, donating more than $18 million to schools and non-profits.  I have been tracking this giving day since its first Giving Day back in 2009 and every year do a debrief post or interview.  This year, I was lucky enough to get Dana Nelson, Executive Director to do an email interview.    GiveMN … [Read more...]

Note from Beth: It's Giving Day Season!   I'm working with a network of community foundations, grantees of the Knight Foundation, that are hosting giving days as the facilitator.     The peer learning exchange is experimenting with best practices for Giving Days.     The group is using and adding their knowledge to The Giving Day Playbook.   These strategies are helping community foundations experiment, iterate and implement best practices when it comes to hosting Giving Days as well as … [Read more...]

[slideshare id=41110193&doc=technow-crowdfundingworkshopdeckslideshareversion-141104100105-conversion-gate02] Last week, I was honored to deliver the lunch keynote at the 2014 TechNow Conference in Pittsburgh, PA organized by The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University. (My trick for helping participants avoid a food coma is to get the audience moving). The next day, I facilitated a workshop on Best Practices for Crowd Funding that blended traditional instruction … [Read more...]