Place a little bet & or share your #failure story... you could win a Surface! #13ntcbets ow.ly/k24ok — Case Foundation (@CaseFoundation) April 13, 2013 You've heard the mantra: Learn from failure. But no one likes to screw up and you can't learn when you're beating your chest in frustration or pointing fingers at each other. Some smart organizations are helping their people make failure not only productive, but also fun.   That's the summary of a post I wrote last week for the Harvard … [Read more...]

I have been working in the nonprofit sector for 34 years, spending the last twenty of them focusing on the nonprofit technology sector to deliver training and capacity building.    I have been waiting a long time to have a sector-wide conversation about learning from failure and last week at the Nonprofit Technology Conference, we were able to just that! The plenary session was called "Placing Little Bets: Failing Informatively for the Nonprofit Technology Sector," and I was joined by smart … [Read more...]

The 2013 Nonprofit Technology Conference takes place in Minneapolis next week.  It is the largest gathering of people who work in the nonprofit sector and technology.   This conference will be my 13th one - and every year it is a like a family reunion.    Registration is still available, but you can't make it register for the online NTC and catch a few sessions. I have the honor of designing and facilitating three sessions, including a plenary on my favorite topic - learning from failure. April … [Read more...]

[slideshare id=16984179&doc=bethkanter-slides-socialgood-summit-130306131919-phpapp02] This week I was in Austin, TX for SXSW Interactive Festival where I presented or facilitated at several social good sessions or events.   I started presenting at SXSW in 2008 and have gone annually (except last year I took a year off).    I've watched over the years as the presence of social good and nonprofits folks has grown over the years, although this year it felt like contracted because there were … [Read more...]

Best moment of #MIForum?Lifting my arms and voices to say "I FAILED, NOW LETS MOVE ON."Led by @kanter — Wendy Hanamura (@WHanamura) January 25, 2013 Last Friday, Media Impact Funders brought together technologists, journalists, philanthropists and innovators for a day-long conversation on the future of media and tech innovation. I had the honor facilitating a session on  measuring impact with Greg Baldwin and Jay Backstrand from VolunteerMatch discussing how their approach to measuring impact … [Read more...]