Note from Beth:   I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of Data Driven Nonprofits by Steve Maclaughlin (launching Sept. 6th so stay tuned) and so data and nonprofits has been on my brain.  So when colleague, Cheryl Contee reached out an idea for this post, I could not resist!  Speaking of books, you can pre-order my next book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout due out in October.   Everyday People Are Heroes: Using Big Data to Engage New Agents of … [Read more...]

Nonprofit data nerds will love this new resource from Media Impact Funders and Foundation Center called "Foundation Maps for Media Funding," a free, interactive mapping and research tool that shows the full scope of philanthropically funded media projects worldwide since 2009. This version of the tool is a significant upgrade to the tool launched previously by Media Impact Funders.   The tool is designed for funders, nonprofits, mission-driven media makers, journalists and philanthropic … [Read more...]

Note from Beth: I've been a big believer in shared knowledge and learning for the sector.  IssueLab has been working for ten years to apply the age-old knowledge management question, “what if I knew what others know?” to the hard-earned lessons of nonprofits and foundations.  While they confess that they still don’t know the ultimate answer to that question, they have learned a thing or two in their continued pursuit of that goal.  That's why I'm so grateful they are sharing it in this guest … [Read more...]

Note from Beth:   I am honored to be a member of Leap Ambassadors Community, a private community of nonprofit thought leaders and practitioners. My colleagues, all experts, practitioners, and instigators share a passion for inspiring others to build great organizations for greater societal impact and increasing the expectation and adoption of high performance in the field.   When I heard about Guidestar's plans to measure high performance at scale,  I invited Jacob Harold, CEO and fellow … [Read more...]

I've been a huge fan of Crisis Text Line since it launched back in August, 2013.   I remember when I first saw it when its was in its infancy as a project at DoSomething.   Nancy Lublin, who was CEO at the time, hosted a book party for "Measuring the Networked Nonprofit" and during a tour of the office, she introduced me to Bob Filbin, DoSomething's Data Scientist at the time.   Nancy said, "Bob, show her the crisis text line data set."    He showed me the project and explained the vision for … [Read more...]