Yesterday, I was honored to fill in as MC and interviewer for Darian Rodriguez Heyman at the Nonprofit Fundraising Masters event. (Darian was welcoming his first child, a boy, into the world!). The event, a one-day conference designed to share the world’s most successful fundraisers’ secrets to success, most valuable tips and tools, and sources of inspiration. I did 6 fireside chats with Chuck Collins, YMCA; Annie Leonard, GreenPeace; Stephanie Bray, United Way; Michael Brune, Sierra Club, … [Read more...]
What Nonprofits Need To Do More in 2015: Embrace Stillness
The new year is always a popular time for all of us to take stock and see the big picture. And, every year when the calendar flips over, we embrace reflection and setting goals. However, we live in a connected world where we have gotten so go at being in touch, informed, and connected, that we don't know how to be alone and step away more regularly. People who work in the social good sector world are busy people, flitting from task to the next text or email. Too often, we can caught up … [Read more...]
Pioneers in Justice: Building Networks and Movements for Social Justice
Note from Beth: How do we build networks and movements around important social change issues. A generative social impact network links people together through relationships. They create social capital or value by making their skills, resources, and knowledge available to each other. Engagement in the network provides a bigger benefit than to the individual member, the networks can work on finding solutions to big social issues. A social impact network is different than a coalition or … [Read more...]
Keep Calm and Write It Down: How Reflective Practice Leads To Better Results for Nonprofit Giving Days
I'm facilitating a peer exchange for the Knight Foundation for a group of grantees that are hosting a Giving Days over the next year using its recently published Giving Day Playbook. The idea is not only for participants to acquire the skills and knowledge to host a successful giving day, but for them share and transform practices together. This is a design aspect called "Transformative Capacity Building," where a cohort of peer organizations come together to practice a skill and get better … [Read more...]
RIP Google Reader: Don't Scream Who Moved My Cheese, Pivot Your Reading
This past week, Google announced that it would close Google Reader on July 1st. Nonprofit technology colleague Nancy Schwartz shared that link and it prompted a lot of angst for many who had grown dependent on this free software. More than 125,000 people signed this online petition at Change.Org and lists of alternatives to Google Reader started popping up like this one from Lifehacker and list.ly. In online discussions with nonprofit techies, Megan Keane pointed to the loss of an … [Read more...]
