A New Year: A New Learning Journey Begins

I spent a very quiet holiday with family at Half Moon Bay and taking a New Year’s hike on Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals.     Nature hikes and down time with family are nourishing and replenishing.
As I watched the last sunset of 2011 fade over the Pacific Ocean,   I wanted to formally say farewell to Zoetica, the company I co-founded with Geoff Livingston and Kami Huyse that we announced in January, 2010 one day after my birthday, and one day before the Haiti Earthquake.     Geoff has moved on to working on exciting projects, including a book and Kami will continue the brand Zoetica working on strategy projects such as this important effort to keep .NGO domain in the hands of nonprofits.
Starting Zoetica came on the heels of  one of the most dramatic changes I made in my life in recent years.   In 2009,  I moved with my my family across country to California to become Visiting Scholar at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and wrote my first book, The Networked Project with Alison Fine.    In 2010,  I launched the Networked Nonprofit with a flurry of speaking and training gigs literally around the world, while also designing and facilitating many workshops, peer learning groups,  and coaching grantees as Visiting Scholar.
Here’s what is in store for me for 2012:

As Visiting Scholar to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation this past year (my 3rd),  one project I worked on was facilitating peer learning groups to test and develop case studies and frameworks for my next book,  Measuring the Networked Nonprofit” that I co-authored with KD Paine and editor, Bill Paarlberg.   The book will publish in the second half of 2012.    The book is a how-to guide for using measurement and learning to improve networked nonprofit practices.      Writing a book while testing frameworks in a peer group setting was a little like trying to change a tire on a moving car, but it is far more fun to create – and this participatory process – makes the material more customized for the readers.   I now look forward to further refining curriculum and workshops over the coming months.
I will also continue to follow my passion and calling as a trainer and capacity builder through my work as Visiting Scholar at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation working with grantees designing and facilitating capacity building programs that incorporate social media and networked approaches.   This year, 2012, will have a focus on designing and delivering capacity building projects with NGOs outside the US.  I will be working with a cluster of Packard grantees in Pakistan and India in collaboration with IIE.   I will also have the opportunity to be an instructor as part of a Women’s Leadership Program in Africa, in partnership with IIE.    And, will  complete my work on E-mediat project, a capacity building project in the Middle East.    Maybe my next book will be about something about Networked NGOs and capacity building methods …..
What are your plans for 2012?