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Picks of the Week: August 24 - 30, 2008
Website of the Week
Volunteering in America
Hosted by the
Corporation for National and Community Service, Volunteering in America is a
new website that will enable you to access volunteering trends, statistics,
tools, resources, and information for the nation, U.S. regions, states, and
major cities. You will also be able to see how states and cities rank on
different factors related to volunteering. The data for this Web site were
collected through a supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS)
September Volunteer Supplement. The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000
households (approximately 100,000 adults), conducted by the U.S. Census
Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Go to:
www.volunteeringinamerica.gov
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Publication of the Week
 Marketing Research: A Practical Approach
by Bonita Kolb
From the publisher: Essential
to any student of the discipline, this innovative new book offers a uniquely
comprehensive and applied approach to both understanding and designing
market research. Sensitively balancing the fundamental quantitative
methodologies and theoretical structures with practical applications of
qualitative techniques, this book is a vastly accessible, useful, and
insightful text. This is a valuable resource both for the novice researcher,
and for those more familiar with the discipline. Drawing on many years of
academic teaching experience, the author crafts a comprehensive and
practical student text with an emphasis on both critical thinking and
hands-on application. Providing several real life case studies - from the
large corporation, through to the small business or the nonprofit
organization - Marketing Research is packed with useful learning features
such as key terms, definitions, and discussion topics. Offering
comprehensive support from a companion website, this book is an
indispensable guide to the varied domains of market research.
Click to preview this book on Amazon.com
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Trend of the Week
Social Return on Investment in Youth Intervention Programs
A report by the Minnesota Youth
Intervention Programs Association puts forward a framework for doing social
return on investment (SROI) analysis of youth intervention programs. It then
uses the framework to estimate the return to two representative programs: a
comprehensive intervention program and a targeted program designed to discourage
property crimes. Major findings include:
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Effective intervention
programs are likely to produce some of the highest returns of any youth
programs since they deal with more concentrated populations, many of
whom have been identified through truancy, juvenile crime, or other
problem behaviors.
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Based on the study of
intervention programs in Minnesota, effective youth intervention
programs can produce some or all of the following direct benefits:
Reduced truancy, improved school performance, reduced near-term court
costs, reduced costs of adult crime, reduced needs for social services,
and improved health outcomes.
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An effective
comprehensive program costing around $2,000 per participant returns
benefits of $4.89 for every dollar of cost, based on very conservative
assumptions about effects and valuations. Moreover, the program returns
$14.68 for every State dollar invested, assuming a 2 to 1 match of other
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To view a summary of the report,
go to:
www.wilder.org
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Resource of the Week
American Management Association Scholarship Program
Managers and executives in the
nonprofit social sector can benefit from a scholarship program developed in
partnership between the American Management Association (AMA) and the Leader to
Leader Institute. AMA is providing up to 75 scholarships administered by the
Leader to Leader Institute to qualified recipients. Scholarship recipients will
select and receive admission to an AMA seminar as well as a one year membership
to each organization. To apply, go to:
www.leadertoleader.org
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Tech Tip of the Week
Calculate a
Person's Age in Excel
The DATEDIF() function in Excel calculates the number
of days, months, or years between two dates. This function makes it easy to
calculate a person's age. To try this:
- In a blank worksheet, type a birth date in cell A1, using slashes to
separate day, month, and year.
- In cell A2, type =DATEDIF(A1,TODAY(),"y") and press ENTER.
The age (in years) will be displayed in cell A2.
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