Severson Center Trend Website
The Severson Center, a
division of the Alliance for Children and Families, has opened their trend
website to the general public, allowing more immediate access to a library
of information in a readily accessible, user-friendly format. No login is
needed for the website, but some reports are password protected for access
by members of the Alliance. Trends and their impacts are organized under the
following categories: Business/Economy, Education, Nonprofits,
Technology/Science, Demographics/Population, Health, Social Service Issues,
and Work. No question about it: this is the only resource of its kind and an
invaluable resource for nonprofit strategic planning efforts. Go to:
www.alliancetrends.org
May
6 - 12, 2012
Common Knowledge
Common Knowledge, a consulting agency founded in 2002 and based in San
Francisco provides comprehensive consulting services for online fundraising,
advocacy, marketing and communications to nonprofit organizations that need
to leverage the Internet more effectively to further their mission. The site
includes an extensive list of resources on use of technology by nonprofits.
Go to:
www.commonknow.com
April
29 - May 5, 2012
Frances Hesselbein Leadership
Institute
Established in 1990 as the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit
Management, the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute furthers its mission
to strengthen and inspire the leadership of the social sector and their
partners in business and government by connecting the public, private and
social sectors with curated resources and relationships to serve, evolve and
lead together. The Institute’s free monthly e-newsletter, Leading Today, is
used as a vehicle to communicate social sector programs, events,
publications and leadership initiatives. Each month, the Institute profiles
one social sector organization’s innovative service, program or partnership
employed to make a difference in the lives of the people it serves. This
Innovation Profile aims to encourage collaboration and program replication.
To access information and resources of the Institute, go to:
www.hesselbeininstitute.org
April
22 - 28, 2012
Nonprofit Resource Center
The mission of the Nonprofit Resource Center is to enhance
the resources and improve the management of nonprofit organizations,
primarily within California’s northern Central Valley and Sierra Nevada
regions. Offering comprehensive resources, from a professionally-staffed
library, access to a grant funder database, from fundraising workshops to
management networking, the Center enables new and existing nonprofits to
improve management, operations, fund development, marketing & public
relations, board development and more. This resource rich website will be of
great use to nonprofits everywhere. For more information, go to:
www.nprcenter.org
April
15 - 21, 2012
Hauser Center for Nonprofit
Organizations
The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
at Harvard University is a university-wide center for the study of nonprofit
organizations and civil society. The Hauser Center seeks to expand
understanding and accelerate critical thinking about the leadership of
nonprofit and non-governmental organizations through the key goals of
research, education, and practice. The Center’s goals include:
 |
Research: Explore the critical questions
affecting nonprofits and NGOs and widely disseminate the findings.
|
|
|
Education: Support teaching about
nonprofit organizations across Harvard University and development of
curricula in the field. |
|
|
Practice: Connect current and future
leaders with new thinking and scholarship.
|
For more information, go to:
www.hks.harvard.edu
April
8 - 14, 2012
Youth Service America
Youth Service America (YSA) is a resource
center that partners with thousands of organizations committed to increasing
the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people, ages
5-25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally. Founded in 1986, YSA’s
mission is to expand the impact of the youth service movement with
communities, schools, corporations, and governments. YSA envisions a global
culture of engaged youth who are committed to a lifetime of service,
learning, leadership and achievement and works toward that mission through
four core strategies:
|
|
Organizing public policy and awareness
campaigns |
|
|
Convening the field |
|
|
Offering incentives and recognition
|
|
|
Providing information and educational
resources |
Go to:
www.ysa.org/about
April
1 - 7, 2012
Unreasonable Institute
The Unreasonable Institute works to solve the world’s
biggest problems by arming the entrepreneurs who can take them on with the
mentorship, capital, and network to make it happen. Each year, the Institute
unites 25 entrepreneurs from every corner of the globe to live under the
same roof for six weeks in Boulder, Colorado. These entrepreneurs receive
training and build long-term relationships with 50 world-class mentors,
ranging from the former Managing Director of Investments at Google.org, to
the CTO of HP, to an entrepreneur who’s enabled over 19 million farmers to
move out of poverty. In the process, they also form relationships and build
their businesses with 20 investment funds, receive legal advice & design
consulting, and pitch to hundreds of potential investors and partners. You
can view a 3-minute trailer to get an inside peak and read on to learn how
the process works. Go to:
unreasonableinstitute.org
March
25 - 31, 2012
CreateAthon
CreateAthon is a 24-hour, work-around the clock creative blitz during which
local advertising agencies generate advertising services for local
nonprofits that have little or no marketing budget. Since the program’s
expansion from a single market to an international effort in 2001, 40
agencies have joined the CreateAthon network, holding CreateAthon events in
their cities. This effort has benefited 833 nonprofit organizations with
1,809 projects valued at $7 million. Go to:
www.createathon.com
March
18 - 24, 2012
David Lamb's Prospect Research
Page
Lamb, a former development officer at the University of Washington and Santa
Clara University, has developed a collection of truly useful Internet sites
for researching corporations, foundations, and individual donors. David
Lamb's Prospect Research Page includes links to directories of doctors,
judges, lawyers, and airplane owners; online news sources; and corporate and
public records databases. What's nice about the Prospect Research Page is
that Lamb has distilled the vast number of potential sources of information
on the Internet into a relatively small selection of annotated sites. Go to:
www.lambresearch.com
March
11 -17, 2012
Social Impact Exchange
The Social Impact Exchange is a community of funders, advisors, wealth
managers, intermediaries, nonprofits and researchers interested in funding
and developing practices for scaling-up social solutions. The Exchange’s
purpose is to establish a marketplace ecosystem that consistently enables
effective social interventions to achieve scaled impact. The Exchange has
three main functions: Facilitate increased funding of nonprofit scaling
initiatives through funder networks and growth capital markets in specific
issues and geographies ; Develop and share knowledge, including research,
information and education that leads to more effective scaling efforts;
Build Field Infrastructure to enable a capital marketplace to emerge,
including standards, funding platforms, and distribution channels to
efficiently connect funders with growth initiatives. For more information,
go to:
www.socialimpactexchange.org
March
4 -10, 2012
Center on Nonprofits and
Philanthropy
The Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy (CNP) conducts and disseminates
research on the role and impact of nonprofit organizations and philanthropy.
In addition, CNP conducts research on and analyzes trends in the operations
and finances of U.S. charitable organizations through data developed and
maintained by its National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) and other
sources. NCCS serves as a comprehensive source for information regarding
U.S. nonprofits through its extensive databases of information collected by
the Internal Revenue Service and others. The data provided by NCCS provides
the foundation for the many research projects at CNP. NCCS is also actively
involved in improving the quality of nonprofit sector data by, among other
initiatives, encouraging and supporting the use of electronic filing of
required IRS forms for nonprofits. Go to:
www.urban.org
National Council of Nonprofits
The National Council of Nonprofits, the nation’s largest nonprofit network,
works through its member State Associations to amplify the voices of
America’s local community-based nonprofit organizations, help them engage in
critical policy issues affecting the sector, manage and lead more
effectively, collaborate and exchange solutions, and achieve greater impact
in their communities. The NCNA website housed one of the most extensive
collections of resources for nonprofits of all types. To access this
collection, click on "resources" on the opening webpage. If your nonprofit
is not already a member of a state council affiliated with the National
Council of Nonprofits, it's time to consider joining. For membership
information and much more, go to:
www.councilofnonprofits.org
February
19 - 25, 2012
Data Without Borders
Data Without Borders seeks to
match non-profits in need of data analysis with freelance and pro bono data
scientists who can work to help them with data collection, analysis,
visualization, or decision support. Big companies like Google and Amazon
recognize the importance of dedicated data science teams and can support
fulltime analysts, but non-profits, though they may have rich and
interesting datasets, don’t have the resources to capitalize on their data
or may not even know the value of the data they already collect. Data
Without Borders aims to close that gap through a data scientist exchange,
bringing exciting new problems to the data community and helping to solve
social, environmental, and community problems alongside nonprofits and NGOs.
If you’re a non-profit who could use some data analysis or a data junkie who
wants to pitch in and help, Data Without Borders encourages you to make
contact. Go to:
datawithoutborders.cc
February
12 - 18, 2012
WhatWorks
The mission of WhatWorks is to guide
philanthropy, nonprofits, and communities to higher results, moving the
needle on social issues. WhatWorks operates as a network of nonprofit
organizations, grant-makers, researchers, and consultants who are interested
in investing in what works to achieve what matters. Available resources
include: Access to a variety of online resources such as Outcomes Portal,
Archived Webcasts, Case Studies, Best Practices, Articles; quarterly Learn
What Works e-Newsletter; information about new ways to define, track,
achieve, improve, communicate and manage to higher results; webinars and
conferences; and much more. Go to:
www.whatworks.org. Becoming a member of The Center for What Works is
currently free and open to individuals as well as organizations. For more
information, go to:
www.whatworks.org/registernewmembers.
February 5 - 11, 2012
Best Practices Library for
Nonprofits
The Best Practices Library for Nonprofits is
housed at the University of San Diego's Institute for Nonprofit Education
and Research. The Best Practice Library consists of applied projects that
were completed by students in the masters program for, and in collaboration
with, a variety of nonprofit organizations. As of June 2011, over 600
projects have been completed for 260 nonprofit organizations. The online
library is expected to continue to grow as students create or revise
corporate by-laws, personnel policies, volunteer manuals, board manuals,
fundraising plans, financial management systems plans and information
technology plans. Go to:
www.sandiego.edu
January
29 - February 4, 2012
Human Interaction Research
Institute
The Human Interaction Research Institute (HIRI)
helps nonprofits, funders and communities handle the challenges of
innovation and change, using behavioral science strategies. Founded in 1961,
the nonprofit Institute is based in Los Angeles. Its work ranges from
research, to technical assistance on systems change, to disseminating
innovations or helping others to do so. The emphasis in all these activities
is on the complex human dynamics of change - how to get people personally
committed to change and feel rewarded for their involvement, and how to
address people’s fears and resistances about change. Current priority areas
are: (1) nonprofit capacity building, (2) community collaborations and (3)
philanthropy, along with longstanding interests in dissemination and health
communication. Go to:
www.humaninteract.org
January
22 - 28, 2012
Volunteer Consulting Group
The Volunteer Consulting
Group (VCG) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1969 by the Harvard
Business School Club of Greater New York, whose mission focuses on
strengthening nonprofit organizations by increasing the governing and
management ability of their Boards of Directors
Services that VCG provides to strengthen the governance of
the nonprofit sector include: (1) Matching Board members and Boards; (2)
Working to make Boards more effective; and (3) Continually upgrading the
skills of current Board members. VCG offer several services for those
interested in ongoing developments in nonprofit governance. Through
advocacy, peer-learning roundtables and workshops, and educational resources
-- such as the website -- Governance Matters fosters an open exchange of
ideas throughout the nonprofit sector. Go to:
www.vcggm.org
January
15 - 21, 2012
The Future of Philanthropy
This website contains the results of a
partnership between the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation. The partnership was initiated by Tom Reis, a program
director within the Philanthropy and Volunteerism unit at Kellogg, and by
Barbara Kibbe, then the director of Packard’s Organizational Effectiveness
and Philanthropy Program and now vice president for program and
effectiveness at the Skoll Foundation. As representatives from two of the
very few funders doing grantmaking to build the capacity of philanthropy and
nonprofits, Reis and Kibbe were troubled by their perception that the U.S.
nonprofit sector was not keeping up with the pace of change. This website is
designed for individuals who want to do a better job of using their own
resources (money, time, expertise) and for those who are employed as
philanthropy professionals or advisors. It is primarily constructed to help
improve the practice of philanthropy. But it also contains material for
those who are working to change philanthropy. Go to:
www.futureofphilanthropy.org
January
8 - 14, 2012
Stanford Social Innovation Review
The Stanford Social Innovation Review has re-launched its website. Stanford
Social Innovation Review is an award-winning magazine and website that
covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. SSIR is written for and by
social change leaders in the nonprofit, business, and government sectors who
view collaboration as key to solving environmental, social, and economic
justice issues. Published at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil
Society at Stanford University, SSIR bridges academic theory and practice
with ideas about achieving social change. SSIR covers a wide range of
subjects, from microfinance and green businesses to social networks and
human rights. Its aim is both to inform and to inspire. Go to:
www.ssireview.org
January
1 - 7, 2012
Creative Capital
Creative Capital provides
integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous
projects in five disciplines: Emerging Fields, Film/Video, Literature,
Performing Arts and Visual Arts. Working in long-term partnership with
artists, Creative Capital’s pioneering approach to support combines funding,
counsel and career development services to enable a project’s success and
foster sustainable practices for its grantees. In its first decade, Creative
Capital has committed more than $20 million in financial and advisory
support to 325 projects representing 406 artists, and has reached an
additional 3,700 artists through its Professional Development Program. Go
to:
creative-capital.org
To view
2011 Websites of the Week, click here. To view
2010 Websites of the Week, click here. To view
2009 Websites of the Week, click here. To
view 2008 Websites of the Week, click here. To
view 2007 Websites of the Week, click here. To
view 2006 Websites of the Week, click here. To view 2005
Websites of the Week, click here.
To view 2004
Websites of the Week, click here. |
