Advice on Diversity: a Resource Guide
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in Baltimore, offers a “Race Matters” toolkit online to help ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Leading the Way organizations develop greater understanding of racial disparities, create more-effective programs and solutions, and communicate about race with more impact. Go to:…
TOOLS AND TRAINING When Gary Johnson searches for people to fill open jobs at the Chicago History Museum, he is often discouraged by the pool of applicants. It’s not that the job seekers aren’t talented, he says, because they are. Or that they don’t have relevant experience, because many of them…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Making an Organization More Diverse: Tips for Success
JOB MARKET Nonprofit employers who seek to make their organizations more reflective of the people they serve need to take action, not simply talk about it, says Paul Schmitz, president of Public Allies, in Milwaukee, which trains young people for careers in social-change organizations. “Nonprofits…
By Heather Joslyn and Michael Anft
JOB MARKET Twelve years ago, when Michael C. Bright joined the YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester, ALSO SEE:LIVE DISCUSSION: Join a live discussion with Renee Branch, director of diversity and inclusive practices, Paul Schmitz, president of Public Allies, and The Rev. Clarence Williams,…
By Michael Anft
Contributor
Access Community Health Network (Chicago): Appointed Lauren Holhut, director of major gifts and planned giving at the Newberry Library (Chicago), to be director of organizational advancement. Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers (Washington): Appointed Heidi Kurtz, deputy director at the Federal…
Misconceptions Often Undermine Charity Marketing Efforts
Many charities have turned to for-profit marketing firms to help them improve their “brand,” the term coined in the corporate world to describe the products, services, images, perceptions, and other factors that influence ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Staying at the Top of Their GameARTICLE: Charity Comeback…
By Peter Rogovin
Contributor
A large Philadelphia charity found itself in trouble after the chief financial officer estimated that the organization’s ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Staying at the Top of Their GameARTICLE: Misconceptions Often Undermine Charity Marketing Efforts revenue would fall about $200,000 short of its $32-million…
By Eric Frazier
Contributor
Staying at the Top of Their Game
Barbara Otto, a Chicago charity executive, was dropping her 2-year-old daughter off at day care when she got back into her ALSO SEE:GET ADVICE: Read the transcript of an online discussion with Christine Kwak of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Michelle Gislason, a consultant at CompassPoint about…
By Sue Hoye
Contributor
Charities have increasingly been trying management ideas and tools developed by businesses — some with better results than others. Kriss Deiglmeier, executive director of Stanford University’s Center for Social ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Staying at the Top of Their GameARTICLE: Charity ComebackARTICLE:…
Two Organizations Announce Staff Changes
Two nonprofit technology groups are undergoing leadership changes: the Nonprofit Technology Network and the ePhilanthropy Foundation. On November 1, Katrin Verclas will step down as executive director of the Nonprofit Technology Network, a national organization for individuals, charities, and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charities Enlist Help to Review Legislation
Government watchdog groups have joined forces on a project that asks citizens to help investigate Congressional earmarks. Earmark Watch builds on databases that Taxpayers for Common Sense, in Washington, has created, which list thousands of measures inserted into 2008 spending bills by members of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Offers of Technology Aid Often Go Unused
Few small grass-roots organizations in California take advantage of the free or low-cost services offered by nonprofit technology-assistance groups, or even know that those services are available, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of San Francisco’s Institute for Nonprofit…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Creative Online Campaigns Win ‘ePhilanthropy’ Prizes
The ePhilanthropy Foundation has presented its awards for excellence in nonprofit use of the Internet for fund raising and advocacy. Mama Cash, an organization in Amsterdam, received the award for best fund-raising campaign for its second annual Campaign 88 Days, an effort to educate the public…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Making the Case for General Operating Support
NEW BOOKS General Operating Support Action Guide, attempts to persuade grant makers of the importance of providing such support to charities. Describing general operating support as “the ‘working capital’ nonprofits need to sustain their day-to-day operations,” the publication discusses what it is,…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Nonprofit organizations contribute an average of 5 percent to the gross domestic product in eight major countries, according to a new statistical analysis — a level much higher than previously recorded. “The economic scale of nonprofit institutions outdistances that of major industries,” says a…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Church Demands Federal Investigation in Politicking Case
An Episcopal church in California is demanding that the Internal Revenue Service apologize for — and explain how it handled — a just-closed investigation that concluded the church broke federal law on political activities. What’s more, All Saints Church in Pasadena said it was concerned that IRS…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor