Oral pledges are exactly what they sound like: pies in the sky—get written confirmation or
strike them off the books. If transparency comes back to bite you in the proverbial behind, just
stay still—things should settle in time. Don’t envy your more-powerful neighbors—turn
lemons into lemonade and connect with their resources. And, if voicing dissent puts you in
the doghouse, choose your battles wisely and make sure to speak up as often in support. $13.95 | If there were one thing you might want to take to heart regarding
twenty-first-century nonprofit communications, it is that if you ignore
the reciprocity principle, you may risk your organization’s survival. $13.95 |
Literature suggests
that online
organizations are
more likely to
embrace a newer,
more youth-friendly
communication
style than
organizations
working within the
formal political
realm. The author’s
study of Facebook
communications
mainly confirms this,
but the low levels of
youth-friendly
communications
across the board
raise doubts about
the likelihood of a
civil society
resurgence through
social media. $13.95 | The framing,
or often
reframing,
of a social issue
must be
repeated regularly,
by many,
and in various
locations
for it to
begin dominating
the public’s
understanding
of the issue; and
social media
is enormously
useful in
helping the
frame to “set.” $13.95 |
A whole sector may
not be able to have a
“brand” per se, but it
can leave an
impression. Jon Pratt
and Jan Masaoka
discuss what exactly
that impression
might currently be. $13.95 | One of the oft-mentioned roles of
nonprofit or philanthropic board members
is as ambassadors, but that entails a lot more
than memorizing the mission statement or
an all-purpose elevator speech. $13.95 |
Amid the cacophony of information about social projects, how do we call public and philanthropic attention to
our cause? As this article explains, organizations must build and leverage an actionable audience, and the best
framework for this is a three-stage pyramid model of social media–based strategy: reaching out to people,
keeping the flame alive, and stepping up to action. But, warn the authors, do not chase attention at any cost:
if we focus too much on gaining the public’s attention, we risk losing sight of our mission and accountability. $13.95 | Our identity
within the sector is shaped by the
stories we tell about ourselves, but it is also
shaped by the stories told about us by others. As the author
explains, the evolution of communication in a socially connected
world has shown that there is little patience for audience constraint.
Instead, audiences’ contributions to and shaping of the narrative
have become a necessity, and in no way is it a bad
thing—opening the door, as it does, to
cocreative engagement. $13.95 |
If you find yourself frustrated with your board, ask yourself two questions: “What are the
core duties of a board?” and “Am I doing my best to help my board carry them out?” $13.95 | Aggressive deinstitutionalization has caused more harm than good—people with mental
illness now make up a good part of the population in this nation’s prisons and jails and on
the streets. There is a lot at stake for past and present proponents of community
integration—not least, the risk of losing future funding. But, as the author points out,
where is our concern for the individual in this debate? While wholesale institutionalization
was never the right answer, nor is the current lack of access to necessary supports. $13.95 |
There are many obstacles plaguing the recent public-private partnerships that have formed
in response to Detroit’s imminent bankruptcy, but it is hard to imagine a place more in need
of such coalition than that beleaguered city. Such engagement may also help to pull local
donors out of their special areas of focus and into the larger arena of public policy issues. $13.95 | “A lot has changed in the decade
since I wrote the third edition of
Qualitative Research and Evaluation
Methods,” writes Patton. Here the
author outlines ten highlights that
sum up the state of qualitative
evaluation methods identified while
working on the fourth edition of his
book, and looks ahead at some
emerging challenges and
opportunities. $13.95 |