Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits
Nonprofits of all types and sizes would benefit from the wisdom of this practical, insightful new book by nonprofit social media guru Julia Campbell! A great read with lots of tips, tools and templates to help take your organization to a higher level of communication with - and support from - your constituents.
An important movement within the nonprofit sector is afoot: a network of leaders focused on measuring whether or not their organizations are actually making a difference.
Leap of Reason, according to its website, works with leaders "to expect and support:
Highly effective, high-performing organizations
Mission-focused, performance-driven leadership
Disciplined, information-informed management
Talented staff functioning within a culture of continuous improvement
Funding based on reason and results - rather than blind faith or photogenic anecdotes."
Leap of Reason has brought together an Ambassador Community of nonprofit leaders, funders and policy makers with the aim to propel this movement forward. Two critical products of the Ambassador Community to date are the Performance Imperative: A Framework for Social Sector Excellence, which includes 7 pillars of high performance, and the accompanying Performance Imperative Organizational Self-Assessment.
In its latest study, Abila set out to discover among other things the types of growth nonprofits are striving for over the next several years, as well as the risks and challenges associated with such growth.
A few key results of their national survey of 300 nonprofit financial professionals from a diverse set of organizations:
The most common strategy nonprofits plan to put in place to support growth is seeking new grant funding, though only 33% had a high degree of confidence they would have sufficient grant funding heading into FY18.
62% respondents indicated organizational growth would make it somewhat or much more difficult to manage risk (e.g. create contingency plans for future funding uncertainty, maintain compliance with funding requirements, assess internal controls, train employees).
While respondents find their employees under age 35 to be ethical, passionate and highly motivated, 78% of respondents indicated retaining Millennial employees is a moderate or major challenge.
The latest annual report of the welfare of children and families was recently released. Kids Count provides national and state-by-state data points. The Data Book tracks trends over a 5-year period for 16 indicators of childhood well-being in the areas of education, health, economics, and family & community.
Nationally, between 2010 and 2015, we made the most progress in
reducing the teen birthrate
getting kids health insurance
graduating high school students
reducing the burden of high housing costs (though it's still quite high)
While the child poverty rate dipped slightly, it's still unconscionably high at 21% (15 million kids).
Children in the New England states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont are faring the best, while those in Mississippi, New Mexico and Louisiana are struggling the most.
