Philanthropy Front and Center-San Francisco

Back By Popular Demand: Webinars to Help Your Nonprofit Survive & Emerge Stronger

Now that we've lived through over a year of the economic downturn, you may be seeing the light at the end of tunnel in your nonprofit -- or maybe that light hasn't reached you yet and you're still in crisis mode. Regardless of your current position, you'll benefit from our new webinar training series, Turning Economic Crisis into Opportunity: How Nonprofits Can Survive and Emerge Stronger.

If this series sounds familiar, that's because we debuted it in October to a very positive response, so we've decided to repeat it. In the four sessions, you will learn to evaluate how well your organization uses resources to achieve its mission; apply the most effective short-term and medium-range strategies to ensure its survival; determine which revenue option is best; and implement the five essential characteristics of effective, sustainable nonprofits.

By understanding and strengthening your current financial health, you'll be prepared to make the most of economic recovery and secure your long-term sustainability. In addition, you'll develop skills that help you adapt to any economic climate.

Registration fee: $45 for each session.
Special offer: Register by November 30 for the complete four-part series for only $135...
YOU SAVE $45! Get four webinars for the price of three!

Click any title to get details and register.

• Special Offer: Complete Four-Part Series for $135
• Assessing Your Nonprofit's Financial Health, Tuesday, December 1
• Survival Strategies for Your Nonprofit, Thursday, December 3
• Strengthening Your Nonprofit's Income Portfolio, Tuesday, December 8
• Beyond the Recession: Building Sustainability, Thursday, December 10

Kidsdata.org is Now Statewide: Find Data for Every City, School District, and County in California

Data on the health and well being of children across California is now more accessible than ever before.

Kidsdata.org, a children’s health web site developed by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, just expanded statewide, offering data for all counties, cities, and school districts in California -- nearly 1,600 regions. Data are available for dozens of topics measuring the health and well being of children, and much more data will be phased in throughout 2010. Learn how kids in your community are faring use this data to support your case for support at http://www.kidsdata.org

Do you need data about children and families for your grant proposals or reports? Kidsdata.org can help you find the facts quickly and easily. The user-friendly site offers nearly 300 indicators of child health and well being, ranging from family economics and physical health to child safety and emotional health. You also can compare regions of interest and view comparable California data. Join us on Tuesday, December 15, 10:00 am-12:00 pm and learn how to get the most out of this web site for your work. To register, visit http://foundationcenter.org/sanfrancisco/training/wksf12_15.html.

New Funding Source for Artists and Others

Did you see the feature about Kickstarter in today's San Francisco Chronicle? The article describes Kickstarter as a crowd-funding web site.  The company's own web site calls itself  a "funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..."  As we know any kind of funding source/platform/vehicle for artists and other creative types is more than welcome.

More Fundraising Ideas Using Social Media

Take a look at this article on SF Gate/Chronicle about using Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites to raise money for your favorite nonprofit cause. 

Do You Have a Wireless Innovation That Can Make a Better World?

Last week I got an announcement from Vodafone Americas Foundation that it's launching its second annual Wireless Innovation Project.  We blogged in April about the winners of the first Wireless Innovation Project.  The Project is a competition to identify and reward the most promising advances in wireless related technologies, which can be used to solve critical problems around the globe. Applicants must be nonprofits, educational institutions, or social entrepreneurs based in the United States. Up to $600,000 will be awarded to wireless projects demonstrating exceptional promise to solve a critical global issue in the following fields: education; health; access to communication; the environment; or economic development. Moreover, the innovation can also represent a significant advancement in wireless related technology to help solve issues such as connectivity, language barriers, and energy use.  

Proposals will be accepted through February 1, 2010, with the final winners announced on April 19, 2010 at the annual Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, CA. Go to the competition's web site at project.vodafone-us.com for for the more information on eligibility and the application process.

Your Techie Skills Can Help Nonprofits

Idealist.org is partnering with Mozilla (the organization behind Firefox browser) on their first annual Mozilla Service Week, which will match thousands of techie volunteers around the globe with nonprofits in need of IT help, web or graphic design, network configuration, social media & online marketing, database management and much more.

Mozilla Service Week is happening September 14-21 and nonprofit organizations have already posted volunteer opportunities and there are nearly 9,000 volunteer hours donated so far! 

To volunteer or to register a nonprofit organization that could use some tech help, visit: http://mozillaservice.org/

Everyone can help by spreading the word.

Introducing Philanthropy In/Sight

The Foundation Center recently released Philanthropy In/Sight, our new interactive mapping tool for grantmakers, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in seeing the impact of philanthropy in the U.S. and worldwide.

Philanthropy In/Sight provides two unique mapping platforms powered by the Foundation Center's comprehensive databases of the more than 97,000 U.S. grantmakers and records of 1.6 million grants. Users can choose from over 1,100 subject areas and dozens of thematic indicators to assess past funding and current needs in areas such as education, housing, and health care at the global, national, state, or local levels. With these features, Philanthropy In/Sight enables foundations and policymakers to take a more strategic approach to grantmaking.

Philanthropy In/Sight users can:

• Plot the locations of grantmakers and grant recipients by country, state, county, city, metro area, congressional district, or ZIP code
• Find quick information about grantmakers and grant recipients, as well as details about past and recently-awarded grants
• Use layered demographic and thematic data to assess local funding needs and impact
• Explore emerging trends in both domestic and international grantmaking

To learn more, take the guided tour of Philanthropy In/Sight or see these frequently asked questions.

Interested in subscribing to Philanthropy In/Sight? Click here.

Thanks to Stephen Sherman, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center-Atlanta, for sharing this post.

The Foundation Center recently released Philanthropy In/Sight, our new interactive mapping tool for grantmakers, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in seeing the impact of philanthropy in the U.S. and worldwide.

Philanthropy In/Sight provides two unique mapping platforms powered by the Foundation Center's comprehensive databases of the more than 97,000 U.S. grantmakers and records of 1.6 million grants. Users can choose from over 1,100 subject areas and dozens of thematic indicators to assess past funding and current needs in areas such as education, housing, and health care at the global, national, state, or local levels. With these features, Philanthropy In/Sight enables foundations and policymakers to take a more strategic approach to grantmaking.

Philanthropy In/Sight users can:

• Plot the locations of grantmakers and grant recipients by country, state, county, city, metro area, congressional district, or ZIP code
• Find quick information about grantmakers and grant recipients, as well as details about past and recently-awarded grants
• Use layered demographic and thematic data to assess local funding needs and impact
• Explore emerging trends in both domestic and international grantmaking

To learn more, take the guided tour of Philanthropy In/Sight or see these frequently asked questions.

Interested in subscribing to Philanthropy In/Sight? Click here.

Thanks to Stephen Sherman, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center-Atlanta, for sharing this post.

Global Social Benefit Incubator

Recently, I received an e-mail about Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology, and Society and its Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) program. GSBI enables proof of concept social ventures that serve the base of the pyramid to become sustainable at scale. It combines classroom instruction in finance, marketing creation, organizational development, and business planning with case studies, best practices and, most importantly, carefully matched Silicon Valley mentors. GSBI participants develop practical know-how and a true sense of community.  On August 27 the 2009 GSBI entrepreneurs from around the world will present their innovative business plans.  To read more and RSVP for this inspiring event visit www.scu.edu/sts/gsbi/presentations09/.

Videos & session materials are available from the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC)

If you missed the 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), or if you can't find your notes...session materials are available online.

And, if you enjoyed Clay Shirky's book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations, or if you want his cliff notes video version, I highly recommend watching/listening to his opening plenary from NTC; you'll be glad you did. 

Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) + Clay Shirky: Group Action Just Got Easier

If you've read media futurist Clay Shirky's book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations, or if you witnessed his keynote address at NTEN's 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) earlier this week, then you may be familiar with the five words he uses to sum up his book: Group Action Just Got Easier.

Among his examples Wikipedia, Facebook, Flash Mobs, and Amazon's recent Fail campaign. No doubt, social media is truly making an intense and profound impact on how we as individuals and as collective groups absorb, produce, distribute and respond to media and information. Is it safe to say: media revolution? "Once one person solves the problem once, the problem stays solved for everybody," says Shirky.

His message is clear: the Internet permits us to work within the most ubiquitous, social, global and inexpensive environment EVER. "The loss of control you fear is already in the past," he asserts, it's time to embrace the attention of our users. Shirky criticizes those organizations that are just going through and "adding a website" or "adding the Internet" to their organizational plans and strategies--indeed, he admits, we are going through a long, iterative process, and it's time for our organizations to re-think core parts of our institutional and organizational identity. He adds, " we spend more time figuring out whether something is a good idea, than we would have just trying it." His advice? Fail informatively--we have to fail informatively to really take advantage of the social media medium.

Clay Shirky is a very eloquent and entertaining speaker, and no doubt very quotable. I'm hoping NTEN recorded his presentation and posts it to its website. Everybody would benefit from hearing his ideas.