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News for October 2004
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 27 October 2004 |
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| Sustaining Nonprofit Performance |
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Paul Light has written several books for the Brookings Institution Press and while I recommend all of them, the most recent title is the one I've enjoyed best: Sustaining Nonprofit Performance: The Case for Capacity Building and the Evidence to Support It. Although the book is based upon a survey, a methodology that is good at assessing attitudes but not always so good at determining the facts, I found the analysis to be sound. I especially like the chapter on Improving the Odds of Success, in which the author addresses structural issues in the sector that stand in the way of building organizational capacity.
Posted: 10/27/04; 11:20:57 AM # |
| Employee Ownership Concepts in Nonprofits and Government |
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I've long had an interest in employee ownership models and alternative forms of workplace management and equity. I'm particularly interested in how these might apply to the nonprofit sector, where almost every organization is locked into a corporate model. Employee Ownership Concepts in Nonprofits and Government, by Corey Rosen, starts out with ideas on how to spin off or collaborate on projects and distribute equity. My attention was most engaged in a later chapter on Ownership Culture, where the author encourages the use of Open Book Management and high involvement decision making structures. Although I believe that ownership is only one dimension of engagement, it is encouraging to me to see a book that is encouraging nonprofits to think beyond the traditional trustee model.
Posted: 10/27/04; 11:20:35 AM # |
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26 October 2004 |
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| Adapting to the Web - Bronx Day Habilitation Service |
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I used to work with several community building projects in my neighborhood, one purpose of which was to incorporate all people, including people with disabilities, into the community, based upon their assets, rather than their needs. Not enough people were on the Internet at the time for us to explore online community building, but at the Bronx Day Habilitation Service the web is making connections for people who need them.
Posted: 10/26/04; 11:47:15 AM # |
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25 October 2004 |
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| Ernest Becker Foundation |
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When I was a teenager, Ernest Becker's book The Denial of Death had a very big impact on my thinking. In essence, his central argument is that our existential anxiety causes us to live in a world of damaging self deception. This weekend, I had the privilege of attending a conference of the Ernest Becker Foundation. One of the most interesting talks -- and one of the most important for leaders in our sector -- was Jeanne Lipman-Blumen's paper on The Allure of Toxic Leaders.
Posted: 10/25/04; 12:03:59 PM # |
| Web Design Patterns |
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I love the elegance that comes with identifying patterns in an architectural discipline, as pioneered by Christopher Alexander. So, I was particularly pleased to discover Martijn van Welie's collection of Web Design Patterns. I much prefer this approach to the often arbitrary selection of "best practices".
Posted: 10/25/04; 12:03:50 PM # |
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22 October 2004 |
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| Good Bad Attitude |
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Paul Graham has written another excellent essay. Good Bad Attitude, from his book Hackers and Painters, looks at the prankster culture of innovation. Where in the nonprofit world are such attitudes supported, I wonder?
Posted: 10/22/04; 12:16:33 PM # |
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21 October 2004 |
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| Why Distance Matters |
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In a 2002 paper on Why Distance Matters (10 page PDF), Erin Bradner and Gloria Mark look at the effect of geographic separation on cooperation, persuasion, and deception. Although it's a couple of years old now, it's still a critical bit of analysis for anyone managing or making plans for distributed communities and work groups.
Posted: 10/21/04; 4:02:49 PM # |
| P2P Politics |
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P2P Politics is a nonprofit aggregator of political television ads. It's a very clever use of the bandwidth of the Internet Archives and a nice way to keep informed about what the campaigns are saying, especially for someone like me who doesn't watch TV.
Posted: 10/21/04; 4:02:06 PM # |
| Top CARE Official Abducted in Iraq |
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The head of CARE International's operations in Iraq was siezed by gunmen yesterday in Baghdad. Nonprofits are experiencing first hand the deteriorating situation there under U.S occupation. We've worked with CARE and we respect their work. Our thoughts are with Margaret Hassan.
Posted: 10/21/04; 4:01:29 PM # |
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19 October 2004 |
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| Learning Partners Reading List |
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Over the last few years, The Gilbert Center has partnered with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation on some interesting projects. It's been a pleasure to work with an organization that takes learning and systems thinking as seriously as they do. This "Learning Partners" Reading List is from a program of the foundation in which 40 participants are going through an intensive curriculum spanning over one year. The program is designed to build organizational learning in the areas of aspiration, generative conversation, and systems thinking. I was so impressed by the list that I wanted to share it as a blanket recommendation with my readers.
Posted: 10/19/04; 5:07:27 PM # |
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14 October 2004 |
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| Indymedia servers being returned |
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Hard drives containing the web sites of nonprofit organizations from a number of countries are in the process of being returned to Indymedia, evidently persuant to a court order. They were previously siezed by several government authorities. There are lots of mysteries surrounding this whole thing.
Posted: 10/14/04; 6:11:46 PM # |
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13 October 2004 |
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| Professional Briefings: Frictionless Fundraising, Nov 2004 |
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Every time we announce a workshop, people write to us asking when we are going to host a workshop in their part of the world. In many cases, the answer is that it may be years before we can reach many of the professionals who want to study with us. We also realize that the time and cost of travel often exceeds the cost of a workshop. Today, we are pleased to announce a series of live, ninety minute, online Professional Briefings designed for nonprofit professionals. Our first series will focus on three essential Frictionless Fundraising topics, and will be held in mid-November.
Posted: 10/13/04; 6:39:53 PM # |
| Project Alchemy's Activist Toolkit |
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Project Alchemy, which was founded to provide technology support to social justice organizations in the Pacific Northwest, is closing its doors, due primarily to a lack of interest in capacity building by those who fund social justice groups. Some of their online resources, like their Activist Toolkit are copyrighted under Creative Commons licenses and will be picked up elsewhere for hosting.
Posted: 10/13/04; 2:55:44 PM # |
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7 October 2004 |
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| FBI Seizes IMC Servers in the UK |
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In Nazi Germany, resisters had their underground presses, their leaflets, their distributors. They lived in fear of being shut down by the government. That can't happen in this day and age, right? Well, IndyMedia, the leading network of nonprofit, independent media, has had servers siezed in the UK and possibly elsewhere by the FBI, in cooperation with foreign law eforcement. Local media collectives from all over the world have been affected.
Posted: 10/7/04; 4:22:28 PM # |
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6 October 2004 |
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| How to Make Meetings Work |
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Like most of you, I go to a lot of meetings. For me, a good meeting is one where the whole of the group's work is truly greater than the sum of the parts (as opposed to less, which is more typical). I'm not patient with lousy meetings and I hate having my time wasted. Because I believe in the power of a good meeting, I often give away copies of the book that's been my "meeting bible" for over 20 years, How to Make Meetings Work, by Doyle and Straus.
Posted: 10/6/04; 12:48:02 PM # |
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5 October 2004 |
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| The Internet Under Surveillance 2004 |
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In a report entitled The Internet Under Surveillance, Reporters Without Borders document the obstacles to the free flow of communication in countries throughout the world. This report is as much a call for diligence from nations where things are still pretty open as it is a critique of those states that filter content for everyone.
Posted: 10/5/04; 11:17:21 AM # |
| The Protocol Informatics Project |
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This research is not for everyone, but I'm fascinated by the emerging field of protocol informatics. So far, it has moved from its origins in genetics, where it's used to study control mechanisms, to the field of reverse engineering of computer protocols. What I would be interested in seeing is if it can be applied to human communication online, so that we can learn what communication protocols (from "hello, how are you" on up) work to build lasting and effective relationships.
Posted: 10/5/04; 11:17:12 AM # |
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