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EvaluLEAD Guide Book

I just recently came across the EvaluLEAD Guide Book: A Guide For Shaping And Evaluating Leadership Development Programs (51 page PDF) by John T. Grove, Barry M. Kibel, and Taylor Haas. There are a great many such programs and a great many more graduates of them, which makes such a guide invaluable. It tackles the underlying issues of leadership development with rigor and vision. Posted: 6/5/05; 11:36:05 PM #

Ten Myths of Global Civil Society

Melanie Lovering documents Lester Salamon's Ten Myths of Global Civil Society in Charity Village. The ten myths are: Myth #1: That civil society is only made up of NGOs. Myth #2: That the civil society sector is a marginal actor economically. This is simply not true, as research assembled from countries all around the world proves. Myth #3 & 4: Civil society organizations are chiefly an American phenomenon and are not present in the welfare states of Europe, where reliance on government is greater; and that there is no civil society sector for all intents and purposes in the Scandinavian countries, where the welfare state is most fully developed. Myth #5 & 6: Volunteers play a more important role in the civil society workforce in developing than developed countries; and paid staff drives out reliance on volunteers. Myth #7: The civil society sector is mostly engaged in the provision of services. Myth #8 & 9: Philanthropy is the chief source of civil society revenue; and philanthropy is at least the chief source of civil society revenue in the United States. Myth #10: The civil society sector is growing at a slower rate than the private business sector. Posted: 6/5/05; 11:31:32 PM #

PledgeBank - Not Finished Yet

This is a simple idea that I have been wanting to see for years. On June 13, 2005, MySociety will launch PledgeBank, a kind of contingent organizing tool. It works like this. You make a pledge to do something (make a donation, take an action), but only if a certain number of other people do it. It's a simple, powerful, and age old tactic just waiting for this kind of technological support to bring it to scale. Posted: 6/5/05; 11:28:39 PM #

Charity body jibs at transfer of services
	British nonprofits are facing some interesting challenges, as the government considers handing off substantial social services to them. A leading umbrella organization has come out against the move, which I find enlightened. In the U.S. devolution has often been seen as a nonprofit gravy train, without regard for the larger social picture. Posted: 6/5/05; 11:25:48 PM #