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Current News

Now Available On Demand: Building Trust Online with Donors, Activists, and the Media

We continue to expand our catalog of on demand seminars. The latest addition is The Golden Goose: Building Trust Online with Donors, Activists, and the Media. In many ways, trust is the currency of civil society and new media creates profound opportunities to both build and lose the trust of our key stakeholders. This is a cross cutting workshop that deals with the basics of earning and keeping trust, and how to apply those basics across a variety of online media. As always, we offer both immediately applicable tactics and strategic insight that will bear fruit for a long time. Posted: 7/2/08; 12:37:15 PM #

Nominate an Ashoka Fellow
	Ashoka, an organization that has supported social innovation for years, is actively soliciting nominations for Senior Fellows. Their selection criteria are: Innovative Ideas, Creativity, Entrepreneurial Quality, Social Impact, and Ethical Fiber. Take a look at the sort of people who are Ashoka Fellows and consider who you might be able to propose. Posted: 6/30/08; 9:17:18 PM #

Special Report Asks Critical Questions of the Antiwar Movement

Strategic assessments of entire movements are challenging, but essential. The War Resistors League's Special Report Assessing the Antiwar Movement asks critical questions: What is lacking in the peace and antiwar movement? What prevents the emergence of a stronger, more coordinated, more strategic movement? What are the biggest openings and opportunities for organizing today? How do we build a more multiracial and cross-class antiwar movement? What roles can veterans, soldiers and military families play in ending war? What is the relevance of nonviolence today? How do we link peace and justice issues and build alliances? What does base-building look like in antiwar organizing? Posted: 6/30/08; 8:41:22 PM #

Our Infantile Search for Heroic Leaders
	Even the most disciplined strategists can get sucked into abandoning capacity and movement building when they get caught up in the insidious hope of a heroic narrative. Johann Hari critiques this phenomenon in Our Infantile Search for Heroic Leaders. He overstates at times to make his point, but it's a critical point to make. Posted: 6/30/08; 8:34:50 PM #

Nine Ways Nonviolent Action Workshops Make Better Activists

There are some types of training that have benefits far outside their typical domain. In Nine Ways Nonviolent Action Workshops Make Better Activists, Philippe Duhamel describes one example of this. His nine impacts are: (1) Building trust. (2) Examining consequences. (3) Rehearsing tactics. (4) Practicing media skills. (5) Reducing fear. (6) Agreeing to common guidelines. (7) Allowing different roles. (8) Addressing diversity and raise self-awareness. (9) Promoting resilience. Posted: 6/30/08; 8:08:59 PM #

Frictionless Fundraising Seminar on Aug. 6, 2008 and On Demand

We're offering our lengthy flagship seminar Frictionless Fundraising this Summer on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, from 8:30AM - 2:45PM Pacific Time. For the first time, the seminar will also be available On Demand for those for whom that date is inconvenient. (In honor of Hiroshima Day, if your organization is directly involved in nuclear disarmament work, please contact us to inquire about a discount.) The seminar is divided into three major sections: Save and Make Money by Converting Donors to Email, Ten Ways to Improve Cultivation and Stewardship of Donors, and Effective Email Newsletters. While those have stayed the same over the last few years since it was first delivered, the content has continued to mature along with the field. Posted: 6/24/08; 5:08:42 PM #

Teaching with a Clear Signal

I suffer from a flaw in my teaching at times, one that doesn't seem to affect my writing as much. I often deliver news that students don't want to hear (like no, I won't just tell you what software to buy, I am going to ask you to think critically about communication) and at the same time, I confuse clarity and completeness. In Teaching with a Clear Signal, Asher Bey takes a stab at some of the problems with this and how very often, less is more. This is a lesson that a great many issue oriented organizations can stand to learn over and over again. Posted: 6/23/08; 10:27:43 PM #