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Resource Roundup

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Here are a few resources I've been tapping into lately. (Unlike the photo, these -- mercifully -- are all available electronically!)

From the Nonprofits Assistance Fund: Recession Risk and Preparedness Assessment

This tool asks you to rank statements in four areas: financial health, financial information, organizational change, and leadership engagement. Here’s an example of a statement: Significant changes in program or strategic direction have been implemented in the past two years.

Each ranking option is weighted with points, which you total up for a quick diagnosis.

Transparency Fuels Competition Video

At academicearth.org you can view short videos on a variety of topics. This one on the lack of business rigor in the nonprofit world features Debra Dunn from Hewlett Packard making the argument that transparency fuels competition and the significant lack of it in the nonprofit sector is the underlying reason why nonprofits are not more sharply focused and successful. Nonprofits are typically not very transparent when identifying and using metrics for goal achievement. Dunn makes a brief, but compelling, case for developing what she calls a “full ecosystem of social entrepreneurship” that will lead to radical transformation of nonprofits.

TED.com

A host of short videos on a broad spectrum of topics -- all meant to get you thinking. Here's one I recommend: Katherine Fulton's You are the future of philanthropy. In it, she challenges the assumption that philanthropy is only for the wealthy, where the giver and the organization are at the center of beneficence rather than the problem. She explores the democratization of philanthropy -- crowd-driven, aggregated giving -- that is being fueled by online social networks. You'll like the ending.

Blogs

I've also added some blogs to my list. Check out Elaine Gurian's post titled Museum as Soup Kitchen at Museum 3.0.

Photo: Era Tower by simone-

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