NNCG highlights members' thought leadership - articles, presentations, innovations and other activities that advance philanthropic practice. Follow the links for more information.
Richard Mittenthal, Chris Cardona, and Ashley Blanchard of TCC Group have revisited thier popular "Ten Keys to Successful Strategic Planning for Nonprofit and Foundation Leaders" ten years after publication. This new paper, "Ten Keys, Ten Years Later: Successful Strategic Planning for Foundation Leaders" discusses how the field of philanthropy has evolved considerably, yet the fundamentals remain relevant. Read the complete paper here.
Philanthropy News Digest recently interviewed NNCG member Paul Connolly, who is director of Philanthropic Advisory Services at Bessemer Trust, in this article entitled The Quest for Smarter Giving. The article covers strategic giving, and impact measurement, how funders and donors select giving vehicles, and generational dynamics in family philanthropy.
La Piana Consulting is partnering with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to launch the Nonprofit Leadership Academy in March 2015. Twenty teams of North Carolina nonprofit staff and board representatives will be selected to participate in this intensive nine-month program of training, coaching, and peer-learning. The Academy will be led by La Piana Consulting in collaboration with a team of talented North Carolina-based consultants. See this page for more information.
Larry Kaplan is a Los Angeles-based consultant with a specialty in advocacy - public affairs, governmental and community relations, strategic messaging and policy research. He writes regularly for the national Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) as a "citizen journalist," with a focus on the intersection between public policy and politics and the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. You can see his "newswires" at least once a week if you subscribe to NPQ online, or look for his previous articles here.
Brian Sooy of Aespire was interviewed for the December 2014 issue of the new publication, Nonprofit Performance Magazine. This free digital publication is published by the SynerVision Leadership Foundation. The title of the article is "Clarifying Your Cause Will Shape Your Manifesto." Subscribe here.
Brian was also invited by SynerVision Leadership Foundation to participate in a three-part video series: "Mission Driven Organizations with SynerVision Leadership." The conversations are available here.
Informing Change built the Evaluation Capacity Tool in order to better prepare funders and organizations for the planning, data and learnings that come with an evaluation. We recently guest-blogged for AEA365 on using the tool effectively, with tips on how to get everyone on the same page and on board with assessing evaluation. To download the Evaluation Capacity Tool, please visit our website.
Mark Neithercut, President of Neithercut Philanthropy Advisors, had an article published in the September/October 2014 edition of the Family Foundation Advisor. The article addresses the importance of developing a clear and effective mission statement. Read the full article here.
Amy Main Morgenstern, President of Main Stream Enterprises, partnered with Anne Goodman, President & CEO of the Saint Luke's Foundation, on their 10/31/14 presentation at Key Private Bank's Nonprofit Educational Summit. Entitled: "To What End? High Performing Organizations Supported by High Performing Funders" their remarks and discussion focused on the premise that it takes high performance grantees and high performance grantors working together, with shared expectations, to deliver meaningful, enduring results. Among the points discussed and resources shared were The Overhead Myth: Moving Toward an Overhead Solution (Oct 2014) and The Top 25 Management Tools' and survey distributed in October by the Bridgespan Group.
Dara Major of Dara Major Philanthropy Consulting, published an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review in partnership with the New York State Health Foundation and The Staten Island Foundation. Through the lens of "disasters" - whether defined as climate change, the dismantling of voting rights, or disparities in the justice system- the article examines the social sector's preparedness and resilience at a whole-systems level. "How we engage with grantees often sets up unrealistic, unfinanced, and unattainable goals-and leaves many nonprofits vulnerable in what are increasingly high-risk environments. Funders, alone and together, can do better. A good place to start is by examining our funding practices and taking steps to improve them-today."
Michelle Magee has been named President of Harder+Company Community Research, following more than a decade serving as the firm's Senior Vice President. In addition, Clare Nolan will serve as the firm's first Chief Strategy Officer while continuing her current role as Vice President. Company founder Paul Harder will retain his title of Chief Executive Officer. See their website for complete details.
Barbara R Greenberg of The Philanthropic Group is a new co-chair of the Steering Committee of Community Food Funders Together with other funders of food systems, she will be a panelist at the March 15, 2015 annual conference of Just Food to be held at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City.
Kris Putnam-Walkerly, President of Putnam Consulting Group, was recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal article "How Small Companies Should Give to Charities."
