In a rare display of the nonprofit world mocking itself, Blue Avocado and Nonprofit Online News have announced the winners of their "Just Awards."

The dubious honor of winner for the Award for Abominable Press Coverage went to The New York Times's Stephanie Strom for her November 2009 article "Charities Rise, Costing U.S. Billions in Tax Breaks."

And winner of the Award for Narcissism in Philanthropy went to the Rockefeller Foundation for, as Blue Avocado put it, the foundation's "overwhelming and relentless promotions of its president, Judith Rodin."

The judges for the Just Awards were:

• Rick Cohen, national correspondent for The Nonprofit Quarterly.
• Alana Conner, senior editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
• Aaron Dorfman, the executive director for the Center for Responsive Philanthropy.
• Robert Egger, head of DC Central Kitchen.
• Priscilla Hung of Grassroots...

• On his blog, Future Fundraising Now, the consultant Jeff Brooks argues that Convio's recent study. The Next Generation of American Giving, has two serious flaws: It lacks response data from nonprofit groups, which he says is more accurate than the self-reported data found in the study, and it focuses too heavily on the giving habits of people in their 20s and 30s, who, he says, are not the main audience for fund raising.

• A report in Media Daily News indicates that the nonprofit Christian Science Monitor is thriving after converting its daily print paper to an online weekly publication in October 2008. Jim Barnett, a former newspaper reporter, writes on the blog, The Nonprofit Road, that this is a good example of how the nonprofit world can be an excellent laboratory for new models in the changing media landscape.

• These days it's not enough for nonprofit groups to...

• After getting lackluster results from its evaluation of an antipoverty program, the Bloomberg administration canceled the project. By contrast, microfinance charities stridently defended their work when presented with evaluations suggesting their results were less rosy than anticipated. Timothy Ogden, publisher of Philanthropy Action, criticizes both responses, saying they show an "illogical belief that large, dramatic changes in short time frames are even possible."
• Katya Andresen, chief operating officer at Network for Good, points out on her blog, Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog that only 10 percent of nonprofit organizations are using mobile communications tools to reach out to potential supporters, according to a study from Kaptivate. The survey found growing interest in mobile technology among nonprofit groups but a lack of confidence in how to get started.
  

• Are tough times ahead for the field of microfinance? Nathaniel Whittemore, the founder of a start-up technology organization called Assetmap, discusses Tuesday's New York Times article and why he doesn't think microfinance is the fallen hero the article subtly suggests it may be.

• Philanthropy is now no longer the domain of any single generation, writes Andrew Ho, a blogger for the Council on Foundations. On Re: Philanthropy, Mr. Ho says that the exchange between multiple generations advances the field and equips leaders at all levels to lead today’s philanthropy into a better future.

• George Crankovic of TrueSense Marketing notes consumer confidence stands at 52.5, up from 46.4 in February, according to the Conference Board's recent Consumer Confidence Index. On the blog, Future Fund Raising Now, Mr. Crankovic offers tips on how nonprofit groups can speed up their economic recovery.

• Regina Mahone, of the Foundation Center, has a roundup of last week's Nonprofit Technology Network conference. (See The Chronicle's coverage of the event).

• Kristin Ivie, the social innovation program manager for the Case Foundation, writes on the Social Citizens blog about whether competition in the nonprofit world is really such a good thing. She cites the upcoming release of Jumo, a new site from the co-founder of Facebook, and how the platform will compete with the likes of VolunteerMatch, Idealist.org, and All For Good.

• As President Obama and other world leaders gathered this week in Washington to find ways to prevent nuclear terrorism, foundations and think tanks met to discuss their role in such security issues. Robert L. Gallucci, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, gave the opening speech, saying the nuclear threat is real and not simply the stuff of spy novels and Hollywood movies.

• On his Selfish Giving blog, Joe Water, a director of cause-marketing at a Boston hospital, says staff members at small nonprofit groups are always asking him about the easiest and least expensive ways to get started with cause-marketing. In response, he offers five easy, low-budget tips on ways such groups can jump into social media, maximize existing corporate relationships, and more.

• While there has been a "dramatic change" in foundation efforts to measure their accomplishments during the last decade, the nonprofit world is often too quick to think that such focus is a new phenomenon, writes Phil Buchanan, chief executive of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a research group. Writing on the Tactical Philanthropy blog, Mr. Buchanan says far too many foundations remain unclear about what they want to achieve.

• Corporate officials who focus on social responsibility are gathered in Boston this week for the annual Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship conference, and Ashley Jablow, an MBA student there, is keeping tabs on the meeting, which she describes as a "who's who" from the world of corporate social responsibility. Follow her updates on her blog, The Changebase, or on Twitter@AshleyJablow. You can also get conference updates on Twitter ...

• Nonprofit executives should be compensated based on the results they achieve, but without good ways to measure those results it's impossible to have an honest discussion about salaries, writes David Henderson, chief executive of a technology company that serves charities, on the blog Full Contact Philanthropy.

• While some business executives may hesistate before taking a job in the nonprofit world, they should "jump in, thrash around for a bit, and quickly come to realize that the water is just fine," writes Wayne Luke, a partner with the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting group. On the Harvard Business Review's Web site, Mr. Luke discusses the differences between for-profit and nonprofit employment.

• The Big Society Network, a campaign in Britain to promote philanthropy, may have good intentions and some strong political support, but it could be "too...

• Following a visit to Capitol Hill, Jeff Clarke, vice president of the Rasmuson Foundation, ponders the current political environment and how it may affect grant makers. His views appear on the blog of Philanthropy Northwest, a coalition of grant makers located in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

• The selection of Paul Carttar as director of the Social Innovation Fund is drawing discussion among bloggers. (See The Chronicle's article on Mr. Carttar, a co-founder of the Bridgespan Group). Sean Stannard-Stockton, an adviser to donors and a Chronicle contributor, and Nathaniel Whittemore, who writes a blog on social entrepreneurship at Change.org, discuss Mr. Carttar's selection and the future of the fund.

• How can young workers negotiate better nonprofit salaries? On her blog, Allison Jones, a fund raiser in New York, summarizes a Twitter conversation on this to...

• How should nonprofit groups plan for leadership changes? Ruth Frost, executive director of Pushcart Players, a theater in New Jersey, discusses how her organization approaches the issue and what she learned from a charity workshop offered by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Her views appear on the Dodge foundation blog.

• On the Center for Effective Philanthropy blog, Bob Hughes, an independent consultant, talks about the public's confusion about foundations and what they do.

• On his blog, Seth Godin, a marketing expert, discusses Apple's marketing tactics, which recently enabled the company to sell 300,000 iPads in one day. Mr. Godin believes that the strategies work even better for smaller gigs and more focused markets.

• America.gov profiles Roshaneh Zafar, the founder of the Kashf Foundation and a 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur, as a "Pakistani miracle...