RSS
Follow Conference Notebook through your favorite RSS reader.
Most Popular
Share News About Nonprofit Meetings
Tell readers about forthcoming conferences, meetings, workshops, or Webinars by completing our easy online form.
Author Archives: Peter Panepento
September 15, 2010, 12:20 pm
Guest Post: What to Do When Things Go Terribly Wrong
The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.
Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.
Below is a post from CJ Callen, program director at CFLeads:
I am struck by how much I am surrounded by stories of success. We all need inspiration and exposure to models of doing business that might strengthen our own. But what about when things go horribly wrong?
When a community foundation takes on the challenge of community leadership—taking on complex roles in a complex community-change process—all may not go smoothly. Whether or not the bump in the road is just that (a temporary obstacle) or something more has to do with how the foundation…
September 14, 2010, 10:31 am
Guest Post: Keeping Diversity as a Priority
The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.
Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.
Below is a post from China Brotsky, a senior vice president at the Tides Foundation:
The most compelling session I have attended so far was “Innovating to Make and Keep Equity and Diversity as a Priority,” organized by James Head from the San Francisco Foundation and the Race and Equity in Philanthropy Group.
What moved me was the straight talk about the elephant of racism in so many rooms in communities and philanthropy itself. No empty platitudes. We learned that we all need to understand our own context to be effective—whether it’s a reality…
September 14, 2010, 10:00 am
Guest Post: Technology and Community Foundations
The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.
Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.
Below is a post written by Mike Batchelor, president of the Erie Community Foundation, in Pennsylvania:
OK, I really do get it.
This is a new era, the world is flat, and technology reigns. While I was impressed with our Monday morning plenary about technology, I also found myself asking, “Is this a community foundation conference?”
Now don’t get me wrong. I understand the trends, and our community foundation is doing its best to remain relevant in a changing world. But as our world evolves, community foundations must also honor our traditional value…
September 13, 2010, 2:00 pm
Guest Post: Diversity and Inclusion at Community Foundations
The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.
Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.
Below is a post from Nicole Taylor, chief executive officer of East Bay Community Foundation in Oakland, Calif.:
This morning, I was part of interesting conversations around race and equity, not just in our society but in our field.
What does it take to be able to discuss these issues internally in our organizations—at the board and staff levels? What is our role in advancing equity in our communities? What should it be?
I believe this is the toughest work we face as community leaders sitting in “trusted” community organizations. We need to rely on …
September 13, 2010, 12:00 pm
Leaders Offer Perspectives From Fall Conference for Community Foundations
The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.
Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.
Below is an excerpt from a post from Diana Sieger, president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, in Michigan.
Ms. Sieger’s post offers an overview of an address by Emmett Carson, chief executive of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, who spoke to leaders during a retreat that preceded the meeting.
The post follows:
Emmett Carson, president and chief executive officer of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, provided a provocative backdrop to our evening’s discussion. He noted five key issues that are looming large for community…
April 16, 2010, 3:20 pm
Global Philanthropy Forum Live Webcast
Watch coverage of the Global Philanthropy Forum Conference, Monday, April 19 through Wednesday, April 21, live on Philanthropy.com.
August 28, 2009, 3:20 pm
Why Social Media Shouldn’t Be a Department
For many organizations, the use of social-media tools like Twitter and Facebook is put under the umbrella of a department such as communications or marketing.
Some groups even enlist interns to manage their social-media efforts.
But Geoff Livingston, vice president of the Washington marketing company CRT/Tanaka, says this is a mistake.
Mr. Livingston said the groups that are most successful in connecting with audiences online have a different approach.
They make social media a part of their overall organization — encouraging people throughout the organization to participate in these online forums on behalf of the organization.
The Humane Society of the United States, for example, has six people who work actively in social media. And its chief executive, Wayne Pacelle, is also an active blogger who also participates in many of these forums.
“When you’re talking about something…
August 28, 2009, 1:29 pm
Social Media as a Tool for Activism
While many charities are trying to find ways to use social-media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to raise money, Oxfam America is taking a different approach.
Bob Ferguson, Oxfam’s music and community outreach coordinator, said the organization is much more interested in using these tools to inspire activism and plan events.
“We’re not an organization that is all about collecting money,” Mr. Ferguson said Friday at Mashable’s Social Good Conference in New York. “We’re about encouraging them to take action.”
Mr. Ferguson said the group used Twitter and Facebook to persuade its supporters to call members of Congress and urge them to pass legislation on climate change and to mobilize nearly 700 volunteers to help promote the organization at concerts on Coldplay’s recent tour.
“In the old days, three years ago, just sending out e-mails to volunteers, it would have been very hard…
August 28, 2009, 11:11 am
All a-Twitter at Mashable’s Social Good Conference
It isn’t often that the nonprofit world becomes a hot topic on Twitter.
But today’s Mashable Social Good Conference has become a major hit on the popular social-networking Web site.
The hashtag #socialgood — which is used to mark all Twitter updates associated with the event — has been one of the 10 most popular phrases on Twitter for much of Friday morning.
The audience at the event — which is taking place at the 92nd St. Y in New York — is packed with people on laptops.
When a speaker pauses during a presentation, the sound of dozens of clacking keyboards is usually the only audible sound.
August 28, 2009, 11:01 am
Building a Presence on Facebook: Advice From an Expert
How can a charity make the most of its presence on Facebook?
Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook’s managing director, offered a few suggestions at Mashable’s Social Good Conference in New York:
- Use pages, not groups. Many organizations set up group pages when they established their Facebook presence. But Ms. Zuckerberg says groups that haven’t yet set up fan pages are missing out on the ability to get supporters to spread the word about their activities to their friends on the site.
- Use video. Groups that post video on their fan pages are typically able to create more personal messages. And those messages are more likely to be shared with others.
- Tag liberally. Ms. Zuckerberg encourages organizations to take pictures at their events and post them to their Facebook pages. When they post the images, they should tag the people in the photos — a process that notifies those who a…
E-mail a Friend
