Archive for April, 2008
A Web 2.0 Educational Innovation
Herzl famously wrote, “If you will it, it is no fable.” This quote, made into a cliche over the long century since it was uttered, succinctly expresses the fundamental credo of a pioneer:
pioneers will the future into reality.
The first course: Last night, the PresenTense organization sponsored an evening in Jerusalem with three special pioneers, visionaries, as they hosted a conversation around the future of Israeli Education. All three (Sarah Kass, Beverly Gribetz and David Moatty) have already led the way in willing dreams to become tangible facts on the ground.
The visionaries have been asked:
- What is your vision; why is it transformative?
- Why this path rather than others?
- What will change if your vision becomes reality?
- What will it take to attain?
- What are the challenges?
- How can the individuals in the room be part of the change?
The second course: While those in attendance broke into individual groups to converse and explore, an email went out to a larger audience…
PresenTense’s conversation on the future of Jewish education is happening in Jerusalem as I write. Our aim this evening is to cultivate vision and use that vision to energize us for a better future for Israel’s children. As part of the event, we’re asking participants to describe how they would like to see their grandchildren educated. Check out participant responses and write your own at http://www.presentense.org/visions/education.
What you write will be delivered in real time to the room where the participants are gathered, and displayed on a screen that is tracking the ideas emerging from the conversation.
To find out how this new, unique endeavor last night unfolded, check out
How Would You Like Your Grandchildren Educated?
about: PresenTense is a grassroots venture enriching the Jewish People by catalyzing Jewish creativity and entrepreneurship. PresenTense’s project portfolio includes the PresenTense Institute, PresenTense Magazine, and educational programming such as FutureTense. PresenTense is guided by a set of core values that are elemental to the process of communal enrichment: Pioneering, Creativity, and Community.
Around Our Jewish World
A sampling of recent stories of particular interest…
A Town Under Fire Becomes a Symbol for Israel; from the front page of yesterday’s New York Times:
SDEROT, Israel — This long neglected immigrant town a mile from Gaza, pounded by Palestinian rockets for the past seven years, is taking on a new identity, edging into the center of Zionist consciousness as a symbol of the nation’s unofficial motto: “Never Again.”
Federation’s Stanley Gold slashes board size, reorganizes
When Stanley Gold took over as Board Chair he promised major change. He also pledged to have 50% of the board under 50 y.o. within two years. I hope he understands this means including two generations of adults, not one.
Last week the 133-member board of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles voted nearly unanimously to dissolve itself and reconstitute about 65 percent lighter.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Hillel centers on university campuses were viewed not long ago as little more than the local Jewish hangout, a place where students could come for kosher meals or socialize with other Jews.
But in a move that Hillel leaders say has been forced upon them by this generation’s altered social landscape, the organization is throwing open its doors to everyone, designing programs that appeal to Jews and non-Jews and hyping its contribution to university — not only Jewish – life. Click here to continue reading.
Needed: A new deal for our rich uncles overseas
A growing fear Jewish philanthropists will not continue signing checks.
Stuff Jewish Young Adults Like; #12 Non Profits
It would also be safe to say that Jewish philanthropy has maybe knocked good Jewish doctors and good Jewish lawyers off the list of great Jewish jobs. Got 200 bucks lying around? Start a non-profit.
On The Blogs
A selection of recent articles and postings around the nonprofit world you may find of interest…
What does this uncertain and difficult economy mean for fundraising and philanthropy? Changing Our World President Chris Watson offers a sector briefing.
Are Tech-Savvy Millennials the New Voice of Philanthropy?
There are many broad generalizations made when it comes to speaking of whole generations, but young people today are certainly showing an interest, and a tech-driven level of sophistication in their volunteering and charitable support, that might make fundraisers take a second look at these young donors of time and resources. From the Association of Fundraising professionals
There was no shortage of cyber chatter surrounding last month’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. Here’s a sampling of some observations from bloggers around the country. And some additional observations here.
How to Create a Rock-Solid Tagline That Truly Works
Nike said, “Just do it.” Nortel told you to come together. Timex said it takes a licking and keep on ticking. And GE mentioned that it brings good things to life.
Well, good for GE. As far as you’re concerned, you’d probably be happy figuring out how to bring your tagline to life.
At a time when more organizations are looking to combine resources through collaborative efforts either internally or externally, an executive director I’d been working with declared, “Collaborations, partnerships, mergers or anything else my board of directors could think of will not happen.”
The Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study
- What online marketing metrics should I focus on
- How is my organization doing
- What targets should I set for my organization
Web 2.0 is Cool, But…
Whoa, Nelly! Web 2.0 is Cool, But …
By Peter Deitz
At last month’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans, nonprofit techies and professional fundraisers met up to discuss the emerging best practices for fundraising using social networks and social media. Their conversations were overwhelmed by one small detail. Few nonprofits have succeeded in raising large amounts of money using blogs, widgets and fundraising applications for social networks.
Nine months since the high-profile launch of Facebook Causes and well over a year since the first articles on Web 2.0 fundraising started to appear, members of the nonprofit tech community seemed to be turning against the new-fangled tools for online fundraising. The traditional staples of online fundraising — a well-cultivated e-mail list, the ubiquitous “donate now” button and a coherent well-designed Web site — appeared to be making a full-fledged comeback.
Continue reading here.
Israeli Philanthropists: Afraid of Transparency
The American based Jewish Funders Network came to town this past week, but you’d never know it.
You see, the community of Israeli philanthropists participating in the Conference put a noose around the JFN’s neck and held them hostage.
They told the JNF they “suffer at the hands of Israeli gossip columnists” and pushed the JNF team against the wall. The sessions were closed to the media; a 180 degree turn from the JFN’s normal practice.
The official program stated the sessions were closed not to “undermine the participants’ feelings of privacy and security”.
I was told by more than one participant of the JNF’s need to have this, their first ever Conference in Israel, succeed; pretty much regardless of cost.
As it turned out, three American media representatives were permitted to attend and “even that was controversial, and has caused discord”. Unfortunately, pretty much anything you read about the Conference itself, regardless of source, is being prepared or edited by the JFN. For even the privlidged three were only permitted access “provided they work together with the organization to ensure that their reports were accurate and factual.”
This was not the only Conference in the world of philanthropy happening in Israel this past week. Under the auspices of Tel Aviv University’s Harold Hartog School of Government, over 100 representatives of Diaspora and Israeli groups participated in a Workshop on Faith and International Development several days earlier. You can read more about this Conference / Workshop here. What was amazing as we gathered at Neve Ilan: the complete absence of Israeli philanthropists. Not one was in attendance; a fact brought forth quite emphatically from the speaker’s podium during the closing session, titled, “Galvanizing the Jewish World.”
Israel’s philanthropists may be worried about the gossip columnists, but they certainly follow some local established business norms as it relates to transparency. In a profile last Fall focusing on the coffee culture here in Israel and franchising, one local chain admitted their most serious obstacle was enforcing transparency relative to the business practices of the franchisee. The complete article is here. (As an aside to you coffee drinkers, Tel Aviv has per capita twice the number of coffee cafes as Manhattan!)
Back to The Jewish Funders Network; they announced last week a plan to open an office in Israel this year. Kol ha-kavod and welcome to them. They do great work and I am certain they will make a strong, and immediate, contribution to the local scene. But I would offer two suggestions: they need to personally know the local community of American / Israeli communal professionals. This group can provide a wealth of information and introductions into a world, I know for sure, they are not familiar with.
Second, talk to Cafe Hillel. They have apparently made progress vis a vie teaching transparency to Israeli business people.
JFN Comes to Israel
more housecleaning…
The Jewish Funders Network announced this past Tuesday its plan to open a permanent branch office here in Israel. The decision will allow JFN to better meet the needs of its growing membership in Israel.
According to JFN President Mark Charendoff, “Our ability to open an office in this location marks a new stage of maturity for the Israeli philanthropic community. It will offer a place for Israel based funders to come together to compare experience, access, information and create partnerships.”
The organization set a new record of attendance this week at its annual conference in Jerusalem as members from Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, South Africa, the former Soviet Union and the U.S. convened for several days of meetings and site visits to Israeli-based philanthropic projects.
“There has been marked growth in Israeli philanthropy over the last ten years,” said JFN Member, Oudi Recanati, “we are now able to help ourselves and to support projects dear to us on our own and in partnership with other funders worldwide. My hope is that the opening of this office will bring further cooperation between Israelis and the rest of the Jewish world around the pleasures of giving and helping.”
As the number of Jewish foundations and individual funders has grown (more than doubling in total assets over the past seven years to approximately $30 billion in the United States alone) so has the need for a dynamic international network of philanthropic leaders.
With its unrivaled network and ever-growing store of knowledge, JFN provides funders with the means to enhance their intellectual capital, energize their giving, and form powerful new collaborations.
about: The Jewish Funders Network (JFN) is an international organization of foundations, philanthropies, and funders dedicated to advancing the quality and growth of philanthropy rooted in Jewish values. JFN’s members include independent philanthropists, foundation trustees and foundation professionals.
updated April 9th
Do You Blog?
10 Questions Every Blogger Should Ask Themselves Before Posting
To help you in these crucial editing stages, we thought we would lay down some important questions bloggers can ask themselves so they can make an honest, constructive and critical appraisal of their work before posting it up for the world to see. Asking these simple questions could mean the difference between a hastily written blog article that remains obscure and a well-written, influential and accessible blog that courts a loyal audience with ease.
- How quickly can my readers understand what my post is about?
- Does my blog offer something novel or unexpected?
- How helpful is my content?
- Why should my readers trust me?
- Does my content speak to people on a human level?
- Is my post easy to read and scroll through?
- Does my content cover what needs to be discussed or answered?
- Am I revealing enough information about my topic?
- Am I fulfilling my readers’ expectations?
- Am I reaching out for support?
for the complete post by web strategist and blogger Damien Van Vroenhoven click here
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The Power of Search
10 Steps to Being Found on Search Engines
by Laura Quinn, Director, Idealware
Does your organization show up on the first page of results in search engines like Google or Yahoo? The content and structure of your website can have a dramatic effect on how easily potential constituents can find you via search engines. This article explains how.
Let’s do an experiment. Go to Google and type in the most commonly used version of your organization’s name. Do you show up first in the resulting list of sites? What if you type in a short phrase describing the type of work you’d like to be known for? Do you show up in the top page of those search results, too?
Your placement on search engines like Google or Yahoo Search is important. At a minimum, it should be easy for your current constituents to find your site using your organization’s name. Showing up on the first page of search results for key terms — for instance, something like “Cincinnati women’s shelter,” if that describes your organization — can also make a huge difference in your site traffic, not to mention in potential donors, volunteers, and clients’ ability to find and connect with you.
continue reading here
For additional articles you may find of interest check out our Resources section; new links are regularly added.
What Buddha and Freud Have to Do with Nonprofit Marketing
From the recent NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference we would like to share Mark Rovner and Katya Andresen’s overview of donors’ seven needs to feel fulfilled.
With all the shiny technology tools out there, it’s easy for us to be blinded to the fact technology is about bonds, not wires. It’s human connections that matter.
In other words, some very human principles make or break the success of absolutely everything we do online.
From the discussion of “The Seven Things Everyone Wants: What Freud and Buddha Understood (and We’re Forgetting) about Online Outreach,” here are the seven things everyone wants:
- Need 1: To be SEEN and HEARD
- Need 2: To be CONNECTED to someone or something
- Need 3: To be part of something GREATER THAN THEMSELVES
- Need 4: To have HOPE for the future
- Need 5: To have the security of TRUST
- Need 6: To be of SERVICE
- Need 7: To want HAPPINESS for self and others
Click here for more and to read examples of organizations tapping into these needs.
photo source, shutterstock.com
Pesach Cleaning
It’s that time of the year again. Among other things, you should take this opportunity to clean out your inbox and various folders.
We’ve received a number of links in the past few weeks we’d like to pass on and will be doing this over the next few days. We also have some new resource information from the recent Association of Fundraising Professionals Conference coming your way.
Stay tuned and have a great week!