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1. Board Governance Resources great list of eight resources from Susan Hammond, sc Hammond Advisors

2. Free nonprofit tools from 10 different experts! from the Fundraising Coach

10 of us have gotten together to offer:

2001 Norwell High School Grad to Become  Kiva Fellow

Since 2007, Kiva, a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty, has offered [...]]]>

I wrote this article for the local newspaper to help her get some contributions…we will see if she gets some more traffic to her indiegogo site or to her blog.

2001 Norwell High School Grad to Become  Kiva Fellow

Since 2007, Kiva, a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty, has offered only 400 individuals the rare opportunity to work with microfinancing through the Kiva Fellows program. Fellows work directly with microfinancing institutions around the globe to increase Kiva’s impact. Kiyomi Beach will be in their 17^th class, and will be working with the Huatusco Coffee Cooperative located in Veracruz and Huatusco, Mexico for four months starting in February.

“One person can make a difference, and every person should try.” ~ John F. Kennedy

“After six years of working in the financial services industry I have decided to take time to give back,” says Kiyomi . “In 2012 I will be working as a volunteer to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses by supporting Kiva’s mission of “connect[ing] people through lending to alleviate poverty” by working at a partner microfinance institution.”

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. They are the leaders in leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, allowing individuals to lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. To learn more please visit http://www.kiva.org/about. Microfinance institutions provide loans to low income borrowers and small business owners who would not have access to funding otherwise.  These loans provide critical capital that helps these business owners run their business.

Because this is an unpaid, volunteer fellowship, your financial support would be greatly appreciated. Kiyomi estimates that her trip will cost between $4,000 and $4,500, which will include the cost of attending training and all living and travel expenses in Mexico.   You can contribute to her work by going to: http://www.indiegogo.com/Support-Kiyomi-Support-Kiva.  Any contribution is greatly appreciated as it will go a long way to helping support Kiva’s mission.

Kiyomi spent much of her youth in Norwell, and has always enjoyed “giving back.”  She volunteered at the South Shore YMCA, Mill Pond, and through high school and college worked at the Y every summer.

This fall she spent 6 weeks in Cuzco, Peru, volunteering and taking Spanish classes at a non-profit agency: Fair Play (http://fairplay-peru.org) where she worked analyzing research on poverty, education and healthcare in Cuzco. You can follow her travels at: http://kiyomibeach.com

Aha, December is in full swing.

1. 3 Nonprofit Lessons from The Princess Bride a fun post from Marc Pitman

But did you know there are nonprofit lessons embedded in the story? Here are three I’ve identified

Read the comments for more

2. Why your nonprofit needs a personality and NOT a brand from John Haydon

Image by Sam Howzit via Flickr

Just finished reading a post from Geoff Livingston: 5 Ways to Engage Online Ambassadors where they talked about influencers, people that will spread your word to others.

The five are:

I think all these work for both on [...]]]>

Image by Sam Howzit via Flickr

Just finished reading a post from Geoff Livingston: 5 Ways to Engage Online Ambassadors where they talked about influencers, people that will spread your word to others.

The five are:

• Host a schwanky event
• Highlight their work
• Make Advocacy Fun
• Create an Advisory Board
• Put them on a wall

I think all these work for both on and off line, and hopefully you are doing those things for your donors already, is it time to make sure you online community feels the love too?

Fall is creeping in, today in New England is a bright crisp day! We are about to announce the schedule for Tech Day Camp, and we have a whole series for NPO directors, staff and volunteers!! Hope you can make it Saturday, Oct 22! Now on to the picks for the [...]]]>

Image by lu2shoot via Flickr

Fall is creeping in, today in New England is a bright crisp day! We are about to announce the schedule for Tech Day Camp, and we have a whole series for NPO directors, staff and volunteers!! Hope you can make it Saturday, Oct 22! Now on to the picks for the week.

1. From our favorite  advisor, Susan Hammond: Advisory Boards Can Improve Fiduciary Boards

Many problems in governance start with uneducated people getting onto a board, corporate or nonprofit.  They are asked by a trusted colleague because they are successful in business or some other endeavor.  That success in turn is seen as preparing you to serve on a board.  Wrong!

One of the easiest ways to get familiar with board service is serving on an advisory board.

2.  Are you on Facebook? Christine Pilch, one of our fantastic speakers at Tech Day Camp: Facebook compromised your privacy this week, and you probably didn’t even notice it Thanks for watching out for us Christine!!

In the way of a great illusionist, this week Facebook got so many users worked up about the loss of easy access to recent posts that they were able to slide in much more significant changes that altered the privacy control that every Facebook user had over his own information.

3. More about changes on Facebook and Pages from Beth Kanter about: Facebook Changes for Organization Pages: Focus On Results

The discussion about the recent changes on Facebook has focused mostly around what it means for individuals, particularly the tension between openness and  privacy.    Many people are wondering what it means for nonprofit brands  using Facebook as one of their marketing channels.   So are people like me who do coaching and training on how to use Facebook effectively.     It makes no sense to freak out.

4. From another presenter, John Haydon, a regular here on Friday: The most important question you could ask a new donor

What made you donate to our organization?

5. What we all want to know: 5 Tips to Make Donating Easy from Inspiring Generosity

A few weeks ago we asked our Facebook friends what obstacles they saw in online fundraising. One friend noted that some nonprofits make it hard for donors to donate on their website, with too many clicks in the middle.

There are simple solutions to this, so if you’re thinking about revamping your nonprofit’s website, take these tips into consideration…

Related articles

• Around the Web Sep 23 for NPO’s (thenon-profittoolbox.com)
• Around the Web Sep 16 for NPO’s (thenon-profittoolbox.com)
• Non-profit people don’t miss Tech Day Camp (thenon-profittoolbox.com)

Well, yesterday it felt like summer, and today fall is definitely in the air here in MA.  Say good-bye to the lazy days of summer and back to business with this brisk weather.

1. Let’s start with the changes (again) to Facebook: At Long Last, Facebook Adds Twitter-Style Following, [...]]]>

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Well, yesterday it felt like summer, and today fall is definitely in the air here in MA.  Say good-bye to the lazy days of summer and back to business with this brisk weather.

1. Let’s start with the changes (again) to Facebook: At Long Last, Facebook Adds Twitter-Style Following, Calls It “Subscribe” from All Things Digital:

Users can choose to post a Subscribe button on their profile. Once they do, any visitor can choose to subscribe to receive one of three options in their Facebook news feeds: all updates, most updates (what you’d see normally) or important updates (like getting married or having a kid)….On the flip side, brands can’t have subscribers. The Subscribe button is only for people.

More:  What the Facebook Subscribe Feature Means to Nonprofit News Sharing (Frogloop)

2. Events Are a Means to an End: Collecting Data that Will Help You Raise More Money from NTen:

Chances are, your organization has one or more special events that are part of your fundraising portfolio. You know events are a great way to engage your constituents in an immersive and impactful way. But are you using your events as an opportunity to learn more about your advocates and better focus all of your fundraising efforts?

3. 11 Qualities of an Effective Social Media Manager from NonProfit Tech2.0

Despite all the buzz about social media, the reality is that your social media campaigns are only as good as the human being(s) behind them. Going “viral” on social media sites is extremely rare, and instantaneous success is a myth. Being an effective social media manager is both an art and a skill.

4. Give2Gether, Rally, Razoo, Fundly offer nonprofits a new way to support causes from Frogloop:

There’s a new breed of fundraising tools out there that can help organizations with “social fundraising.” These tools leverage the social networks of donors, supporters and organizations to substantially increase the revenue raised as well as the long-term benefits of becoming a part of the fabric of your donors’ social media networks. They focus not just on large donations but on the collective power of micro-donations, which are often repeated and shared with friends.

5. Using an Advisory Committee to Transform a Founding Nonprofit Board from Susan Hammond

A young executive director (ED) I’m advising is working to change the founding board by way of an advisory committee.  The three-year old organization has a board comprised of family members.  The organization is at the point where it needs a board made up of members more representative of the community served and with greater expertise and experience. The organization has only one employee, the ED.  So the board of directors will be a working board for the foreseeable future.

Have a great, productive week!