The Social Sector often uses basic tools, like hammers and nails to change the world. Instead, we need power tools. Our weekly blog, Social TrendSpotter provides you with the latest trends and ideas within the social sector. It merges current thinking with the edge of innovation to inspire, to motivate and to take action so we can all ultimately create a better sector. Social TrendSpotter includes original analysis, but also highlights the latest sector-wide thinking into a user-friendly resource where social sector professionals and students alike can draw inspiration, share ideas and develop new thinking on best practices.
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B is for Burnout. How to Extinguish COVID Fog & Ignite Renewed Passion in the Nonprofit Workplace
The Great Resignation. The Great Awkward. COVID-19 turned everything upside down. Now, we are back in the office and need a new playbook to get past what we are calling COVID Fog. The good news is that this is not uncharted territory. We experienced this as a firm...
Changemaker Top 10 Music Playlist
As we approach the Memorial Day holiday and as we all struggle with the weight of the issues surrounding us, I thought I’d take a break from my usual fare and share a Changemaker Top 10 Playlist, curated by four generations of my fellow Trendspotters and Changemakers...
How Are Nonprofit Business Plans Different From Strategic Plans?
I love cooking shows! People can be so imaginative with food recipes. While many of us are content with the traditional combination of peanut butter and chocolate, chefs and food enthusiasts are combining seemingly unrelated ingredients to yield culinary genius. Take...
Are Performance Reviews Still Relevant? 6 Tips for Making Nonprofit Reviews More Effective
Another year has sped by, and it's time again for annual performance reviews. It might feel like you completed them a few weeks ago, or maybe you didn't even get to them last year because of lockdowns, hiring freezes, lack of funding or other issues related to the...
How Shared Services Can Maximize Your Nonprofit’s Impact
Today’s headlines could make even the most optimistic person – like me – a little weary. But, my optimism was restored when I watched the recent documentary about the 50-year anniversary of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” called “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” and it...
Bring Your Nonprofit Strategic Plan to Life with Action Plans
When it comes to planning, social sector leaders often ask me how to ensure strategic plans get implemented. They are right to be concerned – their hard work matters and should not be relegated to a shelf. I respond with the Japanese proverb – “Vision without action...
6 Easy Ways Nonprofits Can Become More Eco-Friendly
Tomorrow is Earth Day – the first one was held in 1970, more than 50 years ago. Since then, Earth Day has become a global event that has mobilized 200 million people across 141 countries to recognize our role in saving our collective ecosystem. The United Nations also...
Prescription from the Pulpit: What Pope Francis Teaches Us About Change
This week, many of us are celebrating the religious holidays of Easter and Passover. In this time of change, it reminds me of one of my favorite parables – Moishe and the Pope. Over a century ago, the Pope decided that all Jewish people had to convert or be forced to...
Q&A: 3 Tips for Knocking Your Next Retreat Out of the Ballpark
Spring has officially started and with it comes vacations, cookouts and baseball games – and your nonprofit’s retreat. Retreats have become commonplace in the sector, but many CEOs and board chairs find orchestrating a productive retreat for their organization...
