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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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...
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...
START NOW: Leverage Internships for Your Summer To-Do List
Summer is around the corner and you have a to-do list a mile long – what is an ideal solution? Use interns to help tackle it over the summer! We are so excited that apprenticeship (in all its forms: internships, job shadowing and project-based learning) has made a...
Falling in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
Sunday marked the beginning of spring. When the tulips and irises start blooming, it feels like a fresh start. We’re lucky enough to get these windows of inspiration a few times each year. These days, I find the spring to be filled with promise, but when I was a kid,...
Are You Chasing Money or Your Mission? The Mission-Money Matrix Can Help You Find Out!
When I started with the nonprofit Phoenix House right out of college, I was an idealist. I pursued any program and every grant that would help our clients. I believed success would come from the quantity of grants submitted. Now, with nearly three decades of...
5 Leadership Lessons from Coach K
For those of you who are familiar with Social Impact Architects, you already know that many of our team members are graduates of Duke University. So, we were really excited last week when Coach K coached his final home game to a packed house at Cameron Indoor Stadium....
Crossing the Rubicon: Navigating NEW Strategic Shifts in Your Nonprofit
Everything changed two years ago – so much so, many futurists, including myself, shifted gears from long-range planning to week-to-week survival. At Social Impact Architects, we even changed our website and created a “Nonprofit Coronavirus Resource Center” with all...
Keep Calm and Plan On! Scenario Planning Steps from the Brits
Whether it was the real-life royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle or a fictional one from one of our favorite British shows, such as The Crown or Downton Abbey, the British know how to throw an event. Nothing exemplifies this more than a royal wedding,...
