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.
We love when the best “Social TrendSpotters” – you – share your experiences, observations and suggestions with us. Share your ideas here, and follow us on Facebook (@socialimpactarchitects), LinkedIn (@social-impact-architects),Twitter (@socialtrendspot) or Instagram (@socialtrendspot) for our latest posts and other insights.
3 Steps to Make Evaluation Plans Easy
At a recent forum, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria was asked the ONE thing that children need to learn. His answer? “Intellectual discipline.” He defined it as the ability to wade through noise, discern the facts, analyze findings and form a point of view. We echo this sentiment...
(Almost) Free Wi-Fi for Nonprofit Clients
In our January call-to-action to the president and his team, we called out technology as one of the key areas to tackle post-pandemic to rebuild the economy. Today, access to technology stands in the way of achieving the American dream. And, equity must be consciously...
Can We Really Cut Child Poverty in Half?
I love moonshot goals – probably a carryover from my obsession with space exploration as a child. So, when President Biden first announced his goal to cut child poverty in half – I was all in and wanted to develop a community-based roadmap to make this happen in a...
Solving Social Issues in the Biden Era
Like many of you, after every presidential speech and opposition rebuttal, I am struck with two feelings: 1) inspiration for the power of prose in presenting new ideas and 2) bias toward action. I could not fall asleep last night with ideas and possibilities swirling...
How to Build an Inclusive Board
In 2020, every board we worked with was asking the same question – how do we as a board truly commit to racial equity and social justice? Last summer we wrote a post, “7 Actions Nonprofits Can Take to Be Anti-Racist Organizations” with some ideas that we have...
Top Tips for Mastering Nonprofit Logic Models
During COVID-19, everyone went into baking mode. Last year, it was all about banana bread. This year, for my family, it is about the best homemade ice cream for our upcoming Memorial Day Bash. We have a family recipe, but I wanted to kick it up a notch. I reimagined...
Death by Meeting? Tips to Energize Your Nonprofit Meetings
This time last year we all pivoted from in-person meetings to Zoom and Teams meetings to protect each other during the early days of the pandemic. Shortly after that, the Social Impact Architects' team wrote a blog on best practices for online meetings to help...
Is Your Nonprofit on Life Support? A Financial Check-up for the Social Sector
After our recent national survey and webinar, which we discussed in a recent post, I wanted to dig deeper into the financial results. First, the bad news from the survey – due to COVID-19, 17% of nonprofits reorganized, 13% reduced overhead and 10% postponed...
5 Tips to Hit a Social Business Pitch out of the Park
Spring always reminds me of one of my family’s favorite pastimes – baseball. When my nephew Alexander was first learning to play a few years ago, I got a chance to help him practice for a game. At practice, he was struggling with hitting the ball, and I finally...
