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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Here’s to the Dreamers: An Ode for 2017
I was elated to see Sunday night that the musical movie, La La Land, did so well at the Golden Globes. We needed a movie that screamed hope and optimism. As Emma Stone said in her Golden Globes acceptance speech, "This is a film for dreamers. And I think that hope and...
2017 Nonprofit Trends: Shifting our Focus to Entrepreneurial Thinking in Nonprofits
Over the holidays, I read about the history of the nonprofit sector in the United States. I did it because I believe that to predict the future, you must understand the past. It is a fascinating study on how organizations adapt to the times. In colonial days,...
5 New Year’s Resolutions to Make Our Hearts Grow
My favorite line from the animated holiday classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," is: "And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then, the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch...
Favorite Inspirations to Celebrate the Holidays 2016
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Nonprofit Trends & Inspiration: Top 5 TrendSpotter Favorites of 2016
The end of the year is always a special time for many social sector organizations. Not only do we have the chance to celebrate with clients and their families over the holidays, but we also enjoy the magic of the season. This warm holiday glow is often...
Bitter Pills and Bright Spots
Last night, I attended an SMU Tate Lecture series featuring Tom Brokaw, Doris Kearns Goodwin and leading political commentator former presidential advisor David Gergen. I, along with everyone in the audience, was stunned when Gergen said, “I got a call from an...
Lessons on Scaling Wide from America’s Cowboy Leader, Hugh O’Brian
Many were saddened on Labor Day by the death of Hugh O’Brian, the actor who played Wyatt Earp in the 1950s TV show. However, I knew him a different way. When I was a sophomore in high school in rural Texas, I was selected to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth...
4 Takeaways from the First 40 Years
I celebrated a milestone yesterday – my 40th birthday. It has been a full week filled with the positive energy that comes from being surrounded by friends, family and doing what I love. Now that I’m “older and wiser,” I often get asked by my students and...
Wisdom from Southeast Asia
Everything is different in Southeast Asia – the sights, the smells and the people. Henry Miller once said, “one’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” I recently returned from a whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia and, because of it,...
