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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The State of Generosity in America
The holiday season brings many ways to give and receive generosity. To me, generosity is a virtue defined as willingly giving away your time, money and attention – without expectation of anything in return. This feeling is a hallmark of the season. People are nicer,...
Reasons We Are Thankful
This Thanksgiving comes at a history-making moment for my hometown of Dallas – it is the 60th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s death. For this year’s Thanksgiving blog, we wanted to share some of his insights that have stood the test of time. But, I also wanted to...
How Opportunity Assessments Can Help Nonprofits Size up New Opportunities
Because the social sector is in the business of changing the world, we often are inclined to see every need or idea as a call to action. The result of taking on too many opportunities comes in the form of mission creep, donor confusion or staff burnout. Research...
How Multiple Intelligences Can Improve Nonprofit Leadership
In 2002, I attended the Drucker Institute’s annual conference. Based on an impromptu speech I gave during one of the workshops, I was selected to meet with Peter Drucker himself. He was a legend, and I never expected to have a real audience with him. To my surprise,...
Nonprofit Boards Behaving Badly
In 2015, I had the honor of participating in the OpEd Project. The project encourages women and minorities to write more editorials and opinion pieces about subjects that are important to them. I collaborated on this piece with three Dallas-based nonprofit CEOs...
How to End Domestic Violence and Abuse
Domestic violence has been on the nation’s consciousness for the past five decades for good reason. More than one in three women (35.6%) and more than one in four men (28.5%) in the U.S. report having experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate...
Ideas to Impact: How Social Entrepreneurs Think About Social Change
My favorite graduation gift is the bestselling book, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I share it with anyone I can because it speaks to all of us who want to find our own destiny. As one of the mentors tells the protagonist, Santiago, “When you really want something to...
“Out-of-this-World” Fundraising Ideas
Millions of Americans will have a front row seat on Saturday to an “out of this world” experience – an annular solar eclipse (also known as a “ring of fire”). It will be 2046 before another one is visible in the contiguous United States. We hope everyone gets a chance...
How to Help Your Donors Create a Legacy With Planned Giving
The headlines are buzzing about “The Great Wealth Transfer.” It is estimated that more than $70 trillion will be passed down from Baby Boomers to their heirs – with $10-12 trillion estimated to be donated to charity through 2045. Amid high inflation, overall giving is...
