Social Trendspotter Weekly Blog
Creating Win-Wins with Nonprofit Feasibility Assessments
Growing up, my mother introduced me to the music of Kenny Rogers. My sister and I loved twirling around our house, singing his songs at the top of our lungs. My favorite was “The Gambler” and its famous lyrics: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘emKnow when to fold...
2025 Nonprofit Trends: Uniting Generations in the Workplace
One of my favorite events of 2024 was the total solar eclipse in April. While it was an astronomical marvel, it was also a great social experiment. For a brief five minutes, North Americans of all ages stopped what they were doing to gaze at the sky in collective awe....
Martin Luther King Jr. and the Power of Social Movements
Each year when we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are reminded of the importance of social movements to our country’s evolution. Movements were believed to have started in the late 1800s around workers’ rights, eventually leading to the labor movement in the...
Where Do We Go From Here? Using the Nonprofit Lifecycle to Plan Ahead
I always love thinking about the possibilities a new year brings for the future, but sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start. I was recently asked by a client how to determine where to focus energies in their organization in the coming year. My go-to...
Dream No Little Dreams: A Tribute to Business Icon Clay Mathile
The news is filled with headlines of billionaire CEOs caught in scandals, but we also need to celebrate CEOs who are making the right choices and using business as a force for good. Recently, we lost one of these icons, Clay Mathile, the former CEO of Iams – the...
Bend Without Breaking: How Resilience Can Help the Social Sector Prevail in the New Year
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The Story Behind the Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
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Why Accessibility Needs to Be a 2025 Goal for All Nonprofits
I have been a social activist from a young age. As you can see from the picture, my parents captured a moment when I was outraged that my beloved cat was being tormented by the dog. Even then – I fought for the underdog (or undercat, as it were). One of the things I...
5 Types of Strategic Plans Every Nonprofit Should Know (And When to Use Them)
While there are numerous books and websites on strategic planning, the process of developing a plan often seems prescriptive – but it doesn’t have to be. Strategy for any organization can be tailored to set forth the ways an organization will negotiate its environment...
Do You Have an Impact-Driven Culture? A Checklist for Nonprofits
I’ve always loved the ancient parable about the elephant. Six blind men were asked to describe an elephant by touching its body parts. The first man felt its side and described the elephant as a wall, the second man touched its tusk and thought it was a spear, the...