Nonprofit Job Growth Continues to Outpace Other Sectors of the Economy
Johns Hopkins just released a study showing that the nonprofit job market in Maryland, my home state, has been growing at three times the rate of the for-profit sector. The study found that employment at nonprofits in Maryland spiked 36% from 1995 to 2005, while for-profit jobs increased only 15%, a growth rate of 2.9% to 1.1%.
It is this way everywhere. The Independent Sector says that nonprofit employment nation-wide doubled in the 25 years from 1979 to 2004 to nearly 10% of total employment. The forecast is that by 2010, the nonprofit sector will employ 15 million people.
If you are looking for a career change, give the nonprofit world a chance. It is likely that you will find more jobs and, often, jobs that rate higher on quality-of-life measures.
Find out why, how, and what it takes to get into nonprofit work:
Nonprofits Need to Watch Their Step During Political Season
As we move into the next phase of this exciting election year, it is important that nonprofits review what they can and cannot do in the areas of political advocacy and lobbying.
The IRS recently held a phone conference on this topic and has made available, online, the script of that conference and the powerpoint slides that go with it. These are very well done, outlining the restrictions for several types of nonprofit organizations. We recommend you print them out and post them at your organization.
Also see our articles on the same topic:
Cause Marketing for the Rest of Us
Joe Waters, of the Selfish Giving blog which keeps up with cause marketing, recently wrote about the realities of cause marketing for the average nonprofit.
He is not trying to discourage small nonprofits from seeking cause marketing opportunities, but he does want them to understand that big cause marketing requires big resources. Here are Waters' cautions:
- Big cause marketing programs have dedicated cause marketing teams. Yours won't. The marketing people at most nonprofits are one-person operations and that person wears many hats. They may be in charge of public relations, development, event planning, etc. Waters says small organizations, however, can always look for opportunities to collaborate with businesses across a broad range of activities.
- Big cause marketing programs raise gobs of money from cause marketing. Yours won't. It's ok if you don't raise millions, says Waters. Even a small amount can be helpful and cause marketing projects bring more value in terms of closer ties to businesses and publicity.
- Big cause marketing programs deal with cause branding, passion branding and corporate social responsibility. Yours won't. Waters says that local programs are usually very simple, limited and tend to be transactional, such as point-of-sale programs. Waters suggests that while you should always be striving for deeper and more long-lasting cause marketing programs, don't turn up your nose at the smaller ones. Sometimes, running a number of these can add up to something significant.
For more on cause marketing and sponsorships:
Philanthropy Sets New High In 2007 Says Report
With the economy tanking in 2008, it is hard to remember that 2007 wasn't bad:
- Corporate profits grew slowly, at 1.3 percent; and
- The stock market ended above its 2006 close, albeit only 1 percent higher for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Those are the factors that helped boost philanthropy past the $300 billion mark for the first time, according to Giving USA, 2008. Get all the facts, the whys, and tips at:
Rock the Vote Writes Guide to Web 2.0
You don't have to be a political organization to appreciate and use the guidance in Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide.
It is clear that we all have to hit the Internet and learn to use the tools of social networking to reach young people today. Rock the Vote has been a leader in doing this, contributing to an historical 4.3 million voter increase in 18-29 year-olds' turnout in the 2004 election that overturned the U.S. Congress.
Such techniques have been widely used in this election year with stunning results, catapulting a nearly unknown contender to the Democratic presidential nomination, buoyed by a new generation of engaged, politically active young adults.
Now Rock the Vote has put the lessons of its success into its book, Mobilizing Generation 2.0, providing the rest of us a "how-to" guide to reaching and mobilizing our young supporters.
There is so much in this book that you will want to read it at length. To help us to not be overwhelmed by the wealth of tools and strategies for reaching today's youth, the book breaks the information into chapters on blogging; social networking; video and photo sharing; mobile phones; wikis; maps; and virtual worlds.
Each chapter is written with the novice in mind so that you learn about the history of each technique or medium, tips on how to get started, examples of how other nonprofits are using the techniques, and lists of resources for further study or action.
If you are new to social media, pick out one idea or technique to start with. If you are more experienced, this book will give you ideas and the impetus to try more advanced strategies.
Although the book addresses how to reach young people, much of the advice can be used with any age group. All age groups are increasingly turning to the Internet for information, staying in contact, and to transact business.
We really liked the section in the book on story-telling, which is apropos for any age and any nonprofit. Read the suggestions in our article, Story-Telling for the Nonprofit: How to Dramatize Your Cause.
Study Shows Ethics Standards Declining at Nonprofits
More lying, cheating, and abusive behavior? At nonprofit organizations? Unfortunately, that is the conclusion of a study by the Ethics Resource Center.
In 2007, the types of misconduct most widely observed by nonprofit employees were: putting one's own interests ahead of the organization's (24%); lying to employees (21%); abusive behavior and misreporting hours worked (each 19% each).
Our guest author, Larry Checco, says that such actions are not only a disgrace, but they also undermine an organization's brand. Read more about the study, and how your organization can make sure that it is building a strong brand through ethical behavior:
Photo by Barton Stabler/Getty Images
'Take Your Dog to Work Day' Is This Friday!
I am such a sucker for animal pitches. I guess it's because I was deprived of pets as a child so now I try to make up for it. Some years ago, I even broke the rules by adopting a pet for my office at a big university for several months. That was well before such things were considered even remotely "ok." The dog had more visitors stopping by than I ever got, but I did get an "official" visit from Human Resources.
Now, thank heavens, things are more civilized and we even have "Take Your Dog to Work Day," (sponsored by Pet Sitters International) which is this Friday, June 20. Thanks to Katie Manion of WellPetUSA for alerting me to this occasion and for getting me to WellPet's great blog.
WellPetUSA is among many laudable nonprofits around the country who take seriously the welfare of our pets. WellPet works with local and national organizations to promote the health of pets and to rescue abused ones. It has two new programs in the development area: The Meow BowWow Fund and Pet Education, Awareness and Training (P.E.A.T.). You might want to put these on your list of favorite funds in the category of animal welfare.
Meanwhile, make your plans to take your dog to work this Friday, and visit WellPet's blog where you can find more information about dogs at work including links to valuable articles such as how to prep your pooch for that visit to your workplace.
Photo by ULTRA.F/Getty Images
Nonprofit Websites Earn Webby Awards
The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, are a lot of fun. The award is the website equivalent of the Tony for theater and the Oscar for film. Three nonprofits that won 2008 awards last week caught my eye as great examples for all of us in the nonprofit world to study.
The first is directed at the youth market and addresses relationship abuse among teens. It is love is respect.org. This site is totally interactive and highly visual. Highlights include video, a "teen dating bill of rights," live chat, a toolkit for activism, and a peer-run abuse helpline. The site is very web 2.0.
The second nonprofit site is Katrina, An Unnatural Disaster. This organization and website is out to never let us forget that the Katrina disaster continues and will for the foreseeable future; and how it represents fundamental problems in our society around the issues of poverty, racism and government shortcomings. With moving photos, videos, and featured stories, the site aims to keep us from lapsing into apathy until the next "unnatural" disaster occurs.
Invisible Children.com is also clearly youth-directed, and is the "edgiest" and visually creative of the websites. It is the moving story of the plight of children in areas where armed conflict and injustice rage. It was started by three young filmmakers who created a documentary about the child soldiers of northern Uganda. The making of the film spurred these social entrepreneurs into setting up a nonprofit to combat such inhumane practices. The website is video- and photo-intense and uses stories and images to move viewers to action.
A lesson that emerges when looking at these websites is how much the designs are influenced by the target audience as well as the gifts of those who created the organizations they represent. The first is for and about teenagers and has a very social web feel and look. The second is directed at a more general audience but is influenced in its gritty design by the nature of its subject matter: racial inequality. The third is the product of young people interested in global issues and skilled in the visual arts. They seek like-minded young people who appreciate the cutting edge nature of their endeavor and how they present it.
What does your website say about your organization? About your audience? About your mission?
Photo by Getty Images
Nonprofit Auctions Take a Hit
cMarket, which runs BiddingForGood.com, an online auction service for nonprofits, has released a survey of charity auction managers across the U.S. who ran auctions between January and April of this year. The survey showed that this popular fundraising strategy is feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown.
Among the findings of the survey:
- 22% of the auction managers said they saw a decline in funds raised compared to last year.
- 65.1% reported that the economy had a somewhat or very noticeable impact on their event.
- 66% said it is "somewhat or "much more" competitive getting items from local merchants and 38% said merchants are getting more demanding for marketing benefits.
- 35% said that corporate sponsors are getting more demanding in asking for marketing/promotion benefits.
- 29% report lower attendance at their events
- 20% say they had fewer bidders this year and 35% say those bidders who did participate were less active.
Jon Carson, CEO of cMarket, commented on the results: "In this environment auction committees are well advised to revisit their assumptions around their goals and what is attainable. If you plan on matching last year's goal, or even beating it, you may need to think about what you’ll do differently as the headwinds appear to be much stronger this year."
In an earlier survey of non-profit auction bidders done in February 2008, cMarket found that 25% of auction managers were planning on pulling back this year due to the economy. Timothy Matthews, senior analyst, who led the project, said, "“This latest survey shows that more discretionary purchases such as art, collectibles, and jewelry didn’t do as well, while everyday items such as travel, dining and entertainment were still popular even if total bidding was down."
For some ideas, directly from the auction managers themselves, about how to cope with the downturn without giving up your auction program, see our article:
A Wikipedia for the Rest of Us
Kudos to the Meyer Memorial Trust for its brave new project, connectipedia.
Yesterday we wrote about the proliferation of nonprofit organizations, so it is appropriate that today we can point to a solution to a problem created by the rapid growth of the nonprofit sector: information overload.
More organizations, more people, more need...how do we stay on top of it? connectipedia is one way. Unlike Wikipedia, its similar, and crazily successful cousin, connectipedia is not an archive of articles, but a collection of links pointing us to people, places, and things that might be helpful as we look for information, like-minded colleagues, programs like ours, and sources of funding.
What makes this resource different from other lists of resources on the Internet? It is built by its users. We can all contribute, edit, leave a cracker trail to information that was helpful to us...we can even contact each other from within connectipedia using the handy, dandy email function.
connectipedia is all about the democratization of knowledge, the wisdom of crowds, the connected mind, web 2.0, and more. It is cutting-edge to say the least.
Visit now, read the user's guide (very useful sample user stories help us grasp how we might use connectipedia), sign up (it's free), and start connecting.