Welcome to Friday! This week, we said good-bye toAgnes Nixon, the socially conscious creator of the legendary soap operas All My Children, One Life to Live and Guiding Light who passed away at 93. By writing timely issues into her soaps, she raised social consciousness about many issues, from AIDS to racism. You can read the New York Times tribute here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/arts/television/agnes-nixon-who-injected-social-ills-into-soap-operas-dies-at-93.html?_r=0
We also have five nonprofit-related articles to help you deal with any end-of-September blues.
1) TurboVote, a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging voter turnout, is teaming up with YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and some other major social media platforms to increase voter registration for the upcoming election. The platforms are using some engaging tactics to capture millennials’ attention—Tumblr has altered its main dashboard page to feature a message about voter registration and Twitter’s created a new “I registered” emoji. What are YouTube and Instragram doing to increase turnout? Click here to find out: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/09/29/young-voter-registration-instagram-twitter-tumblr-top/
If you live in California but have not yet registered to vote, you can register online here: http://registertovote.ca.gov/
2) Gene Takagi points us to a Nonprofit Quarterly article from Clara Miller, President of the F.B. Heron Foundation, that went viral; Ms. Miller’s piece, based on a talk she gave, starts with a deceptively simple True/False test about how money functions in the nonprofit world and just how complicated managing nonprofit finances can get. Think you can pass her quiz? Try your luck here:
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2005/12/21/the-looking-glass-world-of-nonprofit-money-managing-in-for-profits-shadow-universe
3) Nell Edgington, President of Social Velocity (a nonprofit consulting firm), reminds nonprofit leaders and employees that their time is valuable and that it’s okay to charge for that time. This reminder applies to anyone who works in the nonprofit sector as well as to freelancers of all types--place a value on your time and calculate your rate accordingly. Find out how:
http://www.socialvelocity.net/2016/09/what-is-the-value-of-a-nonprofit-leaders-time/
4) The blog Nonprofit Tech for Good takes a hard look at whether nonprofits are getting a good bang for their buck from social media—and they might not be. Some issues raised by Nonprofit Tech for Good: Snapchat has no tangible return on investment (ROI); many social media platforms are trending towards video, but a nonprofit may not have a good videographer on staff; and social media can distract nonprofits from better online tools that produce a better return on investment. Want to know how to make the most of your nonprofit’s social media? Find out what not to do:
http://www.nptechforgood.com/2016/09/18/12-not-so-great-realities-about-nonprofits-and-social-media/
5) Stanford Social Innovation Review brings the story of the resurgence of Kepler Books in Menlo Park. Kepler Books started as an informal center for political and social activism in the late 1960s. And in 2011, when Kepler was struggling for business and about to go under, it shifted its community events to a new nonprofit entity, Peninsula Arts and Letters, which concentrates on community engagement and educational programs as part of its mission. The result has been a mini-renaissance: more author events, more local authors, more school activity. Kepler’s successful embrace of the hybrid model is a great case study in creative thinking and socially conscious ambition. Learn more here:
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/turning_the_page
That’s it for the Friday Five. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the blog posts of our lives. Got questions about forming a nonprofit? Tips for things you’d like to see in the Friday Five? Drop us a line at info@b-alaw.com.