On June 12, 1942, a young Jewish girl named Anneliese Marie Frank received a diary for her 13th birthday. Just a month later, Anne Frank’s family went into hiding from the Nazis. Hidden in the attic apartment behind her father Otto Frank’s business in Amsterdam, Anne kept a diary for two years. The Franks and four other families were fed and looked after by Gentile friends as they lived in constant fear of being discovered. Life for the eight people living in the small apartment (which Anne dubbed the Secret Annex in her diary) was tense and required complete silence during daytime hours in order to avoid detection. In an effort to pass the time, the diarist chronicled her daily observations and feelings in her diary. In entries to an imaginary friend named Kitty, Anne would write about her loneliness, lack of privacy and typical teenage issues such as arguments with her mother and resentment toward her sister. She also displayed acute insight and maturity with regards to issues of humanity, war and her own identity. On August 4, 1944 the Secret Annex was discovered by the Gestapo after an anonymous tip. Anne’s parents were taken to Auschwitz while she and her sister were transferred to another camp. It was there, at Bergen-Berlsen, that Anne would succumb to typhus one month before the war ended. After having survived his time at the Nazi concentration camp, Otto Frank published his daughter’s diary in 1947 as The Diary of a Young Girl. Today, the book has been translated into 70 languages in more than 60 countries. Now that you’ve been reminded of the resilience of the human spirit, check out these five nonprofit headlines from the news this week.
1. Nonprofits and the Millennial Mindset
It appears as though Millennials have the odds stacked against them: mounting student debt, soaring costs of living and limited job opportunities. Yet, somehow, Millennials have been able to achieve what generations before them could not. Through the creation of a global community, this generation promotes connectivity and networking and demonstrates the interconnectedness of social change and startup culture. According to Forbes, Millennials have become one of the most powerful generations of our time working to diminish boundaries and create new dimensions within the nonprofit sector. Is this generation better suited for creating impactful change within the philanthropic stratum? Click on the link above to discover three attributes of the Millennial mindset that your nonprofit can leverage to generate greater and more effective reach.
2. Where Have All the Donors Gone?
Whether it’s economic swings, demographic changes, "new" philanthropy or the plethora of ways to support a cause—no one knows for certain what’s causing our country’s decline in giving. The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s special report, “The Disappearing Donor,” examines this issue further with new data that shows a decline across all demographics (age, income, education, marital status and religion), even among donors that are typically staunch nonprofit supporters. In an attempt to reckon with this narrowing base of support, fundraisers within the nonprofit world are throwing ideas at the wall—with the hope that something will stick. As your organization begins to reassess its fundraising strategies, check out the link above for a more in-depth analysis of America’s shrinking donor base.
3. U.S. to Receive Poor Report Card in Issues of Poverty
Philip Alston—United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights—is scheduled to present his findings from a 12-day fact-finding tour on poverty in the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 21st in Geneva, Switzerland. Alston’s final report, published a month ago, focuses on poverty and stereotypes surrounding it as well as racism, voting rights, income inequality, health care, and even mass incarceration. While Alston will be giving the U.S. a poor report card in front of the international community, he also offers five policy recommendations as a helpful step in implementing change. Follow the link above from Nonprofit Quarterly to discover key insights unveiled by Alston’s report and his recommended changes in U.S. policy.
4. Giving and Volunteering and Workplace Turnover
Fostering a workplace culture that emphasizes goodness and engagement proves exponentially beneficial to employers. According to a new report from Benevity, Inc., a social-responsibility and employee-engagement software provider, the turnover rate for employees that both donate money and volunteer their time is 57% below that of unengaged employees. Not only do charities benefit, but employees are happier and more engaged—making for a more productive and stable workplace. Want to learn more about employee-centric giving programs and how they may benefit your organization? Check out the link above from The NonProfit Times to read more.
5. Artificial Intelligence for Good
According to Stanford Social Innovation Review, many mission-driven organizations will look to artificial intelligence (AI) to amplify their work, stretch philanthropic dollars and expand impact. This sort of “mission-driven AI”—dubbed “AI for good”—will apply AI to solve ecological and societal challenges as machine-learning techniques help to streamline operations and enhance programming within social enterprises and nonprofit organizations. Want to know how recent breakthroughs in the world of AI would benefit your nonprofit? Click on the link above to learn more about the opportunities AI presents to the social change sector.
That’s it for this week’s Friday Five! We’re dusting off an old copy of Anne Frank’s diary and diving in. See you next week!
Can’t get enough of the Friday Five? Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and send your questions about the nonprofit world to info@b-alaw.com. We’ll be back next week!