This has been a busy month reviewing books but luckily both of them were fabulous. I just finished reading CausedWired by Tom Watson, the publisher of onPhilanthropy.com. Tom writes about how individuals and institutions are changing the face of philanthropy using new media tools. We are living through an exciting time where you don’t have to be a socialite or a fortune 500 CEO to be a philanthropist. You can be a high school student with a facebook account or a young professional that connects using Twitter. The book is a great study on how Gen X and Y are being philanthropic and how nonprofits are changing how they interact with the public to be more accessible using these tools. This is one of the few books that I read that immediately caused me to do something I said I would never do. After reading the first two chapters I opened a Facebook account and connected with Headwaters donors and volunteers. I had been avoiding Facebook because I had been using LinkedIn (connect with me here) for social networking and I felt like it would be too much to have two social networks to keep up. CauseWired made me rethink that position. Multiple access points helps individuals get to know your cause and while we aren’t using those tools as a fundraising method right now, being accessible better connects you to supporters and makes your work more transparent. I also started to Twitter (which I also said I would never do). CauseWired is a great study in how these web 2.0 tools are being used, who is using them effectively, and what the true potential is of these mediums.

CauseWired is available now at Amazon.com, this book is a must read if you are developing strategies for reaching new donors and supporters using web tools.

If you have examples of nonprofits that are using these tools effectively or ideas about what you would like to see me Twitter or include on my Facebook page, add your suggestions in the comments.

Dan Pallotta send me a copy of his new book Uncharitable to review and I LOVED IT! I am a big believer in the potential of the nonprofit sector and I also believe that there are many structural issues that impact how effective nonprofits can be at achieving their missions. Dan’s premise is that human beings are innately charitable and that we have a desire to help our fellow man. Our current system of charity is the bureaucracy that we set up to fulfill that need to help one another. This system has remained unexamined because doing “good” is good enough. In this book Dan asks some key questions: Does this system work? Is it the best system we could have? What other systems are available? His vision is to set free charities and all of the people that work for them from a set of rules that were designed for another age and another purpose and begin to use the rules of free-market capitalism to supercharge the sector. Before you get all high and mighty and remind me that the free-market system is collapsing around us everyday and that opening up the nonprofit system to its corruption and volatility wold ruin the purity of the sector, I’d like to remind you that the sector is already influenced by the corruption of the for profit sector, as evidenced by many high profile scandals and the volatility for the free-market is what is shrinking my foundation’s endowment. The nonprofit system has all of the pitfalls of a free-market system with none of the benefits (e.g tolerance for risk, investment in research and development, and competitive pay). This book is destined to start some great conversations, which are very overdue.

The book is available November 28th at Amazon, check it out here.

During this year’s Council on Foundations annual conference there was a plenary session focused on what role philanthropy could play within the new administration. Many ideas were tossed out there, such as creating an advisory position on the new President’s cabinet and changing the foundation tax laws. For those who may still have some thoughts and questions about what the new administration means to philanthropy, Grantmakers in Health is partnersing with other grantmaker groups to host a session on this topic on December 1st and 2nd in Washington, DC. Here’s the description:

Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce; Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families; and GIH invite you to attend a Post-Election Briefing for Grantmakers. This timely briefing will inform grantmakers about the priorities of the new Administration and Congress and provide funders with an opportunity to help inform, shape and influence this agenda. Several informative sessions will be offered, including:
-A diverse panel of experts and representatives from the new administration’s transition team will discuss the priorities of the new Administration and Congress on a variety of domestic policy issues including health, human services, and budget and taxes.
-A panel of grantees will discuss the implications of the new political environment and what it suggests in terms of opportunities and challenges for the short- and medium-term on a federal, state, local, and community level.
-A facilitated strategy session will provide grantmakers with an opportunity to reflect on the briefing and consider strategies and opportunities for investments and cross-sectoral collaboration.

For more information, go to http://www.gih.org/calendar_url2665/calendar_url_show.htm?doc_id=706190

Tera over at the Social Citizen Blog is twittering about the Independent Sector Conference here.

Rosetta from Perspective from the Pipeline is live blogging from the Independent Sector Conference. Check out her posts:

Day One

Day Two

I had a great dinner last night with a fabulous group of African American female bloggers. The food was terrible but the conversation was wonderful. Rosetta, Kathrin Ivonovic- Diversity Projekt, Naomi Leapheart-Matchstick Movement, and Monica Montgomery- Blog TBD (get on it Monica, we are waiting to hear from you) and all wonderful women that have a lot to say and are making great change through their writing. Check out their blogs.

Heather is blogging on the Independent Sector Conference over at her blog Nonprofit Leadership 601. It has been great to finally get to have an in-person conversation with Heather, since the bulk of our communications have been over email. Check out her posts:

Independent Sector Conference Here I Come

Elections and Nonpofits

There are also many people twittering about the conference. Check out their tweets here.

One of my favorite people, Ben Jealous, the new CEO of the NAACP was the second speaker at the NGen welcome lunch. Ben walked us through a story of the movement to abolish the death penalty that he was a part of right after graduating from college in 1996. Some lessons from that movement included:

• Break big goals, like abolishing the death penalty into smaller goals like ending the juvenile death penalty.
• Engage young people in organizing work because they can engage unusual coalitions like the civil rights community partnering with the conservative pro-life movement.
• Invest in the development of your workforce, regardless of age. The anti-death penalty movement had some key wins, these wins were the result of the organizing work of a recent college grad who had success organizing students in high school and on college campuses.

Ben also gave great professional development advice as a 35 year old CEO of a national civil rights organization:

• Seek out many mentors and give them the opportunity to support your growth. Building those relationships are key in any field.
• He had specific advice for those that care about social justice. Develop the skill sets needed to build institutions, not just the skills to organize individuals. This is the way to create systemic change and strengthen your career.

Expect big things from Ben and the NAACP in the coming months and years.

Today through Tuesday I will be at the Independent Sector Conference in Philly and blogging about the Next Gen track. The conference track began with a great convening of all of the Next Gen leaders for a welcome lunch. The event was moderated by Brian Gallagher, the CEO of the United Way of America.
Tamara Draut author of Strapped: Why Twenty and Thirty-somethings Can’t Get Ahead was the first speaker. She very honestly opened the session with her confession that as a Gen Xer she is envious of millenials (aren’t we all) because they are leading the next movement of social change. Through their culture of collective action (think Facebook Causes) and belief that change is possible. That envy ends with economics. Millenials will not be as well of financially as their parents because of declining wages, increasing healthcare costs, and the skyrocketing cost of education. She called for the end of our dept for diplomas system (hear, hear!)