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As I sat in the lobby before a recent meeting at a nonprofit, I saw a woman carrying a stack of folders in one arm and tugging at her luggage with her free hand. She tripped, but caught herself before she spilled the stack. As she made her way out the door, I wondered if [...]
I recently presented an infographic learning session using Google+ Hangouts on Air. While I’ve scheduled virtual learning sessions through my affinity group and another organization in the past, registration numbers for these events have usually topped out around 70. But this event grew to almost 160 registrants. In order to understand why, I conducted a [...]
I recently gave a presentation and created an infographic that shared what I learned about conducting a financial analysis of a nonprofit. I passed out copies of the infographic for those that couldn’t make the initial presentation, but realized they could have benefited from more than what was shared on the page. Was there a [...]
You’ve probably heard of Google+ Hangout and perhaps even used it to connect with family and friends over the holidays. But have you thought about the uses it could have for foundation staff and grantees?
I started thinking about the possibilities after using Google+ Hangout for a team project and a virtual meeting. I’ve created a [...]
If you’re a busy professional, you may be interested in locating apps that can help you be more effective. But with more than 700,000 apps currently available in Google Play, finding the right ones to install on your Android phone can be difficult. With that being said, here are five free apps I’d like to [...]
While at a food court for a late bite to eat, I overheard other diners talking about a young woman who had her unattended phone stolen. While some privately chided her for leaving it unattended, I started to think about how common it is for others to run into a similar situation. As a result, [...]
Have you ever had to present a large amount of data to time-crunched colleagues? Instead of using tables or spreadsheets, think about using an infographic to tell your story. An infographic is a visual representation of data or information. Instead of making your audience do lots of reading or comb through tables full of numbers, [...]
I recently had an eye-opening experience that helped me realize that many organizations promote their content but do nothing to ensure that it is being utilized appropriately. While some nonprofits allow others to make use of their content with proper attribution, some content users decide to make use of content inappropriately. Specifically, I am referring [...]
As a grantmaker, you may be familiar with the usual measures of impact for a program that you have helped fund. But have you ever thought about measuring the impact of the publications that may be produced as a result of your program work? If you are interested in learning more about measuring the spread [...]
As the current chair and webmaster for an affinity group, I decided to create a Flash-based website because I believed it would be more aesthetically pleasing than a site coded in regular HTML. I have been pleased with the results, but recently found out that Android’s new mobile operating system, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), would [...]
I recently attended a conference and between brochures, pamphlets, and folders, I amassed quite a bit of print material. Upon viewing the stack, I wondered: Why does information transfer require so much paper? For those who are interested in going green for their own events, here are four ideas to cut down on the paper [...]
In: Media and Technology| Philanthropy| Professional Development
5 Jun 2012I recently had the opportunity to connect with several young nonprofit professionals at a lunch meeting. After learning about issues several were facing that ended up complicating work with grantees, I immediately suggested several free technology tools that could streamline their current work.
Here are five tools that could help you connect better with [...]
In: Administration| Legal
5 Mar 2012As a librarian, one of the services I provide is digital content procurement and licensing. Part of that process is negotiating the most beneficial terms of use for the organization. Sometimes, however, there are terms that a vendor just won’t budge on, which means giving staff members news they may not want to hear. Even [...]
Based on what I’ve witnessed, many nonprofit and philanthropic professionals are lax in paying attention to copyright because they assume their nonprofit status allows them to use materials any way they see fit. The problem isn’t just respecting copyright for printed materials like articles, book chapters, and images. The problem extends to showing documentaries and [...]
As a librarian, some of the clients I deal with come to me because they know what they want but just can’t find it. Then there are those who never truly understood their information need in the first place. A while back, I was forwarded a question from someone interested in making their company an [...]
Have you ever had a tough information problem you didn’t think you could solve? As a librarian, I am on the receiving end of other people’s information problems and am usually able to find the solution quickly. But every so often I come across a real challenge. One request stands out in my mind. It [...]
As an information expert, I see several common information hurdles that my clients come across that prohibit their ability to access information. Here are four solutions that can improve your information experience:
1. Information Hurdle: I can’t access an article because it doesn’t look like it’s available online anymore.
Solution: You can sometimes access items by checking [...]
With so much information produced daily, foundation professionals are facing information overload. Search engines can deliver more than a million results, but they are not always authoritative or relevant. So how can you search smarter and not harder? Below are four tools and tips that can help you save time and money.
1. WorldCat
A catalog of [...]
Each foundation creates and gathers numerous documents a day, many of which are grantee reports or lessons learned from grant experiences. They are often stored in information systems, repositories, and intranets, but once stored, they are often hard to find-especially by new employees who may know very little about past projects. Lessons that can improve [...]