Opinion Blog
| February 9, 2010 09:00 AM |
Friending, Texting and Tweeting: Social Media and Community FoundationsLast week, I attended the Larger Community Foundations meeting in Miami, Florida, which is the annual meeting of the 35 or so largest community foundations in the United States. One of our speakers was the very provocative Dr. Lucy Bernholz of Blueprint Research and Design. As usual, she challenged us by presenting her view of the changing landscape of philanthropy and the impact it will have on community foundations in particular. One of the most dramatic changes has been the onset of social media, mobile technology, and applications (or “apps”) that allow you to do virtually anything through your mobile device. Dr. Berholz provided the following example: before the news media had reported the earthquake in Haiti, Twitter was all aflutter with the news of the quake. And by now, everyone is aware of the many millions of dollars that have been raised to date for Haiti Relief efforts via text-messaging through that little mobile device. All you have to do is punch in a few numbers, and your charitable gift is made. So, Dr. Bernholz reached out to her Twitter followers and asked a simple question: “What app would you like to see developed for use by community foundations?” Here is the link to her blog so that you can read the results: However, closer to home, I’d like to pose the question to each of you, our community of givers. What kind of app would you create for The Community Foundation? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
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| February 8, 2010 11:39 AM |
Correlations between Being a Great Teacher and Being a Great NonprofitWhen my colleagues discuss nonprofit organizations, often they use a variety of analogies and comparisons. Sometimes an analogy is made between a nonprofit and a hospital, often discussing the nonprofits challenges with words relating to “surgery” or at times “life support”. Sometimes they are compared to a car, comparing the various engine parts to the sections of a nonprofit. The comparison I like and most often use is comparing a nonprofit to an elementary school classroom. Having recently volunteered in my son’s Pre-K classroom I know that I could be simultaneously leading a reading group, cleaning up a mess and consoling a crying youngster. Nonprofit organizations, like a classroom, have many moving parts. I was thinking about this after I read an interesting article in the January 2010 edition of The Atlantic. The article, by Amanda Ripley, asks the central question of “What makes a great teacher?” In getting to this question, Ripley was given access to years of data compiled by the nonprofit group, Teach for America (TFA). Through this analysis, TFA came to some central characteristics that make up a great teacher. They concluded that great teachers: • Set big goals for their students. When I looked at these characteristics I began thinking about the earlier classroom analogy between a great teacher and a great nonprofit. My thoughts on the comparisons, using additional analogies, are: • Most nonprofit have lofty dreams. The difference between these nonprofits and great ones is that a great nonprofit’s mission and vision should remain lofty but its closely related goals are realistic and attainable. Many nonprofits often drive in circles toward what they believe is a goal, but really are endlessly driving around that lofty dream. • Great nonprofits know that their march toward mission effectiveness is a constant working of a muscle, often adding a weight to the bar or altering a routine to reach their potential. Often times ambitious nonprofits approach effectiveness like an audit, performing a Jiffy Lube exercise of creating and monitoring checklists to reach “effectiveness”. Great nonprofits know their dashboard is on a moving trajectory that they are constantly working toward. • Great nonprofits create an environment in which multiple players all have parts in their symphony, each one important. Many nonprofits have conditioned themselves to believe that real participation into their success is to involve clients and partners in an obligatory bit role, ranging in activities like providing a feedback box for staff or having client representation on an executive or board committee. Great nonprofits know that client and partner interaction needs to be intertwined into the operational fabric of the organization. • Great organizations are experts at saying the word “No”. “No” to Requests for Proposals that don’t meet the mission, “No” to a board member’s ambition that could take the organization astray, “No” to staff working from their own agenda, “No” to partners wishing to collaborate solely to obtain a resource. While you may think that the word “No” creates an unmotivated environment, it’s actually the opposite in a great nonprofit. The loud roar of the “Yes” significantly drowns out the diminishing whisper of the “No”. • An easy test I often use when looking at an organization is to see if the threads of planning at the top reach the day-to-day work in the middle or at the bottom. Successful nonprofit organizations are able to plan and create mechanisms to monitor planning throughout the organization. Try this exercise: Grab an organization’s strategic plan, the ED’s most recent report to the board, the job description of a middle manager and that middle manager’s latest performance review. Can you see some symmetry? Poor organizations have little, average organizations have some and great nonprofits have a lot. • Great nonprofits also say “No” to barriers that prevent them from mission success. “No” to political roadblocks that may shut them out, “No” to technological forces that challenge them to connect and “No” to resource inflows that could be narrowing. Like great teachers, great nonprofits are “relentless” and “refuse to surrender”. This is what I like to call “Third Sector Grit” and is what makes the nonprofit world so great. While I know that the classroom also has aspects that are different from a nonprofit, I do see a very close relationship to what TFA regards as a great teacher to what I regard as a great nonprofit.
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| February 8, 2010 09:19 AM |
Recession Pushing Nonprofits Back to BasicsDespite the flood of giving for relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake, reports on the giving sector underscore the need for nonprofits to get their shops in order and focus on the fundamentals of doing business. Giving continues to decline. Echoing an ongoing downward trend in the charitable marketplace, a new study last week by the Council for Aid to Education reported a decline of 11.9 percent in charitable contributions to colleges and universities in the U.S. And Dunham+Company, a consultant to Christian ministries, found in a recent survey that, despite a decline in the share of households that are spending less on monthly bills and entertainment, 37 percent of households expect to continue reducing their charitable donations. And nearly one in four households have eliminated donations altogether, statistically the same as last year. Experts on nonprofits and fundraising continue to urge organizations to take stock of their operations and programs, get their boards more involved in fundraising and strategic planning, and give personalized attention to givers and get them involved in their organizations. This focus on basics requires leadership at the staff and board levels. And leadership requires thinking big, asking questions and listening, telling stories that are authentic and compelling, and investing strategically. A new study, Creative Disruption: Sabbaticals for Capacity Building and Leadership Development in the Nonprofit Sector, finds that sabbaticals can be “a relatively inexpensive but highly productive-building tool that yields measurable results.” The recession is a time to take a hard look at business as usual, fix or eliminate what is not working, and build on what is working. Now more than ever, nonprofits must be willing to invest in working smarter.
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| February 5, 2010 12:12 PM |
28 Days of Black Nonprofit Leaders: Emmett CarsonThis post is part of a special series by Rosetta Thurman entitled “28 Days of Black Nonprofit Leaders.” In honor of Black History Month, Rosetta will be “highlighting 28 Black nonprofit leaders who have done or are doing their part to make our world a bit better, a bit more hopeful for the generations that will come.” In her introduction to the series on her blog, Rosetta writes, “I love Black History Month because it reminds me of how far we still have to go in this country in terms of race relations and giving everyone a fair chance to take part in the “American Dream.” How far we still have to go before Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of social justice and economic opportunity for everyone will be realized. Fortunately, there are countless leaders out there who are continuing to address so many aspects of social change.” The SSIR is proud to publish some of their stories.
From the Silicon Valley Community Foundation website: Hired in 2006 to establish a new, regional community foundation from the unprecedented merger of Peninsula Community Foundation and Community Foundation Silicon Valley, Emmett is responsible for providing the vision for one of the largest community foundations in the United States with assets of $1.7 billion. Before coming to Silicon Valley, Emmett served as president and CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation for 12 years. During his tenure, the foundation received national recognition for its grantmaking in the areas of housing, immigration and education. An inspiring public speaker, Emmett has devoted his career to being a catalyst for positive social change and has authored more than 100 works on philanthropy and social justice. He served as the first manager of the Ford Foundation’s worldwide grantmaking program on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector and his seminal work on African American giving and volunteering at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is widely seen as helping to spark broad public interest in ethnic philanthropy studies. In addition to serving on numerous nonprofit boards, he has conducted workshops on endowment building for nongovernmental organizations in southern Africa and participated in international efforts to develop best practices within the field of philanthropy. He has received numerous awards, including honorary degrees from Indiana University, Morehouse College and The National Hispanic University. A native of Chicago, Emmett received both his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in public and international affairs from Princeton University and his bachelor’s degree in economics, Phi Beta Kappa, from Morehouse College. He is married to Jacqueline Copeland-Carson, Ph.D. See also: Emmett’s 2007 Interview with the Stanford Social Innovation Review See also: Emmett’s 2006 Interview with the Foundation Center Photo credit: Silicon Valley Community Foundation
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| February 4, 2010 01:59 PM |
The Effects of Joining the ConversationIt’s not a surprise to any of us that social media is changing the way our organizations work, not just communicate. The lessons in social media are especially important for organizations working with the public, whether it’s public service or opinion. The Hatcher Group, a Maryland-based public affairs and communications firm, released a great report this past fall called New Media & Social Change: How Nonprofits are Using Web-based Technologies to Reach Their Goals (PDF). Despite the generic title, this is a report chock full of examples, best practices and data about the effects of joining the conversation online. The 30 participating organizations in the report are members of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a group of independent, nonprofits with a shared commitment to responsible budget and tax policies. As such, it’s easy to identify some of the goals these organizations have for using social media, including: engaging with and even influencing the general [voting] public, influencing news, engaging with and influencing politicians and legislation, and sharing data, information or viewpoints. Social media is a prominent social gathering place where these goals can definitely be met. Joining the conversation is incredibly important if these organizations expect to change policy and change minds. Joining the conversation really means conversations. It’s not just a phrase or some insider lingo, when I recommend organizations join the conversation, I mean just that! People are talking online and the best way to influence what they are saying or how they are thinking about issues is to talk with them. The survey found that blogging and blog outreach was the most popular social media choice.
Many groups included in the report maintained blogs (either on their own site or elsewhere), but what the numbers above (and the effects listed below) indicate is that you don’t necessarily have to create your own blog to join the conversation. It’s already happening, so go there! Being an active member of the conversation pays off.
Real-time is just as important. Over half of the organizations surveyed reported that they do not use Twitter and do not intend to, with only 24% reporting use of the tool. This is a huge missed opportunity to influence public opinion, participate in the conversation, attract attention from journalists and policy makers, and more. Twitter is part of the real-time Web, meaning it enables people to communicate, share information, spread news, and distribute links in “real-time” as it happens. As more and more people join the micro-blogging platform Twitter, it becomes an even more relevant tool for organizations working on impacting legislation and connecting with voters. It’s true that with blogs, there’s a bit more time for responses to be prepared (and even approved internally) before posting. But, that should not stop organizations joining Twitter and empowering staff to leverage organizational talking points, resources and research to better information the conversations there.
What do you think? How has your organization joined the conversation online? Are there any tools or techniques in particular that have helped you find or contribute to the conversations taking place across the web? (Download the full report in PDF: New Media & Social Change: How Nonprofits are Using Web-based Technologies to Reach Their Goals)
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| February 4, 2010 10:01 AM |
A Conscientious Cleaning Service On A MissionI was waiting for the 14-Mission bus in downtown San Francisco the other day, and when it pulled up to the stop, something (aside from the woman who stepped off cuddling a chinchilla) caught my eye. The ad on the side of the bus was one I hadn’t seen before. “If cleanliness is next to godliness, then La Colectiva are angels” read the tagline, above which a group of five Latina women stood posing proudly—hands on hips or arms crossed—in a living room.
In 2007, SSIR published an article called “Unselling Meth,” which details how the Montana Meth Project uses consumer-marketing techniques—primarily a very graphic ad campaign—to fight methamphetamine abuse. Seeing this bus ad for La Colectiva reminded me a little bit of the Meth Project because La Colectiva is using its ad campaign more to sell its mission than to sell its product. La Colectiva seeks to empower immigrant women by teaching about better working conditions, effective and safe cleaning techniques (including nontoxic cleaning supplies), and worker rights. La Colectiva developed all of their messaging and strategy in close collaboration with the women themselves through a series of meetings over the past year. To date, La Colectiva has offered six “Cleaning with Safety and Dignity” trainings to a total of 120 participants. Additionally, a highlight of the year was the much-anticipated release of “Behind Closed Doors: Working Conditions of California Household Workers,” a report coauthored by the Collective with Mujeres Unidas y Activas and the DataCenter. On November 11, the day La Colectiva launched its ad campaign in San Francisco, members organized a rally where fellow advocates of worker’s rights gathered to speak about their experiences and make their mission known. Here is a video of the event, where you can see Yesenia Perez, one of La Colectiva’s members, talk about the importance of communicating “poder y esperanza”—power and hope. We are inundated daily with ads that communicate superfluous messages. I commend La Colectiva for communicating a message that is quite the opposite of that: poder y esperanza.
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| February 3, 2010 10:02 AM |
Bay Area Social Entrepreneurs Talk FundingBay Area nonprofit leaders sounded pretty optimistic and focused on growth at a breakfast gathering I attended last week, entitled “Conversations with Social Entrepreneurs: 2010 and Beyond,” sponsored by Commongood Careers and Building Movement Project. At the beginning of the three-hour gathering at a downtown hotel, James Weinberg, founder and CEO of Commongood Careers, had the group of about 50 give a two-word description of how they were feeling. Attendees, who were mostly from education and youth development nonprofits, shouted out adjectives along the lines of “cautiously optimistic,” “growing,” “opportunities ahead,” and “pumped!” The spirit in the room was energetic. Kudos to Commongood Careers and Building Movement Project for bringing social entrepreneurs together for a chance to network; with job demands it’s always tough to take the time to get together. These two organizations are holding four such breakfast events. The other three have already taken place in New York City, Boston, and Washington, DC. The purpose of the events is to discuss nonprofits’ collective opportunities and challenges as well as the role “human capital management strategies” will play in their organizations this year. Attendees are answering a brief survey on their organizations’ budgets, plans, and 2010 challenges. Survey results will be available on the Commongood Careers website in late February. Early results were handed out at our gathering – and comparisons between the Bay Area and the other three cities were intriguing. (I don’t know how statistically valid the data is but the results were fun to look at nevertheless.) Across the country, respondents said that a “significantly increased focus to secure gifts from high net worth individuals” was their number one funding goal in 2010, but the response was much higher from Bay Area nonprofits than from nonprofits in the other three cities. Also according to these preliminary results, in order of priority, after high net worth individuals, Bay Area nonprofits were going to look for corporate partners second, and foundation grants, third. In the rest of the country, all of these funding sources had about the same priority. The San Francisco gathering included a panel discussion, and several panelists echoed what the survey data showed. BUILD in particular has been successful in changing its mix of funding to have more of an emphasis on individual donors. The social entrepreneurs on the panel were Suzanne McKechnie Klahr (BUILD), Louise Davis (Peer Health Exchange), and Jill Vialet (Playworks). These three panelists kept up the enthusiasm in the room by sharing their recent impressive successes and their growth plans for 2010. The fourth panelist was Anne Marie Burgoyne (Draper Richards Foundation), who shared her insights from working with so many Draper Richards grantees (full disclosure: Draper Richards is one of the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s funders). Anne Marie commented that it didn’t surprise her that Bay Area nonprofits had a higher focus on pursuing individual donors given the wealth in the region. She also noted that she has seen that foundations are pulling back and choosing to fund what’s safe. As for corporate funding, Anne Marie said she is observing more partnerships and fewer dollars. She ended by encouraged nonprofits to pass by the “shiny pennies” on the road and stay focused on mission and their organizations’ strengths. Overall, James noted several surprises he had from the survey: that most nonprofits expected their budget and program levels would expand this year and that government was fairly low on the list as a source of funding. How about your organization? Do you plan to grow your budget and programs this year? What funding balance are you aiming for (looking at individual donors, corporate funding, foundation grants, and government support) and has that balance shifted this year? Is the Bay Area a funding anomaly?
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| February 3, 2010 09:12 AM |
28 Days of Black Nonprofit Leaders: Erica HuntThis post is part of a special series by Rosetta Thurman entitled “28 Days of Black Nonprofit Leaders.” In honor of Black History Month, Rosetta will be “highlighting 28 Black nonprofit leaders who have done or are doing their part to make our world a bit better, a bit more hopeful for the generations that will come.” In her introduction to the series on her blog, Rosetta writes, “I love Black History Month because it reminds me of how far we still have to go in this country in terms of race relations and giving everyone a fair chance to take part in the “American Dream.” How far we still have to go before Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of social justice and economic opportunity for everyone will be realized. Fortunately, there are countless leaders out there who are continuing to address so many aspects of social change.” The SSIR is proud to publish some of their stories.
From the Twenty-First Century Foundation website: Erica Hunt, a leading expert on Black social justice and economic issues, was a Senior Program Officer with the New World Foundation, before joining 21CF in 1998 where she has led new work in the field of Black philanthropy. During her tenure, 21CF has sought to strengthen Black giving and community-based philanthropy through donor education; grant making through donor-advised funds and special national initiatives; and applied research to document trends in Black philanthropy and community impact. Under her supervision, 21CF has grown from an all volunteer organization, to a premier national $8 million public foundation. Hunt holds a B.A. in Literature from San Francisco State University, and is a past Fellow in the Duke University/University of Cape Town Center for Leadership and Public Values. She currently serves as a participant to Diversity and Effectiveness in Philanthropy; the International Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace; and Rye Collaborative National Progressive Foundations. Her past professional leadership affiliations include: the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers; National Center for Black Philanthropy, and the Coalition for New Philanthropy. Hunt, a published author of numerous articles and essays on Black philanthropy, was the 2008 recipient of Spelman College’s award for National Community Service. From the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania: Erica Hunt works at the forefront of experimental poetry and poetics, critical race theory, and feminist aesthetics. She has written three books of poetry: Arcade, with artist Alison Saar, Piece Logic, and Local History (Roof Books, 1993). Her published and forthcoming essays include “Notes for an Oppositional Poetics” (The Politics of Poetic Form,, ed. Charles Bernstein), “Parabolay” (Boundary 2), and “Roots of the Black Avant Garde” (Tripwire, forthcoming). Hunt’s poems can be found in Moving Borders: Three Decades of Innovative Writing by Women (ed. Mary Margaret Sloan), Iowa Poetry Review, and the Virago Anthology of Women’s Love Poetry. Hunt has also worked as a housing organizer, radio producer, poetry teacher, and program officer for a social justice campaign. She is currently president of The Twenty-First Century Foundation which supports organizations addressing root causes of social injustice impacting the Black community. See also: A complete audio archive of Erica Hunt reading her poetry hosted on the PennSound website Photo credit: BMoreNews.com
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| February 1, 2010 09:37 AM |
Stop What You Are Doing Right Now and Donate to Idealist.orgHow did you find your first nonprofit job? For many of us, there’s only one answer to that question: Idealist.org. Like many of you, I found my very first full-time nonprofit job on their website. And it was the perfect job for me in the beginning of my nonprofit career. I remember it like it was yesterday… I had recently graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in English that people said would never make me any money. They were partly right. I had already been working in the nonprofit field for almost three years on a volunteer or part-time basis for very little pay. I had no idea whether I could even find a full-time job that wouldn’t leave me homeless since the luxury of financial aid was long gone. My apprehension was heightened because I had also chosen to relocate from Richmond, Virginia, where I went to school – to Washington, DC, where all the nonprofits were, according to my professors. I had no friends in DC and no money. All I knew was that I wanted a job in the nonprofit sector. My first attempt had been to go through a temp agency where I landed a great administrative position at the United Way, but it just wasn’t the perfect fit for me. So, I left after just a few months. I continued my search for the perfect nonprofit position. But, in the meantime, I needed money. I had an expensive apartment on the outskirts of DC. So, then I did a six-month stint at a District Court in Virginia as a Deputy Clerk. I figured I could put my minor in pre-law to use. The job sounded fancy, but all it meant was that I was supposed to process all the paperwork to keep the bad guys in jail. It was good money for me at the time, plus I had benefits. I’d never had a job with benefits before. But, then I started to get into trouble. People were being charged with crimes they couldn’t even understand because they couldn’t speak English. So, I spent my time running around trying to get them interpreters. I thought it was fair. I thought it was how the justice system should work. But apparently, that wasn’t my job. My job was not to help people have a fair trial. It was to process them and make sure they got into the right jail. That’s when I knew I could never work in the legal system. Especially for the bureaucratic government. Eventually my boss at the District Court gave me two weeks to either shape up or ship out. I said my goodbyes, then went online and started applying for nonprofit jobs on Idealist.org. I don’t even remember how I found out about Idealist. Maybe from one of my professors. Maybe through a simple Google search. What happened next is that I found an open position with an organization in DC that worked with youth-serving organizations in communities of color, specifically the Black community. I had volunteered with African American youth in college. I cared deeply about people of color and how nonprofits could serve us. This was perfect for me. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted this job. They didn’t even call me until a month after I had applied! All of a sudden, I had an interview with them at 2:00pm. I got lost on the way there because I still hadn’t figured out the DC Metro system. I was late. I thought I’d blown it. I thought I’d have to go crawling back to the District Court. But then they called to offer me the job at 5:00pm that same day. And the rest, as they say, is history. Thank you Idealist.org for connecting me with my perfect nonprofit job. It started me on a path to even more connections and even more opportunities to contribute to my community through nonprofit work. That’s why I opened my wallet and made a donation this morning. If not for the great folks that put the Idealist website together, that maintain the content, that run the organization – those career connections could not have happened for me. I know that many of you have similar stories. And I hope you will share them in the comments! In the meantime, here are several reasons why you should open your wallet and donate, too: If you’ve ever found a nonprofit opportunity through Idealist – job, volunteer, board: If you’re currently looking for a nonprofit job: If your organization has hired or plans to hire an awesome new nonprofit employee: If you can’t imagine who or what could possibly take the place of Idealist: Please also share Ami Dar’s note below with your friends, especially all of your friends who have benefited from this amazing organization. This is one of those times where we may only have one chance to help save one of the cornerstones of the nonprofit sector. When I talk to young people, they always mention Idealist.org as the way they connected to the nonprofit field. And we desperately need these new leaders to continue coming into our organizations and breathing new life into the work of social change. We can’t let Idealist go down like this. We need them. And now, they need us.
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| February 1, 2010 09:15 AM |
Haiti Relief Underscores Deeper NeedsWhile Americans quickly dug deep to support relief efforts in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, the outpouring of generosity also serves as a troubling reminder of our ongoing failure to better address social and global needs that are urgent, persistent and deeply rooted. Just as they did after 9/11, Katrina and the Asian tsunamis, individuals, companies and foundations after the Haiti quake have done what Americans do best in times of crisis: They got involved and gave. What we often seem to forget, however, is that we face a perpetual crisis, one the recession simply has deepened. At home and abroad, millions are hungry, homeless, in poor health, impoverished, illiterate, and subjected to violence and intolerance. The giving sector exists in large part to address the problems vulnerable populations face. But among the nearly one million charities in the U.S., many struggle with limited resources and big operating challenges. Individuals, foundations and companies in the U.S. give over $300 billion a year to support charities, and often give more after horrific events like the quake in Haiti. But the charitable marketplace has changed dramatically in recent years in the wake of financial and ethical scandals and the collapse of the economy. Many foundations and corporations have narrowed the focus of their giving, and are demanding more business-like operations from charities seeking support. Those funders want nonprofits to be more strategic, set measurable goals, create clear metrics to gauge their impact and effectiveness, and make their staffs and boards more diverse and inclusive. These all are important goals: To address critical needs, nonprofits must be able to sustain themselves financially and engage the thinking and know-how of the full spectrum of people and institutions with a stake in making our communities better places to live and work. But in placing greater demands on charities and ratcheting up expectations for how they perform, many funders seem to be in denial about the investment charities need to meet those demands and expectations. Most charities are small, community-based groups with limited resources. Their boards often are not willing to raise money or set a vision and direction for the organization, and typically are not even aware those are key responsibilities of their board role. The recession has increased demand for services from charities and reduced the dollars available to them in what has become a fiercely competitive charitable marketplace. And foundations and corporations typically will not support charitable operations, preferring to fund special projects and address particular needs in sync with their mission or business goals. So while they expect charities to be more enterprising, efficient, effective and strategic, funders are not willing to make the significant investment charities need to improve the way they do business. After the Haiti earthquake, savvy charities used social-media strategies like text-messaging to raise a lot of money quickly. Aiding that effort was massive coverage by mass media that used the power of images and technology to communicate both the intimacy and the massive scale of devastation in a nation long ground down by poverty. Yet while they are quick to provide wall-to-wall coverage of horrific disasters in their immediate wake, the media fail to tell the ongoing story of the relentless toll poverty takes throughout America and the world. And while nonprofits serve on the front lines in the fight against poverty, their limited resources make it tough for them to more effectively tell their story to the mass audience mass media can reach. Nonprofits need all the help they can get, including greater understanding and flexibility among foundations and corporations that control charitable resources nonprofits can use to do a better job running their organizations, serving people in need, and telling their stories to engage more people in their cause.
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Terri Freeman is the President of 
Todd Cohen, a veteran news reporter and editor, is editor and publisher of 
Dr. Emmett Carson is the founding CEO and president of 
Rosetta Thurman is a writer, speaker, professor and consultant working and living in the Washington, D.C. area. She holds a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management and blogs about nonprofits, leadership and social change at 
Amy Sample Ward’s passion for nonprofit technology has lead her to involvement with 
Upon doing a little bit of Internet research, I found that 
Loreal Lynch joined the Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2007 as the publishing associate. She manages the SSIR Web site, blog, and social media outlets. She lives in San Francisco and received a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Tufts University.
Ms. Ridley joined the Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2006 as publishing director. Previously she was group president at CMP Media, where she ran a division of technology publications, events, and websites. Ridley is also founder and board chair of Friends of Timboni Feeder School, a nonprofit that supports a K-5 school in Kenya. She holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Connecticut and a Masters in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
If you run in social justice philanthropy circles, you’ve probably heard of Erica Hunt, President of the Twenty-First Century Foundation in New York. What you may NOT know is that Erica Hunt is also a marvelous poet. A woman after my own English major, free verse-loving heart.