Group items tagged

First, when people talk about capacity building, it ironically seems to be about larger organizations that have some of what one of my colleagues calls “Prerequisite Capacity,” t

Second, I’m glad the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in capacity building is starting to be recognized and talked about. However, there is still a long way to go.

Third, I am astounded by our sector’s ability to overthink and overcomplicate things while ignoring the obvious.

the first thing 70 percent of people do when looking for local businesses is fire up their browsers and head online to do a search.

every single day, more and more of the world is online, and as that trend continues the internet is becoming our de facto first choice of where to go to find things, whether that means the closest deli to our apartment, a quality used car, or someone to fill the position that just opened up at our company.

Computer Grading The approach led him to his biggest triumph to date. The challenge was to write a program that could automatically and reliably evaluate student essays -- essentially a grading machine.

Testing ground. Not sure if a new meeting format or concept is the right fit for your group? Holding a pop-up meeting preview could be a great way to get early feedback on your idea before you dedicate resources to it. Maybe you could build the pop-up in a small space that’s part of another meeting that’s already scheduled to take place to save some money.

Woo them with a one-day annual meeting pop-up that highlights the best of the best

Buzz builder

place a priority on a capacity building initiative that presents itself wrapped in a bow.

use network contacts to determine whether it would be more efficient to organize a user group for network members who use the same database. Tapping the wisdom of the network can save time, aggravation, and perhaps thousands of dollars in fees for consultants to train staff or customize a new database, or to replace software that staff may simply not understand. Conversely, the network may confirm that your nonprofit is an outlier for using that particular database.

Leverage your participation in a network to learn from other nonprofit leaders.

1. Make a digital home for projects in a learning management system (LMS). This type of digital organizer is somewhat similar to the tools, such as Microsoft Sharepoint, that PMs use in the work world. For class projects, an LMS can act as a container and organizer that supports team communication and collaboration, the project calendar, assignments, polls, journals or blogs, grading, and other resources and materials. The New Tech Network of PBL-focused schools uses a proprietary LMS called Echo. Another PBL-focused platform to consider is Project Foundry. More general LMSs include Schoology, Edmodo and Google Classroom. Chalkup has a rubric builder built into it. Or, if a minimal project organizer will do, consider constructing a wiki. A simple wiki site such as Google Sites or Wikispaces might be all a class needs.