Natalia Castaneda's blog

On Networks... read more »

• Networks accumulate power based on their breadth of reach in every direction, inciting complexity and fluidity.  It is difficult, sometimes, to look at a network and wonder if it is not a “random field of chaos,” but while networks do not play by the rules (they can’t because they are cumulative and self-organizing) there are laws that networks abide by.  Networkweaving blog looks at the four key components of networks and devises formulas for how to achieve each of these.  The four components are: luck, innovation, influence and network growth.

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On Nonprofit Collaboration...

• The objection to nonprofit collaboration has always been that “we’re all competing for a limited pool of resources.”  This is true, Debra Askanase of the Community Organizer 2.0 blog states, but it is also true that cooperation makes that pool larger; collaboration brings in more traffic, clients and funding sources which benefits nonprofits and their causes.  We are in a new world in which coopetition (cooperative competition) is becoming the norm.

On Evaluation... read more »

• Donors looking to make donations to non-profit organizations have recently been encouraged to look at program evaluation in order to measure the organization’s impact rather than looking at financial ratios.  However, PhilanTopic publishes a post explaining that while it is true that program evaluation is important, financial evaluation is important as well.  An organization’s financial stability, its ability to service any debt it has and how much money it has raised in excess of expenses can be learned from financial evaluation; all of these should be important factors for donors when deciding which organization they would like to donate to.

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On Nonprofits and Haiti... read more »

• The Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania publishes an article explaining how donors can most effectively help in Haiti.  The Center has created a chart documenting the phases of effective philanthropic support and they offer tips to donors about what to look for in different charities.  Donors should focus on organizations that have a large impact rather than those that place emphasis on not spending money on overhead and  they should look at nonprofits that have the capabilities to have a large impact.  They also offer a list of charities that they believe have those capabilities.

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On Disaster Relief… read more »

• The tragic earthquake in Haiti has sparked debate about the best way to provide relief.  Philantopic publishes a blog post suggesting that the U.S. should create some sort of a joint appeal that would “manage a coordinated fundraising campaign for a specific emergency.”  Donations would be collected by a central committee and then would be distributed to organizations which could make the best use of them at the time.
• Rosetta Thurman offers ways that the philanthropic community can help in Haiti.  She includes things that we should do (mobile giving) and that we should not do (collect canned goods).

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On Evaluation... read more »

• There has been a debate recently about whether it is more effective to evaluate non-profit organizations on an individual basis or whether it is better to evaluate overall community impact (meaning the measurement would reflect the work of multiple nonprofits, community organizations, etc.).  There is a general consensus that while measuring overall community impact is more important, it is also more difficult to measure.  In her blog, Heather Carpenter  adds that when researches and consultants study evaluation and impact within nonprofits, it is important that they use evaluation tools that the nonprofits can use themselves.  This, she says, is the first step to conducting larger, community-wide impact studies.

 On Reflections and Values... read more »

• The end of the year should be used as a time to reflect on both our lives and our work.  We should especially look at the meaning of our work and the values that support it.  A post by Fast Company suggests the concept of UBUNTU, used in South Africa, which translates to mean “a person is only a person through other persons.”  Our core values, then, are reflected through our relationships with other people, revealing our "human-ness."  The blog challenges people to examine and reflect on their work and values through this lens.
• Interaction Institure for Social Change publishes a post about a new project Seth Godin has put together.  His project involved asking people “What Matters Now?” and putting the responses together in an e-book.  Each person took a single word and wrote a short piece about how that word related to their past and future work.  Examples of the inspiring words are "meaning," "enrichment" and "sleep."

At a recent Bay Area Learning Circle facilitated by Claire Reinelt, LLC’s Evaluation and Research Director, we convened a group of local LLC members to discuss some of the challenges and successes they have seen in their areas of work, in relationship to collective and networked leadership.  As I listened closely to the participants, I was struck by the various struggles they face, particularly around defining and articulating ‘successes’, and evaluating the impact of their efforts – not only to respond to funders’ demands but also to internal demands. read more »

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On Social Impact and Investment... read more »

• A new initiative, Social Impact Exchange, from Growth Philanthropy Network and Duke University has been launched.  Social Impact Exchange is a “focal point for studying, funding and implementing large expansions of proven social purpose organizations.”  It offers an “investment clearinghouse” of the most effective nonprofit organizations.  Sean Stannard-Stockton, of Tactical Philanthropy, comments on the Clearinghouse and how it is similar to the stock exchange; the most relevant aspect of the stock market which also applies to philanthropy, he says, is that the stock market has certain ongoing requirements that organizations must adhere to.