Articles by CharityChannel Members
CharityChannel members who have years of experience in their field may apply to join a Contributor's Panel. Once accepted to a panel by the panel's editor, the member will work with the editor to determine article topics and to prepare an article that is ready for publication. With tens of thousands of colleagues in the CharityChannel professional community, this is a key opportunity to give back to your profession by sharing your hard-won expertise and wisdom.
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Community Engagement and Governance – Part 2 Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, March 27, 2013 (48 days ago)
Community engagement has power. It can transform neighborhoods, ignite relationships, catalyze action, and unite communities and organizations behind a common goal. This two-part article presents advice for nonprofit boards interested in effective community engagement. In the first part, we defined community engagement and considered some principles boards can use to guide their efforts for community engagement successfully. This second part of the article discusses some of the conditions that make the processes designed for community engagement more effective.
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Community Engagement and Governance – Part 1 Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, March 13, 2013 (62 days ago)
This two-part article presents advice for nonprofit boards interested in effective community engagement. This first part defines community engagement and considers some principles boards can use to guide their efforts for community engagement successfully.
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Different Process, Different Results Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, July 13, 2011 (1 years 306 days ago)
This article explores multiple collective impact initiatives and looks to find the common ground, or best practices, in collective impact efforts designed to help multiple organizations work together to achieve an outcome greater than any one organization could create by themselves.
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Collective Leadership and Shared Governance: A New Approach to Increasing the Impact of Foundation Investments Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, June 29, 2011 (1 years 320 days ago)
In 2009, the board of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) began the process of rethinking the way the foundation granted its unrestricted funds. Two years later, the community foundation has changed its funding model. It has moved entirely away from its traditional model of funding small amounts to individual organizations. Its new model is focused instead on building and funding multi-organization teams that are working together on a system change goal. This is the story of the process.
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The Key Ingredients to Organizational Effectiveness and High Impact Results, Part 2 Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, August 26, 2009 (3 years 262 days ago)
Part 1 of this article covered the key findings from the books
Built to Last and
Good to Great on organizational effectiveness. Part 2 summarizes the findings from
Forces for Good by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, reviews key findings from the article "The Networked Nonprofit" by Jane Wei-Skillern and Sonia Marciano, and synthesizes the collective findings. These findings inform best practice for Executive Directors and Boards of Directors in the social sector.
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The Key Ingredients to Organizational Effectiveness and High Impact Results, Part 1 Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, August 12, 2009 (3 years 276 days ago)
The following article is the first part of a two-part article. These articles synthesize the research findings on best practices which lead to organizational effectiveness and exceptional results. This research is widely read in the social sector. Their findings when examined together provide a recipe for organizational effectiveness and high impact results, and thus the key ingredients for the leaders of organizations in the social sector.
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Strengths Based Approaches to Change and Everything Else Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, December 24, 2008 (4 years 142 days ago)
Ever heard of strengths based approaches to change? If you are on a nonprofit Board of Directors or an Executive Director -- you can use strengths based approaches with your leadership team, staff, volunteers and clients. This article describes what strengths based approaches are, how they are different from traditional approaches, and the benefits of using them.
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What Does it Take to Turn a Good Idea into Good Outcomes? Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, December 17, 2008 (4 years 149 days ago)
Every call for proposal or request for proposals asks for good ideas, innovative ways to create desired outcomes. Every proposal that is submitted to a funder outlines what the applicant thinks is a good idea and a description of how the organization plans to implement that good idea. So, what percent of good ideas actually become good outcomes? Would you be surprised to find out that research has found that only 10-30% of good ideas become good outcomes? Are you interested in finding out more about what your organization can do to increase the odds?
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Think you can’t do anything without a grant? Think again. Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, November 05, 2008 (4 years 191 days ago)
Traditional approaches to collaboration can look like this. “We want to work together, and we can only do something if we get a grant. Let’s develop a list of things to do if we had a grant and try to find a grant to do them.” What if by focusing on this approach, you miss out on all the things that you could do without a grant, with existing resources, things that are sustainable?
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Grant Costs: Are they worth it? Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, June 04, 2008 (4 years 345 days ago)
Almost all grants require organizations that receive them to spend MORE money to implement the project or program -- than they are receiving. Sometimes the amount that an organization needs to spend in addition to the amount of the grant they are awarded - is very large. The opportunity costs, what they could have done with those resources if allocated differently, is very costly to the long term stability, growth, and sustainability of the organization.
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Partnering for High Impact - Part 2 of 2 Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillSaturday, February 02, 2008 (5 years 103 days ago)
Part 1 of this article discussed recent research findings which showed that partnering outside organizational boundaries led to increased impact for nonprofit organizations. In Part 2, we explore the skills necessary to promote, nurture, and sustain high-impact partnerships, and how nonprofit boards and executive directors can increase proficiency in these skills.
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Partnering for High Impact - Part 1 of 2 Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, December 12, 2007 (5 years 155 days ago)
Do you want to increase the impact of your nonprofit organization? What if the way to do this was through developing powerful relationships with individuals and organizations outside of your own? Part 1 of this article will explore recent research by Heather McLeod Grant and Leslie R. Crutchfield on the key practices used by high-impact nonprofit organizations. Part 2 will explore the skills necessary to develop and sustain powerful partnerships that result in high impact. Are you asking yourself what can we
only do together that we can’t do alone? If not, now may be a good time to start.
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Sustainability: More than a fiction writing contest Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, November 07, 2007 (5 years 190 days ago)
What does sustainability mean? If you are writing a grant, there is usually a sustainability section, where you are asked to describe how the new program you are requesting funds for will be continued after the grant ends. The reality is that new programs started with grant funds are almost never continued when the grant ends. This is because funders only want to fund new programs. However, what most grant proposals include in the sustainability section, is a list of the foundations the organization plans to submit grants to in order to continue the proposed program. What if sustainability was more than a fiction writing contest, what if funding was directed to activities that would result in lasting change and not require more money after the grant ended? Why are funders only interested in funding new programs that there is no way to continue?
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SOAR don't SWOT: Asset Based Strategic Planning Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, June 13, 2007 (5 years 337 days ago)
Are you feeling frustrated with conventional strategic planning processes? Do you feel like you are wasting your time and that of other board members and staff? Interested in an alternative that generates enthusiasm, creates positive momentum, and propels your organization toward a brighter future?
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Do Your Budget First Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, June 06, 2007 (5 years 344 days ago)
When thinking about applying for a grant the first question to ask yourself is, “Are we eligible?” If yes, the second question should be, “Is there a matching funds requirement?” If so, “Is it cash or in-kind, and can we come up with it?” If not, do not proceed.
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What is most important in getting a grant funded? Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, May 23, 2007 (5 years 358 days ago)
Ask ten people that work for non profit agencies and they’ll probably say write a good grant. If you ask 10 funders they will probably say the same thing. In fact, I was at an applicant workshop with the federal agency staff and individuals from organizations seeking funding. This agency had a history of funding four year colleges over community colleges. There were many questions from community colleges about this and why more community colleges weren’t funded. At one point, a man that worked for this federal agency screamed to the audience “Write better grants!”
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What is a Purple Cow and What Does it Have to Do with Nonprofits? Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, April 11, 2007 (6 years 35 days ago)
In Seth Godin’s book
Purple Cow, he states the case that businesses can no longer rely solely on good marketing to be successful. He talks about how once that was true, but not anymore. Today, businesses need to be remarkable to be successful. The marketplace is filled with brown cows, and the only way to stand out is to be a purple cow. He talks about how to be remarkable, and why more companies aren’t doing it.
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What is a Purple Cow and What Does it Have to Do with Nonprofits? Contributed by:
Cassandra O'NeillWednesday, April 11, 2007 (6 years 35 days ago)
In Seth Godin’s book
Purple Cow, he states the case that businesses can no longer rely solely on good marketing to be successful. He talks about how once that was true, but not anymore. Today, businesses need to be remarkable to be successful. The marketplace is filled with brown cows, and the only way to stand out is to be a purple
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CharityChannel Press is the publishing project of the CharityChannel professional community. In this blogging feature, the authors and editors of our books and manuals share their thoughts, ideas, insights, and advice on topics of interest to busy practitioners. Reading their blogs is a great way to get to know them and to learn about their latest books and manuals. Be sure to jump in and add your comment to blog postings.
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