“The number one rule: Don’t collaborate unless you have to.” Willa Seldon, a consultant at Bridgespan, got some laughs at the 2013 Nonprofit Management Institute, but gives some pointers on successful collaboration and how to productively evaluate common goals. To support her viewpoints, she engages Stephanie Couch and Carolyn Nelson, two experienced collaborators who provide insights on their own collaborative work with communities. Nelson and Couch explain how the personal connections that community members offer lead to great outcomes. The panel highlights how creating a shared culture can bypass disagreements and cultural differences to generate results.

Willa Seldon has extensive experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit worlds. After seven years of being a director at AirTouch Communications, a multi-billion dollar wireless communications company, Seldon co-founded Milepost, a venture capital firm investing in women entrepreneurs. Seldon has since held top positions in the nonprofit sector as Executive Director of Tides Center and CEO of the Glide Foundation. She currently shares her multi-sector expertise as a consultant at The Bridgespan Group.

Social media can allow an organization’s supporters to use their personal influence to promote a cause. In this audio lecture from the 2013 Nonprofit Management Institute, Julie Dixon discusses different types of cause supporters—from passive online ones to offline activists—and how organizations can engage them. She argues that many potential supporters, believing that organizations want only monetary donations, may be discouraged from supporting a cause, even though they can support it in another way: through influence. Dixon cites the popularity of websites like Yelp to show that people are more likely to trust their peers’ testimony than an organization’s and that organizations should encourage their supporters to engage meaningfully on social media to spread their causes. By empowering supporters through the knowledge that they can have a real impact, organizations can tap into the often-ignored power of influence.

Julie Dixon is the Deputy Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication (CSIC). She manages the day-to-day operations of the center, including applied research, training, curriculum, partnership development, and outreach. Prior to joining the university in 2011, Julie was the Assistant Director of the Center for Social Value Creation at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Dixon completed a master’s degree in public relations, with a focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Implications for the Social Sector

Both funders and nonprofits are placing a premium on the promise of measurement and evaluation to accelerate social change. But tools like shared measurement, big data, and developmental evaluation are only powerful if they’re applied correctly. In this panel discussion, experts address how the social sector must ask the right questions when developing metrics. Alicia Grunow discusses the Carnegie Foundation’s use of improvement science to make strides in education. Hewlett Foundation representative Fay Twersky implores nonprofits to systematically solicit feedback from intended beneficiaries. Policy researcher Liesbeth Schorr underscores how the search for “certainty” stifles innovation. Presented in partnership with FSG, this panel discussion was part of the Next Generation Evaluation conference. FSG is a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in strategy, evaluation, and research.

 

Thinking about Talent

Featuring Sal Giambanco | Apr. 30, 2013 | 1 hour 20 minutes

Human capital is the most valuable asset in the social sector. Developing an effective human capital strategy enables nonprofits to grow, scale, and achieve greater impact. In this audio lecture from the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Omidyar Network partner Sal Giambanco discusses how nonprofits can create a recruiting framework and demonstrate organizational value to employees. He explains how to attract and engage an excellent team. By sharing examples from his years of coaching nonprofit executives from around the world, he explores questions such as: How do you attract the right talent to your organization? How do you enable them to be successful? How do you build a talent pipeline to engage future leaders? In this lecture, Gimabanco discusses techniques a nonprofit can use to execute a successful human capital strategy.

 

The Art of Collaborative Leadership

Featuring Akaya Windwood | Apr. 25, 2013 | 57 minutes

Good leadership requires moving across boundaries of sector, race, ideology, class, and political affiliation. Instead of competing for resources or working in isolation, leaders should reach across divides to develop healthy networks of trust and collaboration. In this audio lecture from the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Rockwood Leadership Institute president Akaya Windwood discusses how we can get movements and sectors to work together to advance the common good. She shares specific approaches and tools for leaders to step out of their comfort zones. These enable a collective effort that builds mutually beneficial relationships.

 

Partnering for Scale and Impact

Featuring Melissa Bradley | Mar. 13, 2012 | 59 minutes

 

How can partnerships help the nonprofit sector navigate legislative hurdles, new leadership, and antiquated business models? In this audio lecture, recorded at theStanford Social Innovation Review’s 2011 Nonprofit Management Institute, Tides CEO Melissa Bradley shares the opportunities she sees for increasing scale and impact through partnerships. Her lecture examines the current landscape of the social sector, and explores what the terms scale and impact should really mean. Citing a number of case studies, including collaborations between for-profits, nonprofits, foundations, and even unions, Bradley provides insight into what makes partnerships successful and offers up best practices for organizations looking to work together.

 

The Whole World In Our Hands

Featuring John Kenyon | Apr. 25, 2014 | 1 hour 7 minutes

In his 2013 Nonprofit Management Institute talk, Kenyon addresses how organizations need to take advantage of the growing intersection between mobile technology and nonprofits. In a digital age that is increasingly personalized, nonprofits should understand how best to utilize mobile devices without invading supporter privacy. Kenyon argues that nonprofits must base social media effectiveness on listening: What content is popular on social media? What is the community interested in hearing about? How can nonprofits use non-voice mobile technology to their advantage? Kenyon presents strategies for answering these questions and using technology to improve nonprofit outreach.

John Kenyon (@jakenyon) is the Principal at Kenyon Consulting, and is a technology educator and strategist who’s advised nonprofits for more than 20 years. He educates nonprofits about using technology strategically through his consulting, as well as through teaching seminars and writing articles, knowing that they can help organizations operate more effectively and efficiently. Kenyon authored the chapter “Effective Online Communications” in the book Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission. With Beth Kanter, he helped craft curriculum for and present the “We Are Media” social media training for nonprofits, and frequently speaks on social media topics. Kenyon is a member of the Executive Consultants Select Group at the Alliance for Children & Families, and is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco. Kenyon has been a featured speaker across the US, England, Australia, and online.

 

New Skills for the New Social Economy

 

Featuring Rob Reich & Lucy Bernholz | Mar. 26, 2013 | 1 hour 9 minutes

What exactly is the new “social economy,” how did it come about, and what are its implications for nonprofit management? In this audio lecture, philanthropy, policy, and technology researchers Lucy Bernholz and Rob Reich explore some possible answers to these questions. Evaluating the changes that the social economy has created, Bernholz and Reich focus on new options that are available for both doers and donors. Speaking at Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, the two analyze the impact that this new economy is having on nonprofit management and how social leaders can adapt.