Regardless of whether it is driven by politesse or short sighted self interest, nonprofit leaders are demonstrating a lack of probity at a time when it is most needed.
Nonprofit Truth or Consequences: The Organizational Importance of Honesty
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Organizational untruths are pervasive and corrosive, explains Belton. Truth telling is an essential practice that helps people thrive in their organizations while leading to increased individual and collective energy.
Building Adaptive Communities through Network Weaving
This is an article that focuses on the basic phases of building effective networks, using one grounded example to bring the theory to life. We recommend that readers look back also at Carl Sussman’s article (see Winter 2003, “Making Change: How to Build Adaptive Capacity”) and think about how the two approaches relate to one another in the achievement of real change.
Free Media? An Interview With Robert McChesney
Editors’ Note: In getting grounded in the media landscape we talked with Robert McChesney, an activist scholar in the area of media policy and founder of Free Press (www.freepress.net). McChesney’s description of the active approach toward publications and the press throughout U.S. history can inform and inspire us to shift ourmedia environment to one which is more relevant for an informed democracy.
Musical Auditors and Creative License in Grant Proposals: The Nonprofit Ethicist Is In
FROM THE ARCHIVES
This is the first installment of NPQ‘s longest running column, the Nonprofit Ethicist. What is your dilemma? Advice in this column includes the Ethicist’s take on an MSO’s board issues, and what to do with a bad case of founder syndrome.
Welcome to Fall 2005
Welcome to the fall 2005 issue of the Nonprofit Quarterly entitled “Amplifying Democracy: Nonprofits and Communications.” Inside, we have included articles on everything from branding and social marketing to how communications fits in social change and organizing strategies. We have looked at how communities can be helped to reframe issues and what it takes to
Making Our Communications Strategic
To move an issue from being a concern of the already convinced to being a concern of a broader community, we need to cultivate that broader community.
Social Marketing: Changing Behavior
Following are some tips from those that have succeeded using different methods—visibility and enforcement; education; and humor—and one example of a failed campaign.
Considerations at the Intersection: Community Organizing and Strategic Communications
In its work with hundreds of community groups across the country, the SPIN Project has observed a common set of questions emerging for organizers embarking on and evaluating communications efforts.
Wanted: Master Storytellers
This is about storytelling: how journalists tell stories to citizens; how nonprofits tell stories to journalists to convey to citizens; how we tell stories to each other to try to make sense of what is happening to our families, neighbors, and people we don’t know. And this is a plea for better storytelling from the people in clinics and classrooms, programs and public agencies, who have their hands on America’s future.
The Power of Speaking Your Own Truth: Increasing Community Voices in the Media Conversation
Building the capacity of local organizations and residents requires an understanding of how the media works. This includes knowing how to become a reliable source of information, how an issue is framed, and how to engage reporters in a deeper conversation.
Nonprofit Communications: Fundamental, Strategic – and Chronically Underperforming
This is a new era in which organizational transparency and accountability are ever more important, and there is a higher premium on the public’s need to know. What is the unique commitment your organization has made?