Web 2.0 and open source have opened new potential at lower risk for nonprofits who need to build capacity at lower cost.

Many nonprofits used to be able to operate in dark corners like the small purviews of a particular city or region. That is, they would not necessarily be judged against peer programs in other cities nor, necessarily, against a generalized assumption about what constituted good practice. Local observation, reputation, and all important relationships were first

Technology offers nonprofit organizations the opportunity to design and implement more effective evaluations for improving program performance while doing so at lower cost.

Welcome to the Nonprofit Quarterly’s first “Best of the Quarterly” issue. This marks NPQ’s sixth anniversary and such a retrospective is well past due. Thanks to our contributors, the NPQ has published some classics that stand the test of time in terms of their usefulness, and which provide a unique new perspective on issues that

If foundations have no market forces and few legal constraints to hold them accountable, is it any wonder that their evaluative efforts have fallen short? Can the value of “expressive philanthropy” be measured?

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.

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.

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 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