Don Kligerman, President of Fairmount Ventures, will join a panel of experts at the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal’s “Innovations through Collaboration and Partnerships” event. The event will look at how working together through collaboration and partnerships can drive innovation and sustainability in the nonprofit and social sector. Continue reading
collaboration
Drexel & The Free Library Collaborate
This month we’re examining collaborations within the nonprofit sector. With a growing emphasis for organizations to work together, highlighting examples that show tangible results or significant promise stemming from strategic alliances is useful. Continue reading
How Video Games Create Social Change
Video games no longer only entertain us. Innovative nonprofits like Games for Change now use video games to create social change. The New York City-based organization was founded in 2004 by Asi Burak, a former Israeli Defense Forces captain. Burak and his small team created the video game PeaceMaker in 2005, which simulates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Players make decisions based on real-life events that effect the social, political, and military dynamics for both countries. Helping people empathize with both viewpoints was Burak’s motivation to create PeaceMaker. Continue reading
Does Parental Involvement = Student Achievement?
A recent New York Times op-ed titled “Parental Involvement Is Overrated” challenges conventional wisdom that increased parent engagement improves student academic achievement. Authors Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris argue some parent involvement can even limit students academically. Robinson and Harris believe parents must do three things to positively impact their child’s academic success. Continue reading
Quick: I’m Double Parked, Want to Collaborate?
We were delighted by the recent splash heard on local and national news this week. President Obama announced that West Philadelphia is one of just five communities nationwide selected to be a “Promise Zone.” This is a new federal initiative to target resources to areas with significant poverty in order to transform the lives of area residents without displacing them. Continue reading
Banish Networking Nightmares
One of the most tired pieces of advice around nonprofits (as well as your personal career) is network, network, network!
This isn’t to say that networking and collaboration aren’t vitally important to an organization’s success – I’d wager it’s quite the opposite. In a world of finite human and financial resources and seemingly infinite need, successful nonprofits are connected to and learning from other great organizations. These nonprofits are also filled with well-connected individuals. Continue reading
Anchors Aweigh
I’ve been thinking about anchors. No, not the seafaring kind, though I do enjoy a legitimate opportunity to wear Topsiders now and again. I’m focused on community anchors – go-to neighborhood organizations – and how they’re evolving to address deeply-entrenched challenges of poverty and blight. Continue reading
How to Effect Meaningful Collaboration (or, what I learned from a week away at Rock Camp)
I’ve been thinking a lot about collaboration lately. How can multiple actors best come together to merge different (and often competing) cultures and interests, to achieve a common goal? What are the conditions under which something truly significant results? What are the red flags that indicate despite good intentions all around, it’s time to chalk things up to “lessons learned” and walk away? Continue reading