At the mid-point of this year’s dog days of summer, temperatures were especially high in and around the executive offices of Temple University. A growing rift was reported between then-Temple president, Neil Theobald, and members of the university’s Board of Trustees. In the end, Theobald stepped down in late July about a week after the board unanimously voted no confidence in the president. The culprit of this discord? According to The Philadelphia Inquirer (July 15, 2016), members of the board faulted Theobald for “failing to consult them on key issues…” Continue reading
InSights
Catching a Wave… in a Park
Philadelphia nonprofits are catching a wave. Tidal forces like the Civic Commons project and city-wide efforts to create or revitalize community-based civic assets like parks, monuments, trails and libraries are already encouraging more social and economic integration. Like-minded organizations such as Bartram’s Garden, Smith Memorial Playground, Please Touch Museum and the Philadelphia Zoo are harnessing this newfound energy to re-examine the role Philadelphia’s venerable institutions play in impacting social good. And the results are triggering a sea change. Continue reading
Fairmount to Join Panel about Branding & Messaging
Ebony Staton-Weidman, Assistant Vice President at Fairmount Ventures, will join a panel of communications leaders at Here’s My Chance’s “Breakfast with the Stars: Branding & Messaging Edition” event. The panel will examine how organizations communicate with their audience and share best practices on navigating the balance between digital, social media, and traditional communications. Continue reading
Giving Tuesday launches My Giving Story
Recently Giving Tuesday launched a special contest called “My Giving Story” on Facebook to encourage people to share their most meaningful experience in supporting a nonprofit. Winners of the contest have the chance to win up to $5,000 for their designated nonprofit along with a personal gift card. Continue reading
Nonprofit Leaders Explore Social Innovation
How do you know when you’ve struck social innovation?
This was the topic of a recent panel event hosted by Exchange PHL, a contingent of organizations in Greater Philadelphia united by their intent to develop opportunities for collaboration, share promising ideas for social change, and build new networks. Luke Butler, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Nick Torres, co-founder of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal shared insights about social innovation evaluation to about 20 attendees. Continue reading
Nonprofit Repositioning Fund Launches
Today marks the official launch of the Nonprofit Repositioning Fund (the Fund), an initiative dedicated to help nonprofits in Greater Philadelphia achieve greater success. The Fund specializes in facilitating strategic collaborations and partnerships among nonprofits in an effort to establish clearer leadership roles, reduce duplicate service efforts, and achieve adequate scale. Over the next three years, the Fund will award grants to facilitate those joint nonprofit ventures, including mergers. Continue reading
In Search of the Dreaded ‘M’ Word
On September 18 Fairmount joined 200 nonprofit leaders and supporters to discuss nonprofit collaboration and partnerships. The Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal hosted the event, called “Innovation through Collaboration and Partnerships: A Look at How Working Together through Collaboration and Partnerships Can Drive Innovation and Sustainability in the Nonprofit and Social Sector.” Continue reading
Fairmount to Join Panel Event about Collaboration
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
Open Data, GIS, and Nonprofits
The idea behind “open data” is that accessible data promotes government transparency, civic engagement, and the ability of community members to create solutions to problems within their communities. In this way, open data can be a rich resource for nonprofits. Continue reading
Are you a giver, taker, or matcher?
Have you ever exchanged business cards with a new contact at a networking event only to never hear from them again? This often happens when both people interact solely with the mindset of “how can this person help me?” Continue reading