Items matching this category:
A Quick Word With…
A Quick Word With… is our ongoing series in which people from foundations of all sizes and types tell us about themselves, their work and where they draw their inspiration. This installment features Cassandra Stalzer, Communications Manager, Rasmuson Foundation.
We Fail (Even More) When We Fail To Talk About Failure (VIDEO)
I first heard Grant Oliphant admonish foundations for not being willing to talk openly — and routinely — about failure (and without shame or embarrassment) at a Communications Network conference in Miami in 2007. Back then, he laid out a 10-point prescription for overcoming reluctance, or plain unwillingness, of foundations to admit that not everything works as they planned.
Creating a Video Annual Report: What the CEO Learned (VIDEO)
(The following post originally appeared on Transparency Talk, the Foundation Center’s Glass Pockets blog.)
Guest Post: Cedric Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Mitchell Kapor Foundation
As much as I hate to admit it, I rarely spend more than 30 seconds looking at annual reports. I’m usually attracted to the paper, design, or lead stories, but don’t really delve into the sometimes-substantial reading required to make it through one of these tomes. And who has time? I’m not sure if there’s a general trend toward simplification of such publications, but that’s what I had in mind in late 2010 when starting to consider a format for the Kapor Foundation’s first annual report.
Does the Size of Your Communications Department Matter?
Guest Post: Minna Jung, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Vice Chair, Communications Network
Over the past decade and a half, I’ve worked at three foundations: the first, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, had a communications team of three people (and I was very fortunate to work for the amazing Joanne Edgar there, one of the founders of this Network). The second, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has a communications department that averaged about 40 people during my time there, and is well-known in the philanthropic sector because of how Frank Karel, the former vice president of communications at RWJF, built a communications department which was fully integrated with program and evaluation and other organizational functions. The third, my current job, is at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where I work on a team of four people. Including me.
Putting the Social in Social Networking
(The following is adapted from a post that recently appeared on Transparency Talk, the Foundation Center’s Glass Pockets blog.)
Guest Post: Erin Kelly, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
A recent article in Forbes, “The Promise of Social Media” offers a bold prediction that “social media is likely to be one of the most significant forces reshaping management and business over the next decade and more.”
Based our experiences at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, I don’t believe that’s an overerstatement. In fact, I believe the networked age offers those of us working in philanthropy unprecedented opportunities to reach our collective goals.
Subscribe via RSS
