SOULUTIONS January 2009
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| in this issue | | Staying Positive | | Upgrade Your Skills with Grants As You Go | | Build Your Resume by Helping Not-For-Profits | | Quick Wins#1: Cost-Cutting Ideas for Not-For-Profits | | Quick Wins#2: How a Business Can Help |
Dear Reader, Times are tough. We all know people and organizations who are being affected by the economic downturn. Maybe your organization has seen decreased revenues, or has had to cut staff. We've all had moments of fear, frustration, and feeling out of control.
This month our newsletter features a number of things we can do to stay positive, take charge, and face these tough times together. Sometimes, focusing on the things we can control, like our attitudes and skills, helps us cope with the things we can't control. Read on to see how others are coping in tough times. And if you have a strategy that works for you, we'd love to hear about it. Post your thoughts in our free member forum.
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Staying Positive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recently our member forum featured an article by Marcus Child called "Steering Through the Economic Storm: 12 Habits that Engender Optimism." Mr. Child suggests that a positive outlook can help successfully weather difficult times. It "is the time for optimism and the belief that we will prevail and even thrive in the most testing of conditions. Stressed or fearful minds create less valuable ideas than stimulated confident minds. ... We can rise to the occasion of the challenges ahead that demand resilience, resourcefulness and ingenuity. Big challenges elicit big and bright responses, inventions, innovations and cures."
So how does he recommend staying positive? He gives great ideas for doing so here.
What works for you? If you have any suggestions, please post them to our forum, available by clicking here. |
Upgrade Your Skills with Grants As You Go
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the best ways to make yourself valuable to employers is to upgrade your skills. "Grants As You Go," offers on-line coaching in the art of writing effective grant proposals, and a way to build skills without taking time away from your current job.
Here's what one student who recently completed the course had to say about the experience: "The Grants As You Go course with Dr. Stanton provided me much-needed direction to write a grant proposal for my organization's new program. The proposal I worked on throughout the course had very loose requirements, and Dr. Stanton was able to help me indicate what elements needed to be present, and then helped me to organize and tighten up my writing. Walking through the entire process with professional guidance and helpful materials has equipped me with the knowledge and resources to write proposals by myself."
The next 8-week program of Grants As You Go begins in February. To learn more or register on-line please click here or go to www.grantsasyougo.com. |
Build Your Resume by Helping Not-For-Profits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helping a not-for-profit can be more than serving meals and stuffing envelopes. Many not-for-profit organizations need help with strategic initiatives like planning, marketing, and operations. Leading a project that uses your business skills is a great way to add to your resume, and help a worthy organization in your community. For tips on how to translate your business skills into assistance for not-for-profit organizations, click here. And to be connected to an organization that is looking for assistance, check out the Vesper Service Network. We've created an easy-to-use system that walks people through the steps that Deloitte talks about in the link above. Like making an inventory of the things you have done, and skills that can be applied almost anywhere, like facilitation and listening. We also walk not-for-profits through the steps of defining what they want to accomplish, and communicating those needs to an Advisor. If you're ready to start putting your business skills to a different kind of work, sign up here as a Vesper Advisor. |
| Quick Wins#1: Cost-Cutting Ideas for Not-For-Profits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we begin the new year, budgets for 2009 are being finalized and reviewed for any cost-saving possibilities. A blog by Joanne Fritz (available here) summarizes 10 of the 25 cost-cutting ideas found in an article in the journal, "Nonprofit World" by the Society of Nonprofit Organizations. The ideas go from making maximum use of your board of directors to switching to more inexpensive paper - you can let your constituents know the reason for the switch, and they will appreciate your using the funds saved for other aspects of the organization. You can see these helpful tips among others by clicking here. |
Quick Wins#2: How a Business Can Help There's no question that not-for-profits need help now more than ever, but what to do when corporate finances are tight? An article on the website for philanthropy.com (available here) gives a few suggestions that were included from a report on giving in 2007. The following were listed: "The report recommends that giving officers proactively defend philanthropy budgets, making the case to senior leaders for sustained or increased giving, especially to geographic areas and organizations facing acute hardship. The report also says that companies should look to more creatively use non-cash resources, such as by helping charities negotiate more favorable leases and vendor contracts or by offering sabbatical programs to share employees temporarily with nonprofit organizations." Again, if you have any ideas of you own, please share them with the VSN community by clicking here for our free member forum. |
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