My Paper: Perspectives on Blogging in the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector

Abstract

Wikipedia defines a blog as a “user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in reverse chronological order.” (“Wikipedia,” 2007) In November 2007, I presented a literature review and short case study about blogs and wikis as professional development tools for nonprofit managers. Since that time, I wanted to learn more by finding out the actual experiences of bloggers in the nonprofit sector. I decided to conduct a phenomenological exercise to study the, “essence of a phenomenon from the perspectives of those who have experienced it” (Merriam, 2002).

Traditionally phenomenological exercises have only one research question. Differing from that model, my study had six research questions. I conducted a general qualitative research study attempting to describe the phenomenon of blogging in the nonprofit sector from the perspectives of three bloggers: Sean Stannard-Stockton, a principal and director of Tactical Philanthropy at Ensemble Capital Management, an investment management firm, in Burlingame, California, who writes the, Tactical Philanthropy blog (Stannard-Stockton, 2008); Trista Harris, a Program Officer at the Saint Paul Foundation in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who writes the, New Voices in Philanthropy blog (Harris, 2008); and Rosetta Thurman, Director of Development and Special Programs at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, Washington, D.C., who writes the, Perspectives from the Pipeline blog (Thurman, 2008).

Due to the public nature of blogging, all three informants gave me permission to include their real names and quotes in this study. I purposefully selected my participants because I have been reading their blogs since they started blogging less than a year and a half ago.

In this paper, I will report findings from the three interviews. These findings are organized using the themes created from the six research questions. My themes are:

• How did they get into blogging?
• What topics do they blog about?
• How do they handle comments on their blog?
• How supportive or not supportive is their organization about their blogging?
• How has blogging had an impact on their careers?
• What advice would they provide to people in the nonprofit sector who want to accelerate their careers as result of blogging?

In addition, this paper will discuss the implications of this research and ideas for future research on blogging in the nonprofit sector.

References

Harris, T. (2008). New Voices in Philanthropy blog, Retrieved, May 5, 2008 from: http://www.newvoicesofphilanthropy.org/

Merriam, S. B. (Ed.). (2002). Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Stannard-Stockton, S. (2008). Tactical Philanthropy blog, Retrieved, May 5, 2008 from: http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/

Thurman, R. (2008). Perspectives from the Pipeline blog, Retrieved, May 5, 2008 from: http://fromthepipeline.blogspot.com/

I have been doing a lot of reading and writing in my doctoral program and as you can probably guess, I put a lot of effort into writing papers over this past year. But now I am trying to figure out whether or not I should post the papers I wrote this year on my blog. So please answer the following questions.

A. Would like a copy of my paper to read?
B. Do you think I should try to condense my paper down to look like a nice 3-5 page research report and post it on my blog?
C. Should I leave my work in the academic community and not make it available on my blog?

My Paper: Measuring Community Impact: Perspectives from Three Fields of Literature

Abstract

A promising new area of applied curriculum in nonprofit management education is service-learning. Scholars describe service learning as “…an educational methodology which combines community service with explicit academic learning objectives, preparation for community work, and deliberate reflection” (Gelmon, Holland, Driscoll, Spring & Kerrigan, 2001, p. v).

In nonprofit management education, students engage in a variety of service-learning projects in local nonprofit organizations. These service-learning projects are also called applied projects. At the University of San Diego, students in the Nonprofit Leadership and Management graduate program are required to engage in one or more applied projects during each course throughout their degree program. Examples of these applied projects are, developing Board Manuals, Financial Management Practices, and much more.

Although current literature evaluates student attitudes and learning outcomes in service-learning, very few research studies measure or evaluates the impact service-learning has in the nonprofit community or how service-learning could be used as a capacity-building tool for nonprofit organizations. In this paper I review literature that addresses the issue of measuring potential capacity-building tools for nonprofits such as nonprofit management education and service-learning. In addition, I will suggest ways to integrate three distinct fields of literature: nonprofit management education, service-learning and capacity-building to show the usefulness of theories and methods in each field to evaluate community impact and capacity-building efforts.

Gelmon, S. B., Holland, B. A., Driscoll, A., Spring, A. & Kerrigan, S. (2001) Assessing
service-learning and civic engagement: Principles and techniques. Providence, RI:
Campus Compact.

I have been doing a lot of reading and writing in my doctoral program and as you can probably guess, I put a lot of effort into writing papers over this past year. But now I am trying to figure out whether or not I should post the papers I wrote this year on my blog. So please answer the following questions.

A. Would like a copy of my paper to read?
B. Do you think I should try to condense my paper down to look like a nice 3-5 page research report and post it on my blog?
C. Should I leave my work in the academic community and not make it available on my blog?

My Paper: Applying Three Interdisciplinary Views of Leadership and Knowledge to Researching Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract:
The field of leadership studies is comprised of scholars from many fields including Sociology, Political Science and History. This diverse group of scholars has provided the field with a rich set of interdisciplinary views of leadership and knowledge.

Historically, those who research leadership in the nonprofit sector also have backgrounds in Sociology, Education, Public Administration, Public Policy, Political Science, and other fields. Although the field of nonprofit studies is interdisciplinary in nature, researchers in the nonprofit sector have not utilized the interdisciplinary views of leadership provided by the leadership studies field. These researchers tend to gravitate toward traditional views of leadership and focus on common perceptions of the nonprofit sector.

This paper will attempt to bridge the gap between the interdisciplinary views of leadership in the leadership field, and the traditional views of leadership in the nonprofit sector by describing three interdisciplinary views of leadership and knowledge. This paper will then describe how each of these views of leadership and knowledge can be applied to study leadership in the nonprofit sector. Furthermore, this paper will describe the common perceptions of the nonprofit sector, and show how these perceptions have an effect on how leadership is studied in the nonprofit sector.

I have been doing a lot of reading and writing in my doctoral program and as you can probably guess, I put a lot of effort into writing papers over this past year. But now I am trying to figure out whether or not I should post the papers I wrote this year on my blog. So please answer the following questions.

A. Would like a copy of my paper to read?
B. Do you think I should try to condense my paper down to look like a nice 3-5 page research report and post on my blog?
C. Should I leave my work in the academic community and not make it available on my blog?

Confessions of a first year doctoral student

I just completed my first year of my doctoral program and here are some of the things I learned along the way.

• Time Management: I've learned a lot about time management. I thought I was an organized and on-time person, however being in a doctoral program and working shifted my thinking upside down. I learned how to prioritize and it was pretty hard for me not being able to reply to e-mails the minute I got them...in other words I really had to prioritize my school work in order to get it done.
• Learning to say no: Last year when I started blogging at Aspiration I was just starting to learn about nonprofit sector issues and I wanted to be a part of those conversations. In other words, I joined any committee I could in order to participate in sector wide issues. I was super excited and said yes to any opportunity that came my way whether it be speaking, teaching, or committee work. However, now that I'm in my PhD program I have to prioritize my opportunities and not volunteer for everything! I guess I am becoming more strategic in my commitments.
  
• Finding my place: Before I started my PhD I was working as Assistant Director for a reputable nonprofit, however I've now taken on a new role at the bottom of the totem pole as a Research Assistant and PhD student. Although my expertise is appreciated, it is quite humbling not being able to know everything about the organization I am working in nor be the decision maker.
• Finding what's relevant: I have been doing a lot of reading and writing in my doctoral program and as you can probably guess, I put a lot of effort into writing papers over this past year. But now I am trying to figure out whether or not I should post the papers I wrote this year on my blog. I am presenting portions of my work at academic conferences, however these are only a small group of people. And I do think my papers are relevant to nonprofit practitioners are researchers alike.
  

This year I wrote papers about:

• Applying Three Interdisciplinary Views of Leadership and Knowledge to Researching Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector
• Measuring Community Impact: Perspectives from Three Fields of Literature
• Perspectives on Blogging in the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I'll put the paper abstracts on the next three blog posts. So, please let me know if you:

A. Would like a copy of my paper to read?
B. Think I should try to condense my paper down to look like a nice 3-5 page research report and post on my blog?
C. Leave my work in the academic community and not make it available on my blog?

How can we respond to the research about the leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector?

Opportunity Knocks recently released a report about turnover and retention in the nonprofit sector. They reported there is a 21% turnover rate in the nonprofit sector. This report was from the employers perspective citing the main reason employees left the organization was due to a competitive job offer. However did the employees receive a competitive job offer because they were dissatisfied with their job? Since this report was from the employers perspective..we won't know.

In addition, Common Good Careers Released a report, "The Voice of Nonprofit Talent in 2008." They surveyed over 1,700 the job seekers about their attitudes about finding a job in the nonprofit sector. 75% of the respondents said that change in the nonprofit sector is real and needs to happen specifically:

• "Organizations must change their recruitment practices to attract next generation leaders."
• "Organizations must change their employment practices to retain next generation leaders."
• "Organizations must do more to professionally develop future nonprofit leaders from within."

The respondents demographics were pretty evenly spread across age and experience level in the nonprofit sector. So, in other words all generations felt strongly about those statements above.

These two research reports have similar findings to other research reports in the sector--CompassPoint's recent report from the next generation of leaders and Grand Valley State University's NP2020 conference report which stated about the younger workers want in the nonprofit sector like mentoring and professional development opportunities and to be able learn more about all aspect of the organization they are working in.

In fact, we have had numerous reports over the years tell us about the leadership deficit and that something needs to change in the sector, yet has any change happened? I don't mean to be so negative, however I am still seeing a disconnect between what funders think nonprofits need and what the nonprofit organizations actually need.

For example, as much as I think nonprofit management programs and professional development seminars are beneficial for nonprofit organizations I still think there is a gap. Many of these programs and workshops are not providing the leadership, group relations, and systems thinking training that is actually needed to run an organization in this current nonprofit sector environment. All leaders need key leadership skills to understand all the complexities of running a nonprofit organization and managing people. We need real experiential based leadership training. But-- unfortunately many funders aren't trying to address the leadership challenges in the nonprofit sector -- instead donors and funders are wanting more accountability and metrics and think that nonprofit Executive Directors are over paid instead of addressing the real capacity issues.

This is a very complex issue and something needs to change -- so what are we going to do about it?!?!

Respecting Authority while Standing up for Your Beliefs

From a very young age I was taught by my parents to respect authority figures. I have always had awe and admiration for my bosses and professors. However with this awe and admiration, I tend to put certain people on a pedestal, which leads me to think of them as somewhat super human.

This gets to be a problem if I don't agree with the way an authority figure is handling a problem or situation. Because I have them on such a high pedestal, I have trouble voicing or explaining my side of things. I just turn into a person I don't want to be...and get all nervous while interacting with them. Did I also mention that my passion for my work tends to get in the way too? Then I get frustrated after the fact because I am totally a different person around certain authority figures.

One of my professors recently told my class that as Doctoral students we are now his equal and we can question anyone's research. This was of course hard for me to hear, especially since this particular professor is so knowledgeable and I am in total awe about how much he knows about so many different academic disciplines.

My professor's statement is making me really rethink about the way in which I respect authority figures. I am learning how to stand up for my beliefs while still respecting authority. It isn't easy...I'm trying first with my professor and then we'll see how it goes...

Has this happened to you? How do you respect authority while still standing up for what you believe in?

From criticism to complimenting community organizations

Jan Masaoka rocks! She is the former Executive Director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and just started a new website/blog/magazine for nonprofits called Blue Avocado. I am continually amazed by her expertise and experience in the sector--I personally benefited from her consulting expertise when I lived in the Bay Area.

She and her team of guest contributors are writing about issues and topics of interest to community-based nonprofits. Here's my favorite quote so far--Jan explains why Blue Avocado focuses on "building the movement of community organizations for community good and social change."

She says, "Community organizations are criticized by everyone these days: consultants tell them they're doing everything wrong; government tells them they're too small or mismanaged; donors tell them there are too many nonprofits, and foundations tell them their logic models aren't good enough. This very large group of organizations and people--the overwhelming majority of the nonprofit sector--are actually the ones doing most of the work and coming up with the most innovative ideas and energy. But too often they've gotten infected with the self esteem crisis and victim mentality that is constantly being pushed on us."

Frankly, I was humbled by Jan's statement because all of my work experience has been in community organizations. Yet, it has been so easy for me to judge these organizations that I work in even though these organizations are doing amazing things! I do have the best intentions because I want them to improve their operations. But clearly I don't spend enough time praising community organizations.

Maybe its a generational thing--it seems like so many of the colleagues my age are also writing about the need for huge change in the sector. Change is good, but this also reminds me of what Audrey Alvarado of NCNA and Nonprofit Congress said when she was interviewed by Rosetta Thurman. "What I would challenge the Gen X and Y’s to do is to be a bit more patient to work on aspects of how we can go about changing our work and approach and not toss everything out but take what works and improve on it. Many times I see a strong disregard for what we (older ones) have created and no recognition or appreciation for the context that led to the practice. Let’s work on improvements together."

So, I'm trying to take to heart Jan and Audrey's statements and work harder to be more complementary towards Community Organizations!