Jun 27

Executive education: Focus on leadership

By Sponsor Insight

By Sara Johnson, director of Executive Education, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs |

As another presidential election campaign races to its conclusion, the topics of public management and leadership are getting a lot of attention and scrutiny. Questions such as “Whom do you trust?” or “Who is the most qualified?” are in the news every day.

For those vying for the top leadership position in the United States, there are obvious differences in style, experience and philosophy. Clearly, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to effective leadership of government and other organizations that exist to serve the public.

Still there are common bonds, and perhaps “serve the public” is the key phrase here. If we assume those who seek leadership positions in organizations that “serve the public” are there to truly serve, would we not expect them to be “servant leaders?” Robert K. Greenleaf, who established the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, first coined the term in 1970.

According to Greenleaf, this philosophy and set of practices focuses on “enriching the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.” To create a more just and caring world, one must have a heart for serving others and exhibit effective leadership traits.

That’s where taking courses in Public Management and Nonprofit Management can create an advantage. Skills learned and applied in these programs at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs prepare leaders for the unique practices and challenges in organizations that serve the public.

Executive Education courses at SPEA offer both graduate credit and non-credit programs to working professionals. Public Management and Nonprofit Management Certificates can be earned using a blended format of both in-person and online courses. Graduate credit earned in these certificates can then be applied toward a master’s degree in public affairs.

These Executive Education programs are specifically designed to develop leadership skills that will strengthen public and nonprofit organizations as they respond to their unique challenges, such as funding structures, breadth of stakeholders and potentially working with a large population of volunteer workers. The Executive Education program at Indiana University can also customize non-credit training for an organization’s employees, administrative team or board.

Besides offering solid course work, the programs are receiving national recognition. The most recent rankings from U.S. News & World Report rated the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs first and fourth in the nation in nonprofit management (Bloomington and IUPUI) and third in public management based on ratings by educators at peer schools.

Faculty members are industry experts, many of whom have led nonprofit and public organizations prior to teaching, and include former mayors, economic and health policy experts and authors of books about nonprofit governance.

Why not build your leadership skills by working with some of the industry’s best?

For more information about SPEA Executive Education visit the website at Click Here call 317-274-3418 or email execeduc@iupui.edu.

 

sara-johnsonSara Johnson is the director of Executive Education and a clinical assistant professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Johnson has been a lecturer for SPEA, where she teaches executive leadership, as well as the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI, where she taught both graduate and undergraduate students and was director of undergraduate programs.

Jun 20

States scramble to protect student data and privacy

By Feature, Technology

By Sarah Breitenbach, reporter, Stateline/Pew Charitable Trusts |

What if a child’s performance in a fifth-grade gym class could be used to set the rate for a life insurance policy when they’re 50? What if a computer program advertised interactive tutoring when your child struggled with long division?

Privacy advocates worry these scenarios could become reality as schools increasingly rely on outside companies to collect, manage and analyze the massive amount of data gleaned from standardized tests, transcripts, individual education programs and even cafeteria purchases.

This subcontracting is not new or uncommon, but it has often left school districts without explicit control over students’ personal information. And it has left some parents, administrators and privacy advocates worried that those companies might one day sell or mine the data for a profit.

With few protections on the privacy of student data beyond a decades-old federal law, states have been scrambling to regulate how student data is collected and stored. More recently they’ve begun governing how third-party companies can use student information.

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Jun 20

Making better use of big data

By Feature, Technology

By Sonal Shah & Hollie Russon Gilman, Stanford Social Innovation Review |

Big data has become a buzzword for private, public, and social sector organizations. For the social sector, there is a belief that “big” data is the new panacea to solving our greatest social challenges — whether criminal justice, health care, education, or international development. On the other side, there is concern about the cost of collecting data, the type of data we collect, and the real questions of privacy and ethics of data use.

We believe that data has the potential to help governments (local, state, and national) achieve real outcomes, but we need to ensure that we are collecting useful data, and governments need to put in place some practical safeguards before asking the public to invest in new systems and data collection. We need to examine the value of transparency of big data; understand the types of data needed to achieve outcomes; differentiate the differences between data, evidence, and judgment; and ensure that citizens are included in the conversation.

Why data matters

In the sciences, and increasingly in the social sciences, data has been a critical part of understanding, testing, and proving theories. It has the potential to more-effectively address critical challenges in our society — to target school interventions, improve health care, or help people find the right job training. Our ability to collect, analyze, and better understand data has become increasingly easier and cheaper. Even with limited resources, we can now collect micro-level information in real time, detect early warnings, and provide insights for effective, targeted interventions. Community- and heat-mapping techniques, for example, provide a wide range of valuable information, helping us better understand crime patterns and isolate hyper-local health conditions. In Chicago, data is helping Chicago Health Atlas identify health trends and provide hospital information. And Foodborne Chicago is using sentiment analysis (determining whether a piece of writing is positive, negative, or neutral) from social media and location-based 311 reports to detect food poisoning incidents. Data can help government provide better and more-effective services for its citizens.

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Jun 20

Software to fight terrorism, Microsoft-funded professor

By Feature, Technology

By Jing Cao, reporter, Bloomberg News |

Dartmouth College computer science professor Hany Farid — using funding from Microsoft Corp. — has developed technology to help scrub extremist content from the internet.

Working with the nonprofit think tank Counter Extremism Project, Farid built software capable of identifying and tracking photo, video and audio files, even if they’ve been altered. The software, unveiled Friday, would allow websites such as Facebook Inc. to automatically catch flagged content and remove it or prevent it from being uploaded.

On a call to discuss the technology, Farid, who is also a senior advisor to the CEP, said his software would allow companies to automatically remove posts that violate the sites’ terms of use. He also said deleting the content is not a freedom of speech issue because the companies have the right to dictate what’s suitable.

“We allow them to do it fast, accurately, automatically,” he said.

Many internet and social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter Inc., do have rules prohibiting posts from organizations that are involved in terrorist activity or organized crime or excessively violent, graphic content. But foul content gets posted anyway and relies on manual flagging and removal — more of a “Whack-a-Mole” approach, Farid said.

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Jun 20

Giving is up: What does that mean for fundraising?

By Sponsor Insight

By Una Osili, director of research, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI |

Last year charitable giving from individuals, estates, foundations and corporations hit a record $373 billion, according to Giving USA 2016: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2015.

The years 2014 and 2015 represent the highest and second-highest totals for giving in the past 10 years, adjusted for inflation. But total giving grew more slowly in 2015 — increasing by 4.0 percent adjusted for inflation — compared to the 6.1 percent increase we saw in 2014. The slower rate of growth in 2015 reflected changes in several of the economic factors that influence giving: while most were still positive, their growth was not as robust as in the preceding year.

Still, contributions from all four sources of giving and to all but one of the nine categories of nonprofits receiving those gifts (the exception was giving to foundations) went up in 2015. This suggests that while the giving climate was not quite as strong in 2015, the overall environment for giving remains favorable.

Individuals were responsible for the largest share of giving last year, providing 71 percent of the total, while foundations saw the largest year-over-year percentage growth among the sources of giving, increasing the amount they collectively gave by 6.5 percent.

The longest-running and most comprehensive report of its kind in America, Giving USA is published by Giving USA Foundation, a public-service initiative of The Giving Institute. It is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Here’s a closer look:

2015 Charitable Giving by source

  • Individual giving, $264.58 billion, increased 3.8 percent in current dollars over 2014.
  • Foundation giving, $58.46 billion, was 6.5 percent higher.
  • Charitable bequests, $31.76 billion, increased 2.1 percent.
  • Corporate giving, $18.45 billion, grew 3.9 percent.

Highlights of 2015 gifts to selected categories of nonprofits

Five charitable subsectors saw large increases in 2015:

  • Education: giving increased to $57.48 billion, growing 8.9 percent.
  • Public-Society Benefit: the $26.95 billion given in 2015 was an increase of 6.0 percent
  • Arts/Culture/Humanities: at $17.07 billion, growth in current dollars was 7.0 percent
  • International Affairs: $15.75 billion, a jump of 17.5 percent.
  • Environment/Animals: the $10.68 billion estimate for 2015 was up 6.2 percent

While these results are encouraging, though, it’s what nonprofit leaders and fundraisers do with that information that counts. Here are some points to ponder:

  • Put the majority of your effort where the majority of the giving for your type of organization is. The new Giving USA report estimates that 87 percent of giving comes from or is directed by individuals, their bequests and family foundations where family members play a role. Some nonprofits’ missions may be more conducive to corporate or foundation support, but it’s important to have the right mix of funding sources for your organization. Adjust your outreach as necessary.
  • Review historical trends to inform your planning. While, as they say, past performance does not predict future results, what informed assumptions can you make about growth in giving over the next few years after reviewing patterns and trends over time? What might those trends mean for your organization? Do you have a plan to address them? Be sure to look at the trends for your type of organization, as well as for giving overall.
  • Develop a more focused and compelling case for support. Incorporate data and takeaways from Giving USA and other reputable research into your nonprofit’s proposals and communications.
  • Increase your volunteer leaders’ understanding of philanthropy. Show them how your organization’s funding patterns and potential compare to the national picture. Give them additional insight into the latest developments in philanthropy, how those might affect your nonprofit, and what steps you are taking as a result. Sharing this type of information will provide assurance that recommendations and decisions are based on the most accurate data available.

Explore Giving USA products and resources, including free highlights of each annual report, and find key tools to share with your board and donors at our online store. Select the full report, available in both digital and paperback formats, a PowerPoint slide deck, data tables and more.

 

una Una Osili, Ph.D., is director of research for the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI.

 

Jun 13

Beware: New overtime rules apply to most nonprofits

By Sponsor Insight

By Zachary S. Kester, JD, LLM, CFRM and Kylie Schreiber, Charitable Allies |

To their detriment, many nonprofits believe the new overtime rules going into effect on December 1, do not apply to them since they are not business “enterprises.”

But this overlooks the reality that “individual” employees may qualify for overtime because of their job duties. The majority of employees who make less than $47,476 in annual salary will be entitled to overtime.

Any individual employee who engages in interstate commerce in some shape or form is eligible for minimum wage and overtime pay standards, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Interstate commerce is a rather broad concept, and is explained further below.

To make matters worse, the DOL utilizes language in its recently published guidance [pdf] for nonprofits to suggest that they do not often investigate or take action regarding violations for “individual” employees. But in states like Indiana, employees can use the strict wage and hour laws against employers for nonpayment of wages, which include overtime pay. So organizations should think twice before becoming too complacent.

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Jun 13

India’s new CSR law sparks debate among NGOs and businesses

By Feature, Leadership

By Oliver Balch, freelance writer, The Guardian | 

India is the first country in the world to enshrine corporate giving into law. Following a change in company law in April 2014, businesses with annual revenues of more than 10bn rupees (£105m) must give away 2 percent of their net profit to charity. Areas they can invest this money in include education, poverty, gender equality and hunger.

At the time India’s policy-makers said the law would release much-needed funds for social development, while critics warned of a tick-box mentality and efforts at evasion.

Two years on, the arguments remain unresolved. What’s unambiguous is that overall charitable spend by companies has increased. According to independent reports, the private sector’s combined charitable spend jumped from an estimated 33.67bn rupees (£357.5m) in 2013 to around 250bn rupees (£2.63bn) after the law’s enactment.

Some say the change in law is also waking up corporate India to its wider social responsibilities. “The so-called 2 percent law has brought CSR [corporate social responsibility] from the fringes to the boardroom,” argues Bimal Arora, chair of the Delhi-based Centre for Responsible Business. “Companies now have to think seriously about the resources, timelines and strategies needed to meet their legal obligations.”

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Jun 13

Corporate social responsibility: How it affects employee satisfaction

By Feature, Leadership

By Ivan Widjaya, Small Business Trends |

Starbucks magnate Howard Schultz is one of many CEOs around the world that have embraced the idea of corporate social responsibility when it comes to how they run their companies.

You don’t have to be running a Fortune 500 company to be an ethically responsible company that embraces corporate social responsibility and all that it stands for. In fact, if you refuse to embrace it and all that it entails, it’s quite possible a strong majority of the people that work for you are currently unhappy in their jobs.

The definition of corporate social responsibility and the values and practices it embraces is a vast one.  Each company that embraces it has their own mantra that’s used to describe it: community investment, social impact, corporate citizenship, sustainability and many others.

In a nutshell, corporate social responsibility is all about company ethics — how you treat the environment, the communities you serve and work in and your employees. Even your competitors.

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Jun 13

Corporate social responsibility can be good for business

By Feature, Leadership

By Vlad Moldavskiy for BusinessCollective |

Corporate social responsibility is more than a company’s marketing strategy — it’s quickly becoming a way to retain millennial employees as well.

Despite having a reputation for being arrogant and lazy, millennials are actually highly philanthropic. Many young workers want more than just a paycheck from their employer; they also want to feel that they’re making an impact on the community.

According to the recent Millennial Impact Report, which was led by Achieve in partnership with the Case Foundation, more than 30 million millennials are employed, and 84 percent of these employees made a charitable donation last year. That’s on top of the 78 percent of millennials who made a charitable donation on their own without going through an employer.

It’s hard to dispute the millennial passion for giving back: When compared to managers, millennials value meaningful work over fat paychecks. Business Insider reports that while half of surveyed managers believe money is important to millennials, only 27 percent of actual millennials agreed.

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May 23

Gen X giving: Effective fundraising strategies for Gen X donors

By Sponsor Insight

By Abigail L. Coleman, writer, JGA |

The Baby Boomer and Millennial generations are frequently top of mind in discussions and research into the generations and generational giving preferences, but what about the “in-betweens?” Given the buzz, particularly about Millennials, it may be easy to overlook a resource for significant current and future donor growth for your organization: Generation X.

Also known as Gen X, this group includes those born in the United States from 1964 to 1980. Gen Xers are sandwiched squarely between older Baby Boomers and younger Millennials and represented 20% of total giving in the U.S. in 2013.

Based on data compiled by Pew Research Center, notable characteristics of this generation include:

  • Diverse: 61% white (non-Hispanic)
  • Religious: only 21% are religiously unaffiliated
  • Moderately Educated: 46% had a high school diploma or less in 1995 (at age 25-32)
  • Patriotic: 64% say they would describe themselves as “a very patriotic person”
  • Insecure about Retirement: 44% are not confident about having enough money for retirement — this insecurity is greater than both that of Baby Boomers (40%) and Millennials (35%)
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