A few nights ago, I was in DC for a networking reception and dinner hosted by Independent Sector in celebration of their Initiative for Nonprofit Talent and Leadership. I got to see many old friends, plus our 2008 and 2010 Future Executive Directors Fellows were there! Everyone was asking me where am I living and what am I doing now, which tells me that I need to do a better job of updating y’all on my adventures!
I’ve been traveling quite a bit over the past year, living in several different cities on a short-term basis including Northern Virginia, Honolulu and Baltimore. Right now I’m in Charlottesville, Virginia and plan to stay here through the summer. Charlottesville is definitely more than just UVA – it’s a small, beautiful city with tons of green space, great wine, southern charm and an amazing local food movement. Since I’ve been here, I’ve had the chance to speak at both James Madison University and Bridgewater College about social media for nonprofits. I also had a great time meeting Cristine Nardi and the staff of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence last week! They’re providing some essential resources for nonprofits in Charlottesville.
So that’s what’s going on with me! I’ve been traveling, speaking, training, consulting, writing and exploring. And I hope to get to YOUR city soon 
Now, on to some important links that came to me via email or Twitter this week, all worth adding to your Friday reading list:
- The Nonprofit Quarterly interviews three nonprofit leaders facing a political moment in which an enormous amount is at stake: Nancy Northup, of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Ai-jen Poo, of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and George Goehl, of National People’s Action. The question: How are they thinking about the political moment, and how are they and their organizations responding in terms of taking leadership?
- The Hawai`i Community Foundation is partnering with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund on a national study exploring the development director role in nonprofit organizations. If you’re an Executive Director/CEO with a senior level fund development position on staff OR a senior level fund development staff member yourself, please take this survey by June 30, 2012. The nonprofit sector could sure use the data!
- Do you put your money where your values are? A millennial shares his journey to align his personal finances with his vision to support a more equitable and sustainable society.
- And now, a brutally honest post about grad school: My Law Degree is Worthless (written by one of my Blogging School students, @thereselee!)
- I don’t know how I missed this when it happened, but it seems like an important merger just went down for the benefit of the nonprofit sector: National Council of Nonprofits Absorbs Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest
- Now this is a fantastic nonprofit social media resource if I ever saw one: 27 Ways to Increase Engagement on Your Facebook Page (by the brilliant @johnhaydon)
- Here’s a great example of how the Minneapolis chapter of Emerging Pratitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) is using our book!
- And finally, here’s a long but good explanation of why Flickr is becoming the Myspace of photo sharing. Looks like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are now better tools to get your organization’s photos shared aross the web. I’ve been saying this in my nonprofit social media trainings for the past year, but now I actually have tangible proof LOL. (via @mbaizman)
