EPIP is proud to announce our partnership with the Nonprofit Technology Network. NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. NTEN helps you do your job better, so you can make the world a better place. NTEN is offering EPIP members a special free introductory membership or 10% discount on renewing membership with NTEN. Further details can be found here. Additionally, NTEN is offering EPIP members discounts on the following upcoming webinars (discount codes for all partner offers can be found on Member Connect): Secrets of the Content Marketing Sorcerers (September 5) Advocacy of the Future and How to Evolve With It – Social Media Component and Beyond (Oct 17) When Your Clients Tell the Story of Your Impact (Nov 13) Read more about the EPIP-NTEN partnership here.   Read more

Following is a guest post from Jen Bokoff, Director of GrantCraft, a service of the Foundation Center in New York and the European Foundation Centre in Brussels. Follow her on Twitter at @grantcraft and @jenbo1. When I started work as a program officer at a small private foundation, I had my street smarts, book smarts, and experiences as my compass. There were articles here and there about fascinating trends in philanthropy, some meetings on special topics with other grantmakers in the region, and I followed some doers and shakers in the field on Twitter to hear their 140 character snippets of wise words. What I didn’t have, however, was a toolkit for how to be a thoughtful funder. I didn’t have a go-to resource, and therefore grappled with issues that arose in the course of our foundation’s work that were as simple as, “How do I say no?” and more strategically geared like, “Is our partnership with the government similar to that which other funders experience?” Over time, these questions were explored and answered with my team, but it would have been nice to also learn from the experience of other, more seasoned funders. If only I had known about GrantCraft. Read more

EPIP San Diego held a workshop on Communicating with Authenticity, learning to structure conversations to build mutual inquiry, understanding, and trust that help generate more effective collaboration and action. Participants from around the San Diego community learned how to make specific communication choices – speaking, questions, listening, silence, reflection – that build the relationships to increase organizational, community, and social change impact. Following the dynamic workshop, participants responded that they now understand the responsibilities to “think clearly about what one wants to promote, prevent” in dialogue. That we should “respect our audience, listen, inquire, be curious.” Stop, listen, reframe or inquire. Create new pathways to connect the dots. Keep in mind difference between intention and impact. Be intentional about space for inviting and giving feedback. Ask questions that inspire new ways of thinking. Inquire for the sake of furthering dialogue and responding to previous questions. Next time you’re engaging in conversation, make it meaningful and constructive by being present and leaning in. Connect, engage, and give back. Read more

EPIP’s new partner, The Nonprofit Technology Network, is hosting a free webinar to help prepare non-profits to capitalize on the mobile revolution.  Take this opportunity to learn how non-profits can utilize new platforms and build on best practices to thrive in an increasingly competitive mobile environment. The webinar will feature a number of  technological gurus and will tackle the current challenges to going mobile, while offering innovative approaches and responsive techniques that should make it easier and faster for non-profits to effectively go mobile.  Register today and gain some new insight into the mobile experience for non-profits! The details: Tuesday, August 27th 11:00am-12:30pm EDT Free for everyone! Read more

EPIP’s Summer Intern, Chad Salter, recently had a conversation with Edgar Villanueva, Program Officer at Marguerite Casey Foundation and member of EPIP’s Board of Advisors about his path in philanthropy.  Following is an excerpt from their conversation. Chad Salter: How did you become interested/involved in philanthropy (what has been your career path)? Read more

YOU MUST RSVP at Eventbrite to ensure you receive the information.  Webinar access info will be sent a few days prior to the webinar.  EPIP members can contact [email protected] for the Eventbrite access code needed for free registration. Monday, August 19th 3-4pm EDT Free for EPIP Members $10 for Non-members Open-Sourcing Social Change: Engaging networks for social justice and leadership development Our nation’s social and economic challenges often appear intractable because so many policies, practices, and institutions interact in complex ways that yield inequitable results.  As a result, social justice organizations are increasingly realizing that no one institution or sector is capable of addressing these problems on its own.  With this challenge in mind, nonprofits, social enterprises and even governments are experimenting with strategies to “open-source social change” by mobilizing networks, co-creating innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems, sharing learnings from their work in real time, and engaging with non-traditional partners. During this webinar, we will examine what it means to open-source social change, explore examples of this work in practice, discuss ways to enact this approach in members’ own work, and identify the opportunities this approach creates for leadership development for emerging practitioners of social justice work. Read more

Allie Yee is a fellow at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and an EPIP member. She responded to the EPIP summer challenge asking EPIP members to share the ways they are exercising leadership this summer. This is Allie’s story.  “I don’t know anything about nonprofit financials.” That’s what I said to a program officer last summer when I started at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in North Carolina. After a month on the job and just three months out of undergrad, I was about to start my first grant cycle and felt completely unprepared to make judgments on which nonprofits to fund, much less assess their financial health with any sophistication. Thankfully, my first grant cycle consisted largely of shadowing program officers, so I skated by on just an introduction to the basics and an assurance to just use my common sense. Read more

August 28th, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. It marks a pivotal day in American history when citizens forced two institutions, the Department of Labor and The department of Justice, to acknowledge issues of economic and civil inequality. 50 years later, Americans will convene and march again to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the March on Washington. Equally important, citizens can draw attention to recent issues that continue to frustrate Americans 50 years after the 1963 march. Read more

This post was authored by Paul Bachleitner, Project Director of Joint Affinity Groups (JAG) and was originally published on the JAG Blog. It appears here as part of the EPIP-JAG blogging partnership, “Wit and Wisdom”. Less than three weeks ago, the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin rocked the nation. The outrage directed at Zimmerman and stand your ground laws was merited, but it might have been better directed at the policies and structural barriers that cast men and boys of color as criminals and wary citizens in a shoot-first mentality. Read more

Finding a mentor is tough. We all know it. So this year, EPIP LA is piloting its first ever mentorship program to make that process a little easier for our members. Through our Mentorship Program, EPIP LA aims to provide participants with the tools needed to seek out and develop meaningful connections with experienced leaders and their peers. Read more