Madera Group

Madera Group is working with The Body Positive to strengthen the next generation of female leaders, freeing them from obsession with external image, and supporting them in developing self acceptance so they can focus on living life to its fullest.  Young women of today are bombarded with advertising and a popular culture that promotes an unhealthy relationship between eating and wellness.

Artists and Activists: A Dialogue about Water and Human Rights

Photographers Robert Dawson and Roberto Bear Guerra – both featured in the exhibition – will discuss the artist’s experience and unique role in highlighting the connection between rivers, dams and human rights. They will be joined by Steve Rothert, California Director of American Rivers, and Aviva Imhof, Campaigns Director of International Rivers, activists on the front lines of the struggle for healthy rivers and human rights in California and around the world. This conversation will be moderated by Patrick McCully, Executive Director of International Rivers.

For the fourth consecutive year, online vendor Convio has assembled The Convio Online Nonprofit Benchmark Study which assembles 2009 online metrics for over 500 nonprofits in 15 nonprofit sectors.

Since 2009, I have been reading quite a bit about slacktivism. In most contexts I have found the term, it has had a negative connotation, directly implying that slacktivists are people who are too lazy to engage in something meaningful.

Amy Sample Ward with Netsquared wrote a good roundup in February 2010 of the social media response to the Haiti earthquake in January. She writes that “the way we think about and turn to social media in a time of disaster is changing.” Amy’s article discusses how mobile technology is impacting the process of mapping, fundraising, and missing persons.

If you have heard the buzz, so have million 

2009 may have been a tough year for the US economy, but Facebook Causes helped nonprofits raise $14 million (a 4-time increase vs. 2008 giving on the platform).

This weekend, I was reading the interview of Techcrunch with Gina Bianchini (CEO of Ning) in Davos. In it, Gina argues that that she doesn’t see Nign as a competitor of Facebook or Twitter.

Recently, I had the great opportunity to deliver a couple of sessions of a workshop titled Social Media for Nonprofits to approximately 20 small nonprofit groups in the Bay Area.

These are the slides from the presentation (with a few enhancements I made to them thanks to the feedback I got from participants). You can download the presentation if you prefer watching it offline.

Steve MacLaughlin from Blackbaud offers us an interesting review of online giving trends in 2009, writing for NTEN.  Here are some highlights that jumped out at me: