Good morning! We’re mid-way through the week and ever-closer to Halloween. Check out some interesting non-profit news on this Wednesday morning, as well as some great coverage for Catalogue’s own organizations:
Where Do You Fit in the Market?: Hop over to Social Velocity for this post on the ideal position of (new) non-profits in the marketplace. The piece makes a smart, concise argument for high-impact services for a specific community, asserting that “a nonprofit is best positioned where their core competencies (those organizational assets they have that cannot be easily taken or replicated) intersect with a community need.”
Going ‘Mad’ for Pro Bono: I am digging this post from the Taproot Foundation, which delves into an intriguing episode of AMC’s Mad Men. Namely, the finale of the fourth season wherein the central ad firm loses Lucky Strikes as a client and goes on to partner with the American Cancer Society pro bono. As the fictional executives ultimately realize, “pro bono service … infuses the power and prestige of business with the vision and passion of the nonprofit sector to give birth to a wealth of entrepreneurial capital.”
The Demonization of Debt: This post on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Money and Mission blog certainly caught my eye. Does debt truly deserve a bad rap in the non-profit world? And in the world at large? Or, as the post asserts, is it debt that “allows organizations to acquire assets.”
Helping Out: Giving was a life lesson learned from mom: I am a bit behind on this one, but do swing by the Washington Post site for last week’s interview with Julia Plotnick, chairman of the board of Health Volunteers Overseas and life-long volunteer.
Success Story: Health Kids, The Washington Jesuit Academy Way: Who was featured on the White House’s Let’s Move! campaign blog yesterday? That would be the Washington Jesuit Academy, where “we have over 2 hours a day of exercise and team sports time, we eat three healthy well-balanced meals a day Let’s Move! is alive and well.”
Woolly Mammoth’s hit play ‘Clybourne Park’ to return in summer 2011: After an immensely successful run last spring, Woolly will remount last season’s production of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, according to a Post article this Saturday. Back on the Woolly stage this summer, this biting comedy “throws open to discussion such pertinent issues as re-gentrification and whether we can ever truly speak frankly about race.”