For various reasons — as a board member, a staff member, an advisor, and such — I find myself in the middle of four separate strategic thinking efforts among four separate organizations and initiatives. Although these are non-similar organizations, with very different purposes and governance structures, the conversations have been strikingly similar. The most vexing […]

Some interesting thoughts over at Social Edge about the future of nonprofits, NGOs, social sector organizations, or whatever we might be calling them in 2016. According to the intro, a decade from now, these organizations will: Be mobile Offer instant transparency and social impact measurements Become rapid response social opportunity networks Access free, on-demand technology […]

If you hadn’t yet realized that Apple iPods were everywhere, or soon will be, then take a look at the new iPod player ”slash” bathroom tissue dispenser. It just goes to show that there are markets, products, and services yet to be exploited. All we need is a large marketplace with relatively affluent and lifestyle-focused […]

Andrew Adler in the Louisville Courier-Journal touches on a question that’s bubbling up a lot these days, not just in the arts, but in the entire social sector: given all the talk of need and crisis and funding, where’s the public conversation about the value and content of cultural activity? Says Adler: …simply saying we […]

Just time for a short post today, pointing you to yet another cool and addictive prototype from Google, Google Trends. This system allows you to view the relative frequency of searches for up to five terms, plotted along a timeline. Says Google: With Google Trends, you can compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. […]

There are lots of conversation starters in this short article on change and refocusing at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Arts Center. The three-year-old arts center is discontinuing its theater productions after the current season draws to a close, and focusing their efforts on other work. ”Everything [we do] is really successful, except the theater season,” says […]

Wired magazine has a piece on yet another trendy word construction made possible by the on-line world. Crowdsourcing includes any effort by a commercial enterprise to leverage the scattered talents of large groups of individuals on the web. Many firms are finding the technique extraordinarily powerful in building stock photo archives, writing or testing bits […]

Arts organizations have always explored the boundary between charitable gifts and fees for services. It’s one of the inevitable struggles when you receive significant revenue from both earned and contributed sources. But if we needed a warning about violating that boundary, we have a wonderful poster child in academic athletics. Take, for example, the University […]

I’m just digging out from a wonderful time in Milwaukee, participating in the Americans for the Arts convention. More thoughts and comments coming soon. But it was a real pleasure sharing the stage with the little improvisational ”think tank” assembled by Barry Hessenius — including me along with: Bob Lynch, President and CEO of Americans […]

Marketing maven Grant MacDonald offers a top-ten list of ”basic instincts” among teens, targeted by his firm when trying to make a product or service ”cool” to the youngens. If your work involves making sackbut ensembles hip and trendy, this list is worth a look (heaven knows you’ll need the help). In a nutshell the […]