News from hibernation

I swear, it's weeks like this that explain why hibernation was invented. In my head, I know the days are starting to get longer, but the view out our office window is grey grey grey, all the livelong day. I could do with a little sun and warmth.

But whenever I feel like complaining, I think about the people of Yakustk, a city of some 270,000 in eastern Russia, where it is -51 degrees right now. Yes, that's 51 degrees below zero. And it's going to get down to -53 before the night is over. During daylight hours it will warm to 38 degrees below zero. So it's all relative.

I'm trying to do my part to break us out of perceived and/or real winter dormancy by passing along some news before it goes stale.

• Program Officer Kim Thomas has written a post about the convergence that happened recently around community food systems work. READ MORE
• Software Engineer Grant Kruger offers an interesting perspective in his report on his latest battle to completely eradicate spam from our website. READ MORE
• MMT is sponsoring an upcoming event to help foundations and nonprofits understand their rights and responsibilities in advocacy about public policy. Nonprofits and Advocacy: Mission Advancement and Civic Engagement takes place January 23rd (morning session for foundations, afternoon session for nonprofits) at Mercy Corps Aceh Lecture Room, 45 SW Ankeny in downtown Portland. The event is a partnership of Alliance for Justice, Oregon Department of Justice, Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington and Nonprofit Association of Oregon. FOR MORE INFO AND TO REGISTER
• The annual Nonprofit Finance Fund survey about nonprofit financial and management challenges and opportunities in 2012 and 2013 is open. The survey takes 10-15 minutes and the results will be used to "generate widespread awareness of nonprofit experiences as they work hard to serve their communities." TAKE THE SURVEY
• The Oregon and SW Washington chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals is gathering information about area nonprofits through a survey of our region's nonprofit leaders. The survey closes January 25, 2013 and results will be shared with respondents in February. TAKE THE SURVEY
• Underdeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising is generating a lot of conversation after it revealed that "many nonprofit organizations are stuck in a vicious cycle that threatens their ability to raise the resources they need to succeed." The report found high levels of turnover and lengthy vacancies in development director positions throughout the sector. More significantly, the study reveals deeper issues that contribute to instability in the development director role, including a lack of basic fundraising systems and inadequate attention to fund development among key board and staff leaders. It also identifies steps to break this cycle. READ THE REPORT (PDF)
  
• Lightbox Collaborative has offered up a free editorial calendar for 2013 to help nonprofits think of new and interesting ways to get their message out over the coming year. As Beth Kanter says, "It's not every day that you come across high quality content shared freely with the community." READ MORE
• Speaking of Beth Kanter, I've been meaning to mention her new book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit, which offers tools and strategies needed for nonprofits that want reliable and measurable data from their social media efforts. CHECK OUT THE BOOK

Okay, that's enough to digest in one sitting. But here's a bit more, depending on whether you want to remain in hibernation (ultra slo-mo videos) or jolt yourself awake with adrenaline coursing through your veins (video of traffic near-fatalities).

In either case, may we all find something to love about the weather we have, even if it's not the weather we want.

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