Slow economic recovery for nonprofits gives even more of a reason to partner

A new study from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), a collective of six organizations that study nonprofits, was released this month detailing slow economic growth for nonprofits. The Late Fall 2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Study found that 59% of nonprofits received the same or less in contributions in the first nine months of 2011 compared to the first nine months in 2010. For the other 41%, there was a 5% increase in giving compared to 2010. While funding seems to be declining or stagnant for the majority, 65% of the nonprofits surveyed reported that there was an increased demand for their services compared to last year. Click here for the full report.

The Late Fall 2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Study highlights that like individuals, nonprofits have also suffered from the down economy. The irony is the very organizations that are supposed to help those in need are in need themselves. So where does this leave them and how can they address this burden? This is the precise situation in which partnerships are extremely valuable. Nonprofits must pool their resources (material and human) so that they can continue to do the great work that they do.  After all, an ever increasing amount of people in the community are counting on them.

Oxfam America releases new report on the politics of partnership

Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization, released a report on Tuesday aimed at providing recommendations for future US government and aid recipient countries relations.  The report titled "The politics of partnership: How donors manage risk while letting recipients lead their own development" studies the donor-recipient partnerships in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Malawi, and Tanzania and offers nine steps that donors can take to "pursue partnership and manage risk". Click here to read the report. 

The report overall seems to have some very good recommendations for navigating the politics that comes about in partnerships. Giving aid although a noble act in the face of disaster and poor living conditions, is only as useful as the ownership and empowerment of the people that the aid is meant for. A lack in either, and the money is susceptible to misuse or outright corruption.

The results are in on Microsoft's "Elevate America" state voucher program

From February 2009 to August 2010, Microsoft partnered with states and the District of Columbia to provide free computer skills training to help the unemployed get the training they need to get back to work and under-skilled workers get more training as part of their Elevate America Initiative. In the end, Microsoft distributed more than 800,000 training and certification vouchers to the states and the District of Columbia who then distributed the vouchers to these individuals.

Overall this program had many successes and helped many people across the nation. Like all great things, there's always room for improvement and  Microsoft details their lessons learned, including the policy implications of the program, in their report titled Elevate America’s State Voucher Strategy to Promote Employability Lessons Learned.