June 24, 2009

Following the premiere tonight of NBC’s new eight-part TV drama “The Philanthropist,” foundation leaders and others in the nonprofit world will have plenty to say about how the science and craft of grant making is represented to a prime-time audience. One can almost hear the groans starting now.

It’s no real surprise that the show’s creators have taken broad liberties in their depiction of fictional philanthropy. The American public, after all, has had little chance to learn how philanthropy works in the real world.

The show’s lead character, Teddy Rist, is a “billionaire playboy-turned-vigilante philanthropist.” Mr. Rist — played by the British actor James Purefoy — is an attractive, wealthy, and risk-prone businessman who, after a life-changing event, redirects his energy toward saving people in need.

Read the full article on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s website…

Dear friends –

I have recently accepted a position of Communications Executive at the Atlantic Philanthropies in New York City.  This means I will be putting my consulting practice on hold for the time being.  Please watch the video announcement for more details.

Thanks,

Edith Asibey

While it did a great job keeping this reorganization work to itself, the foundation more than made up for its silence via a well-executed and multi-pronged announcement effort that increased the foundation’s visibility in both traditional and social media.

Read the full post on the Communications Network blog…

Note: this entry was posted on April 17, 2008

This ‘tweet’ was sent a few days ago by The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof during his travels through Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He announced his trip here. This could be, in 140 characters or less, the central message of most organizations advocating for reproductive rights and family planning.

Advocates are using the 140 characters in Twitter in a variety of ways. Most of what I see revolves around mini-press releases (“New report on childhood obesity is available”) (“Our ED will be on Fox News this eve at 6 pm.”). We seem to have extended to Twitter our bad habit of getting messages out through as many channels as possible, while rehashing the same content on each channel, without much consideration for our audience or the medium.

Read the full blog post at The Exchange…

- What are the main barriers that still prevent women from successfully navigating traditional power structures in both rich and developing countries? What can we do to bring these barriers down?

- What can we learn from the individual and collective experiences of women who have succeeded in establishing their leadership in difficult and unfavorable conditions?

- Over the next five years, what major milestone could be achieved that would signify a major advance in women’s political, economic and societal rights?

Read the discussion.

How do you know if your communications are achieving the change you wish to see?  This was the key question that drove our research behind the first guide to help foundations and nonprofits evaluate their communications.  Asibey Consulting undertook an extensive research and development project looking at existing communications evaluation practices in the nonprofit, corporate and academic sectors.

The results are in!  The Communications Network has published Are We There Yet? A Communications Evaluation Guide. Created by Asibey Consulting, and made possible by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the guide walks users through a nine-step process for creating plans for monitoring and measuring their communications.  Are We There Yet? also encourages users to make course corrections if the desired progress milestones are not being achieved.

The guide helps communications practitioners put together an evaluation strategy that could work for communications campaigns for behavior or policy change, as well as for efforts to raise awareness of an organization or an issue.

The guide features:

• Background on why evaluation can contribute to good communications.
• Nine practical steps to develop an Evaluation Strategy.
• Four examples of “evaluation in action” from the Lumina Foundation for Education, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Neimand Collaborative, and the California HealthCare Foundation.
• A worksheet to design your own Evaluation Strategy.

Download and start using Are We There Yet?

To get an overview of the guide, watch this lively webinar (54 minutes).

In response to requests for hard copies, The Communications Network has made arrangements for the 40-page guide to be printed on demand at a per copy cost of $8.00, plus shipping. Order print copies.

Toni Parras, Justin van Fleet and Edith Asibey had a lively conversation with Andy Goodman to unveil the work that went into producing “Are We There Yet? A Communications Evaluation Guide.” Created by Asibey Consulting, the Guide was just released by the Communications Network and it’s available here. Participants posed their own questions about the topic.

Due to the high interest in this project, the Communications Network has made the one-hour webinar available for those who couldn’t join; it contains audio and slides.  Watch the webinar on the Communications Network’s website (54 minutes).

The Fall 2008 Communications Network Conference in Chicago, Sept. 24-26 has attracted the largest attendance in recent years. Some 200 communications professionals from foundations, nonprofits, and consulting firms from the United States and Canada – attended the event.

As in past years, the 2008 Network conference showcased best practices and new ideas in communications in philanthropy.  Two Network projects were presented for the first time: a study about the ways digital technologies are changing the face of foundation communications and a Guide that we at Asibey Consulting have been developing to help foundation communicators assess their work. The rest of the conference featured sessions ranging from how to make Web 2.0 work for you to topics that cover the ins and outs of day-to-day communications challenges.  The Network’s newly-launched blog features highlights of several presentations.

During an interesting session titled “The merging of communications and program activities online,” Susan Promislo of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) discussed ways that RWJF has been experimenting with social media to help find ideas that may result in new funding interests or projects. She described an online competition, held in collaboration with Ashoka’s Changemakers, that challenged social entrepreneurs to come up with promising new solutions, including disruptive innovations in health and health care.

Photo credit: The Communications Network