The FAMCare Blog

The future is here. 3.2 billion subscribers, an estimated 47% of people on the planet, are using mobile technology. 74% of adults use social networking sites.

Social workers are no exception. They are beginning to revolutionize practice with technology. In addition to using mobile devices to communicate with clients and advanced digital data collection, social workers are taking Masters courses in online formats and even dabbling in cyber therapy with certain clients.

In this age of social media and all the virtual ways we can connect, it’s still important to make sure and be in front of each other on a regular basis.

In college I studied Speech Communication and one particular story told by the instructor really stuck with me through all of these years. The story starts with the instructor talking about a Rolling Stones concert he attended when he lived in LA. The concert was going to be held at the football stadium and the crowd was unbelievably huge. He had a hard time convincing his new wife to go as she cited the traffic, crowds, late night out when she was going to have to go to work early the next day. After much discussion she finally agreed to attend. To avoid some of the traffic issues they decided to arrive pretty early in the afternoon. The instructor described her demeanor as less than happy to be there. As the crowd started moving in and the stadium getting more active he describes a change in her attitude as well as the crowd. There was an electrical feeling in the air as the sound tests were being done and you could hear the roadies tuning and testing instruments. He describes the growing excitement and that by the time the Stones actually came on the stage she was literally jumping up and down and so glad she was there.

A quick tip from our friends at Movie Mondays - Fundraising Tips...

IT investments are crucial for any organization, but they cannot succeed without careful budgeting. To avoid common mistakes and place your initiatives on a firm financial foundation, make sure to:

SAMHSA announces grant funding opportunities through Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs). Each FOA contains all the information you need to apply for a grant.

Our recent blog on the Charter School movement highlighted the dramatic adoption of Charter Schools in two cities in crisis: New Orleans after Katrina and Detroit after the collapse of the auto industry. The question that remains after we reported the brief history of Charter Schools is:

This article comes to us from our friends at Movie Mondays.  Enjoy!

Often times it is convenient or necessary to send text messages from your FAMCare or Registry System. The current version of Visions Server (the engine that drives FAMCare and ClinicalPURSUIT) supports outgoing text messaging right out of the box with the SMS Outgoing Message Module.

We hear that an increasing number of our social worker colleagues are going into the relatively new field of Coaching.

Traditionally, Coaching has been associated with sports or the corporate sector, where companies hired coaches to work with executives seeking self-improvement. Most coaches were either business coaches, executive coaches, leadership coaches, career coaches, or life coaches.

Welcome to a New Year. I’ve made the same resolution this year that I’ve made for the past 20 or so New Years, and that is to not make any resolutions. Cliché I know, but taking the easy way out on this just seems, well, cliché.

What Exactly is a Charter School?

A public charter school is a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract (or charter) with the state or jurisdiction. The charter exempts the school from certain state or local rules and regulations, but the charter school must meet the accountability standards outlined in its charter.

Happy Monday!  This post comes to us from our friends at Movie Mondays!

In today's video episode, Deidre McCormack Martin talks about her role as the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization as it pertains to fundraising and talking with donors.

SEEDS OF DOUBT

When the Cancer Charities fraud case broke in 2015, donors began to ask how this kind of egregious fraud could go undetected for 28 years. “Can we depend on the IRS or the FTC or the state attorneys general to keep an eye on the nonprofit sector? Isn’t anyone watching the store?” Even concerned case workers began to wonder how the reaction to this case could have been so painfully slow. Everyone involved in the sector understood immediately that if this kind of doubt is permitted to creep in, nonprofit is in for big trouble.

This message comes to us from our friends at Movie Mondays - a video training source for nonprofits on fundraising and board strategies.