Hey there - it's Monday and this morning we have a new fundraising tip by our friends at Movie Mondays. 

Click below to see the short video on "A Fun Way to Expand Your Donor Base and Engage More People!"

In a database, security is key but is should be kept simple.  

Politics.

Ever since Donald Trump was unexpectedly elected the next President of the United States the internet has been abuzz with speculation about how it could have happened. We think our colleagues at Generation Citizen, the civics nonprofit, summed it up in one sentence:

THE EPIDEMIC

The silent scourge of opioid addiction began to secretly infest America’s small suburban towns almost a decade ago. The wanton prescribing of opioid pain medication, like OxyContin, by American doctors claimed more innocent victims to heroin addiction than the entire army of illegal drug dealers. Suburban housewives, school teachers, firemen, and ministers replaced inner-city teenagers as victims. The legitimate medical profession, critical of its own previous performance in pain management, prescribed vast amounts of opioid derivatives and ended up addicting entire towns to heroin. No one seemed to notice or wanted to admit it. Gradually, however, as the poison that legitimate doctors injected into the veins of unsuspecting fathers, mothers, sons and daughters began to have its pernicious effect, heroin addiction was recognized by local and federal health officials as an epidemic that had silently infected our entire society.

As you go through your year, you work hard, put in the hours, and focus on doing the best job possible, all while serving your customers. But in all you do, day in and day out, do you take the time to acknowledge your customers and the people who support you and your organization — do you let them know how much you appreciate them?

The election is over and there are obviously mixed feelings across the board ranging from excitement about the future, devastation about the loss, to just a general level of uncertainty. We talked recently about how social workers can approach their clients during this uncertain time whether they are republicans, democrats, or undecideds. Staying impartial is critical and using the current situation to their advantage are keys to tackling the challenges we are seeing with helping clients. Social workers are able to dig deeper into underlying concerns, mental state, and the real needs of their clients, but what about social workers themselves?

Not only do we need to understand the effect politics has on the people social workers serve but we need to understand what affect is has on those providing these services. Everyone will handle this transition of power from President Obama to President Elect trump differently but the mission remains the same! There are still children and families in this country that need their help.

No matter what side of the political fence you fall on your clients are counting on you to show up! Unfortunately, you don’t get a day off from all the terrible things happening every day in our country to our most vulnerable population, children. That is a luxury not afforded to this field of work. No matter who the Commander in Chief is we still need you to show up and work towards improving our client’s lives and protecting children. Thanks for showing up when times are tough!

Good morning - this post comes to us from our friends at Move Mondays.  I have posted the article here in it's entirety.

The world of Social Services is populated with “givers”. No sensible person seeks fame or fortune in social work, so every year at this time we give thanks for our colleagues who became social workers because of an inner impulse to help the less fortunate.

This Thanksgiving we would like to recognize, and especially thank, one very special group of these “givers” - the over 62 MILLION VOLUNTEERS who provide indispensable support for both community based and nonprofit social services across the entire country.