If I Were Running A Company…Accelerating Social Entrepreneurship

(Disclaimer: My company, Tran Recruiting, was a sponsor at the Accelerating Social Entrepreneurship Conference)

Last week, I attended the fourth Accelerating Social Entrepreneurship (ASE) Conference (they didn’t have the conference last year) where 300 attendees from academic, government, public, and private sectors to discuss the role of social entrepreneurship in the age of austerity. This was a lively, transparent discussions throughout the day and am amazed by the brute honestly from speakers, especially Senator Mark Warner. Here are some highlights at the ASE Conference:

• Managing Director of the Mason Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Greg Werkheiser, mention the ASE Conference is to make you happy.
• From Sen. Warner, “85% of the 2011 federal budget cuts came from 14% of the budget came from discretionary domestic spending.” Basically, they cut out education, transportation, lunch meals, etc.
• “Nonprofits not only need to collaborate, but compete.” - Bill Shore
• Nearly everyone agrees collaboration between social entrepreneurs and public policy is a must.
• “We need more ‘creative destruction’ in the nonprofit world.” – Sen. Warner
• It is alright to fail, but don’t go rock bottom if you have to borrow money from your parents’ retirement fund.
• According to Michael Chodos of the Small Business Administration, rural and under-served communities are the fastest growing businesses in the U.S.
• Three plans you need: spiritual, financial, and a business plan.
• Most important thing to go into social entrepreneurship: Start!
• “I drop ‘run like a business’ because it doesn’t make sense. You just have to be a good executive.” - Mario Morino
• “There is no difference between social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in general. It’s about execution” – Morino.
• “It’s a great moment in the world that people are challenging cultures that have been held for a long time.” -Muslim Lakhani.
• “Leaders need a new social contract when they hold the position.” – Lakhani.
• “Social Entrepreneurship isn’t about creating a nonprofit, but businesses that do good for society.” – Paul Carttar.
• “If you own a Kindle, you’re adding to the trade deficit.” – Terry McAuliffe.

There are hundreds of themes, but the one main thing I want to take away is actually a quote from Mitt Romney from his campaign telling that “corporations are people.” In hindsight, that was kind of true when Occupy Wall Street happened because protesters, in my opinion, wanted jobs in the corporate world and are getting the shaft, hence all this attention. Fast forward to this conference, Senator Warner mention that colleges need to do a better job on creating better social entrepreneurs, for which he hasn’t seen any good program, yet. This is where institutions need to do a better job to change the mindset of people.

If Occupy Wall Street is about getting an opportunity, a natural-minded entrepreneur would be surrounding him/herself in a gold of potential workers locally. There are only a few cases of this, but if, for example, the Mason Center of Social Entrepreneurship educate people who want to good, the Center has to educate on the choices that are out there. Some people want to be social entrepreneurs, some want to work within a nonprofit, or some want to be a consultant to work for numerous nonprofits. Institutions need to give these “do-gooders” options instead of one mindset that after college, they have to go to the “corporate” world to learn. Universities have to step to the plate to make a smooth transition for students going into the real world and that’s giving them options.

If there is one thing that I would improve about the conference, it’s not about the conference but more about timing, is put this a day before the DCWeek core conference and do something with “Give To The Max” Day. You would see the inner workings of a wonderful conference even better.

I might sound bias since I’m a George Mason alum and a sponsor, but if you want an honest, lively, engaging, and transparent conversation on social entrepreneurs, nonprofits and how the public and private sector can help, this conference is meant for you. If you’re a nonprofiteer, social entrepreneur, nonprofit of setting up your conference schedule next year in the DC area, this is a must.

If I Were Running A Company…The Nonprofit Tech Conference

This past week, I attended the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington D.C. This was one of the most anticipated conferences I wanted to attend this year because I heard great things about last year’s conference in Atlanta, plus my friends were attending and/or presenting so I register and attend. This is what I got out of:

The Service

NTEN did a wonderful job before the conference to give every attendee a rundown on what to expect and deliver a wonderful site for attendees to set their schedule, see who is attending and setup meetings with other attendees. At the conference, NTEN staff and volunteers were what they are online: friendly and helpful. The people there were great and wish other conferences have a friendly and proactive approach. In addition, everyone got a copy of Dan Heath’s book,“Switch” which was very cool from NTEN and Dan Heath.

The Sessions

In my opinion, most of the sessions I attended were informative and intriguing. For most of the attendees, they likely had an agenda of going to sessions in their field (I will discuss this later). As for me, I was curious about the nonprofit tech sector since I had some previous nonprofit tech openings and really want to understand the language and mindset of the people. The most filled session I attended was the SEO session and deservingly so as the session was advanced and didn’t cut any corners. The most intriguing session I attended was the diversity panel where 1) it resonate me as a HR person and 2) it was the most provocative conversation on diversity I heard in a long time. The two focal points of the diversity session were Jason Corning (partially blind and deaf) and Terry Booth (who is self-described as the “Tech Munchkin”) and the most interesting comment I heard from the conference was from Roger Holt, to paraphrase him:

“Jason doesn’t need light and Terry has a chair, why do we, ‘normal people who walk and talk,’ need lights, chairs, and speakers.”

If that doesn’t make you think, I don’t know what will.

Also, I attended my first Beth Kanter session, which was very cool. Overall, the sessions I attended were great and thought-provoking.

The Speakers:

Friday’s keynote speaker, Dan Heath, was excellent and humorous with his presentation with memorable takeaways from “change is sparked by feeling, not information” and “if you want change, failure is part of the deal.” Dan challenges the audience of making a difference in our organization, even if the process might be a pain.

Saturday’s keynote speaker, Moira Quinn of NPR’s Tech Nation, discusses net neutrality and mentions that not everyone embraces technology. Moira later brought out Representative Donna Edwards to further discuss net neutrality. The main takeaway is that most legislators are not educated on net neutrality and need to be educated on the subjected.

Both speakers were relevant for the conference, hence a great reaction from the crowd. Great job from NTEN and the keynote speakers

The “Science Fair”

Let’s admit it; the Science Fair is the exhibitor expo just for nonprofits. To me, this was the underwhelming part of the conference as the majority of exhibitors were fundraising software or deal with fundraising. There were a few I find to be intriguing, but the exhibitors never stood out. I wish there was a more diverse group of exhibitors next year.

Events

NTC Ignite:

This was the first time I went to an Ignite event. The premise is the presenter has 20 slides, 15 seconds each slide and must be done in 5 minutes. After seeing the presentations, it would take me a long time to master it. I’m more of an improv person than setting a script, but I’m still impressed by the Ignite speakers and have more respect for them.

Progressive Happy Hour:

I wanted to bar hop, but heard some of the bars were very crowded in the beginning, so I went to Grand Central for the Small Act Happy Hour and if you have The Princess Bride, Scoot Pilgrim vs. the World, and the NCAA Tournament, I am going to be there. Met a lot of old friends and create new relationships and chose a great party to attend. (Ahem)… Fine, I also won a gift card as well.

Two observations about the Nonprofit Tech Conference:

1. I overheard some at the conference and on Twitter about the majority of the sessions were lead by consultants and vendors and not nonprofiteer practitioners. This has been an issue for a long time in all conferences and I used to think they should have more “trench nonprofiteers” in the sessions, but with the changing job market, I would recommend sessions to have a consultant(s) and a nonprofiteer(s) to share the discussion on a topic. This would add multiple layers to the conversation that will satisfy most in attendance. I think the bigger question for NTEN is when they move up in the ladder in conferences. This year’s attendance was at 2008, which was 600 more than the previous year, and sixty percent of the attendees were newbies, plus the WiFi and 3G signals was all over the place. NTEN has to ask these questions:

1. What is the percentage of attendees who are in tech, marketing, nonprofits, or other?
2. If they expect attendance to go up, is it time to go to a bigger place like a convention center or be theIndependent Spirit Awards of tech? The latter might be tough to maintain.
3. If it grows, how does NTEN maintain the “soul” of the conference?

That’s a good problem NTEN has, but one bad move to upset the masses and they could ruin potentially a great thing.

2. Executive Director of NTEN, Holly Ross, mention in her speech on Friday that nonprofit tech needs to “have a seat at the table.” So, we have human resources and nonprofit tech who want to be at the table. I’m guessing development, communications, programs, and even janitors want to be at the table. The point being everyone wants to be at the table, but you need to have business and people skills, willingness to learn, and some passion and knowledge to the industry/sector to be at the table.

This brings up an article I saw that China Gorman wrote on her memo to HR. She mentions that HR must have evidence and analytics to convince the CEO to head to the proper direction.  Interestingly, Dan Heath mentions that change comes from emotions. Are they both right? In China’s case, data is important, which is crucial in any sector. However, and some HR people might not like this answer, HR is reactionary when it comes to results; but in tech, they test something out and try to find something that works and become proactive in their approach. What tech has an advantage of HR is one word: disruption. HR contributes to the sector, but tech are the game changers since they’re looking for new ways to change the sector. It’s not a bad thing about contributing to a sector like HR, but if you find something that can blow the lid open in your sector, you take the risk. This is why tech will have an advantage because of their liberal attitude and strong knowledge to the sector.

Conclusion

I have been in many conferences: most in my area in HR/Recruiting, some curious, and some just for fun. The Nonprofit Tech Conference is the best conference I ever attended not because of the sessions or the events happening around the conference. It was the people who are not only friendly at heart, but have the drive to help out in the nonprofit sector. This is the only conference that I can think of the merge an industry and profession woven together nicely. I wish Nonprofit HR or any other sector/profession had that and will soon down the line, but the nonprofit tech people get it.

Congratulations NTEN on mastering that.

If I Was Running A Company…Nonprofit Careers

In honor of Nonprofit Career Month, and since I deal with nonprofits all day, I’ll take a stab of what it takes to be in nonprofits.

This is a unique time for a nonprofit employee and job seeker.  The economy is still recovering from the recession, but nonprofits are laying off and eliminating jobs to save costs.   However, there are plenty who want to come into the nonprofit world but don’t know how.  Here are the three questions you must ask yourself:

The first question is what is your motivation.  You must have a purpose of why you’re going to nonprofits. Please do not say that you want to go to nonprofits for the sake of it.  In nonprofits, there are numerous choices to go work for nonprofits from the environment, education, civil rights, jobs, even Furry Animal Mascots.  The point here is have a focus on what you want to do and if its money, then work for a for-profit company (unless you want to make money digital and paperless, then there’s an organization for that, I think).

The second question you must ask is do you have the threshold to be in the nonprofit sector.  Remember that nonprofits don’t pay well and work long hours on occasion.  Can you take being underpaid but also take steps to budget yourself for the year?  Can you move closer to your workplace? What about alternative transportation? Eat out or go organic? Do I want to start a family?  All these questions (and more) must be answer and plan ahead.

The third and final question is do you have the skill set and dedication to move into nonprofits.  Every skill set can be transferable from all sectors, but can you be 100% committed to a new area?  Although skill sets transfer, the rules, procedures, and environment change.  Basically it is asking: Are you willing to convert from evil to good?

If your answer is that you still want to work for nonprofits, then act like a nonprofiteer and be proactive.  Go volunteer to events that you want to attend, attend  networking events for a good cause (like Twestival), find people through social media since most nonprofiteers are there, and find people who know how nonprofits operate in their area (HR, Finance, Programs).  To give you a head start, here are the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance. 

In a nonprofit career, you have to be 100% committed and dedicated on what you’re doing and anything less than that, try to find another profession.  There are many causes to work or join;  you just have to find something that gets you motivated for your own reason to make your nonprofit career work.

Good Luck!

YNPN 2009 National Conference Day 1 Wrap-Up

I attended the YNPN National Leaders Conference in D.C. and if I was wearing a suit on Friday, it better be a damn good conference.  After today, it was a damn good conference.  I have to say, over 200 showed up for this conference and it was a very diverse crowd.  I do think the topics play a big role for the huge turnout since it is a unique time for nonprofits.  Here is the Day 1 summary:

Panel: State of the DC Nonprofit Sector

Panelists:  Chuck Bean, Executive Director, Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington; Tamara Copeland, President, Washington Grantmakers; Glen O’Glivie, CEO, Center for Nonprofit Advancement

 

·         The fate of nonprofits depends on what type of nonprofit you are in. If you’re in a foundation or a non-revenue diversified organization, the outlook looks bleak.  If you’re a nonprofit that has fee-based services, individual giving, and skills-based volunteering, then you’re stable, but with the economy, it could turn anytime.

·         While organizations are cost containing from cutting benefits, no reimbursement on professional development, layoffs, and others;  the big picture for nonprofits is to not eliminate their services.

·         Only 1/3 of the organizations have reserved funds this year.  Ouch.

·         Approximately 100,000 nonprofits will be closing down within a year.  Another could be that organizations don’t know if they’re a program or an actual nonprofit.  If they are a program, they should mitigate to a nonprofit to cover administrative costs.

·          Glen made a big point that you should work smarter, not harder and volunteer is a dress rehearsal to your next job.

·         The stimulus and the Serve America Act that was signed last Tuesday has helped nonprofits.

·         The ABCDs of Nonprofits:

o    Advocate

o    Be the conscience

o    Collaborate

o    Dare to innovate

 

Breakout Session – Supervisory Skills

Presenter:  Caroline Bolas, Senior Consultant, Organizational Management, LEVELHeaded

 

Since I was the only blogger/tweeter in this session (also my potential clients), I have to give a full summary. If you want to read about Managing Up or Fundraising, I will provide the links below.

 

Role of Supervisor:

·         A conduit between the organization and team

·         Must be a role model

·         Provide leadership

·         Develop talent and programs

 

Setting Goals (SMART):

·         Do not generalize or be very detailed on setting goals.  (i.e. “I hope to improve the team this year”; a list of things that YOU want to do within a year that is two pages long)

·         Be Specific

·         Measurable

·         Achievable

·         Realistic or Relevant

·         Time-Bound

 

Barriers of Delegating:

·         Letting go of the work

·         Communicating with other employees that you have a distrust

·         Feedback/Monitoring

·         Confidence in your employees

·         “Grunt” work – administrative and clerical work

·         Rules & Responsibilities

 

A Checklist of Effective Delegating:

·         Identify the delegate

·         Select a delegate

·         Brief the selected delegate

·         Both you and the delegate agree on the SMART objectives

·         Develop a plan

·         Provide coaching on what to do

·         Brief others about the project/work

·         Hold regular review meetings

·         Evaluate the project/work/process

 

Feedback:

·         To provide effective feedback, it will depend on the employee’s motive.  If the employee wants to change, give constructive criticism and provide details on what they need to improve.  If the employee wants to ignore you, that’s fine, but since you are the supervisor, the supervisor must be of service to the employee and tell what you’re doing well and what must improve.

·         Steps for effective feedback:

o    Behavior – Describe What Was Done or Not

o    Impact – Who was affected and how

o    Future – Describe the behavior you would like to see in the future

 

What Questioning Does:

·         Takes ownership

·         Deeper thinking

·         Get new ideas

·         Greater understanding of emotions and thoughts

·         Demonstrate values and respect

·         Break down resistance

·         Builds trust and relationships

 

Moral of the story is be transparent, be open, don’t be afraid to give it off to someone else.  Simply, detailed communication and trust are keys to supervisor-employee relations.

 

Panel: The Next Generation of Leadership

Panelists: Richard Moyers, Director of Programs, Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation;  Alexis Terry, Client Manager, Business Development, BoardSource;  Yarrow Sandahi, YNPN National Board Member.

 

There was a bunch of statistics the panel gave out.  Here were some:

·         72% of the people surveyed want to stay in nonprofits

·         75% of people leave nonprofits within 5 years

·         Biggest cause for young nonprofit people leaving is burnout from their board

·         1/3 want to be Executive Directors

 

I think our generation has adapted the free agent (or sports) mentality, where they go to where there’s a job available.  Either they like their current job or job, the person will re-assess their life and career and decide if they want to stay or move on.  It’s not a 5 year or even a year-by-year case.  People will evaluate day-by-day.  It’s the nonprofits and boards to be responsible to handle top talent and collaborate with their directors.

 

Keynote Address: Diana Aviv, President and CEO, Independent Sector

 

Highlights:

·         Went from her home in South Africa to the United States

·         She was a Girl Scout.  She develops a sense of justice by joining the Girl Scouts.

·         Must get a stronger social ecosystem

·         Must get stronger human and financial capital

·         There’s a difference between a leader and an Executive Director.  They’re mutually exclusive.

 

Panel: National Voice Forum

Panelists: Rick Cohen, Director of Membership and Technology, National Council of Nonprofits;  David Thompson, Independent Sector;  Frances Kunreuther, Director, Building Movement Project.

 

This was the most vocal of the panelists and the most tweets from this panel than any other.  Here are the highlights:

 

·         What sets apart from nonprofits: fundraisers.  If you have a good fundraising team, your nonprofit will stay afloat.  If not, your nonprofit is in big trouble

·         The board focuses on alliances and think of the corporate business model than matching missions with other nonprofit.  Boards think of the bottom line than the cause.

·         Collaboration with other nonprofits now crucial than ever.

·         David Thompson made some comments that might jump

o    He says a ban on lobbyists is a disservice for nonprofits

o    Social media will destroy the infrastructure groups

·         More emphasis on multi-generational leadership not only within nonprofits, but among boards as well.  The old leaders believe they are been pushed out of their leadership role.  Dialogue is important here.  Old and young leaders must understand and relate each other to get a better feel (young leaders teach old leaders about social media. Old leaders want new leaders to relate who they work for like if people feel comfortable seeing a hand-written note).

·         Reassess you organizational structure and see what is working and what is not.

·         Creativity and Innovation.

 

If this conference were a puzzle, it would be that nonprofits were hit hard by the recession. There are going to be cuts people won’t like, but with technology and networking, organizations can be more creative and innovative than ever.  What we’re in now is a bad cycle and probably will be there for the next few months to a year.  However, nonprofits are not a bad place to start, where you learn your craft and understand the meaning of work ethic through long hours and volunteerism.

 

For people reading this for the first time let me make a disclaimer that I’m an independent recruiter for my own recruiting firm that specializes in nonprofits and associations. I have been working for nonprofits for 5 years and found it rewarding.  Money (like almost the entire thing we do) play some role but I enjoy nonprofits because of its unique qualities, quirkiness, and personalities in that sector.  There are issues people care like healthcare, education and the environment.  What I also like is some people really love their issues like no other from facial hair, candy, frozen foods, and others.  That makes it fun for me because I really want to learn about other organizations missions and structures.  That is why I love nonprofits.

 

I like to thank Rosetta Thurman, Ian Storrar, Elizabeth Clawson, Susannah Lane, Heather Carpenter, the various YNPN networks around the country, the participants in this conference, and YNPN for setting up and making this a wonderful conference.

 

Here are the other links to learn more about the YNPN Conference:

• Rosetta Thurman
• #ynpn09
• Nonprofit Congress Blog
• ProInspire Blog
• Nonprofit Leadership 601
• EDA Consulting

To conclude, this is how a day should end:

 

 

 

Last Weekend of April 2009

I rarely type anything personal on my blog since I go to Twitter a lot, but for this post, it’s pretty big to fit in 140 characters.

I am going to be live tweeting today (midnight as I’m typing on the East Coast now) at the Young Non-Profit Network (YNPN)’s National Conference in DC, then going to happy hour following the conference, then stay to enjoy Game 5 (well, if the Caps win, then I’ll enjoy it) and live tweet there.

Saturday will be non-stop NFL Draft action and on Sunday, a little NFL Draft and if the Caps win Game 5, then possibly going to a DC NHL Tweetup in the afternoon. 

I’m also mentioning this because it has been a bizzaro week.  Monday, I was wearing my hockey jersey and jeans and won a signed Chris Clark hockey stick. On Wednesday, I carpooled on Earth Day and wore business casual.  Likely today, I will be wearing business formal…on a FRIDAY!!!  That’s is so messed up (but it will be all messed up if the Caps lose the series).

Alright, so I see you in DC on Friday for the YNPN conference, Rock the Red, and follow my insanity on the NFL Draft, where it’s likely the Skins will officially become DC’s 2nd team if they trade up for Mark Sanchez.

Bye for now.

Tracy’s Random Thoughts: February 2009 Edition

I’m back on writing mode for the Random Thoughts and also want to add that I have extended the blogroll.  If you have a website that you want me to add to the blogroll, you can submit it to my Twitter, Facebook, or my email  and I’ll check it out.  Now then:

1.  Barack Obama

Now that he’s been office for several weeks, let’s break this down in sub-topics:

The Stimulus Package

On the bipartisan issue, Obama made a serious effort of making a bipartisan bill.  In DC, that would be a bad strategic move since if your party has control of Congress and the White House, you do everything to pass an assortment of bills.  The Republicans never cooperated except for the Maine Senators and Arlen Spector.  I really think Obama wanted to show unity, but Rahm Emanuel told Obamato stop with the bipartisan and go out on tour of America and give details to the stimulus bill to the public.  This is where Obama picked up the pace and started to become more presidential.  As for the bill itself;  I wish the bill was more 80% spending on infrastructure and others and 20% on tax cuts.  Look at these charts:

The government needed to spend to help the economy, hence the word stimulus.  The stimulus would of help the government get more from infrastructure and food stamps than any other method, including tax cuts.  I do think Obama realizes the $787 Billion Stimulus is not what he’s looking for, but with a stagnant opposition party trying to “take a stand,” Obama did his best and also beat the deadline before the Presidents’ Day holiday.  This is an efficient President who looks like he’s getting the job done and also shows the GOP hoping for bad fate to hit in the next year.

The Bank Bailout

This is where Obama’s staff drop the ball.  The markets were expecting a definitive answer from the Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner.  Instead, Geithner just read it from the sheet and never gave details on how to use the second part of TARP.  The markets panic and now Geithner is back from square one.  TARP is a very complicated matter and it will take time and process, but I think the administration rushed Geithner very quickly on this.

Others

It does look like Obama is comfortable being the President and it is showing from all departments from the military to the cabinet.  Of course, there’s some differences, but Obamaat least is listening to the problems, not ignoring them.  The cabinet issues with their taxes and philosophy has been holding Obama back, but at least he admits that he made the mistakes, plus he still keeps the high standard to get these positions.  So far, I think our President is doing a decent job.

2. Michael Phelps, ctd.

Just to continue on the Michael Phelps story, now the South Carolina police arrested 8 people from the party Phelps attended and discovered the owner of the bong was trying to sell it for $100K.  Two things:  One, this proves Michael Phelps is not the sharpest knife on the drawer and now I question about the Rosetta Stone ad that if he knew that language.  Second, the people in the party are bigger idiots of selling the story to a British tabloid (TMZ’s offer was too cheap?) and try to make a profit out of a dumb star.   I’m glad all the people who participating it are getting their punishment, which includes Phelps.

3. A Salary Cap in Baseball

For people who are asking for a salary cap in baseball, it ain’t going to happen and it won’t work in baseball.  Baseball is good for records, while the NBA and NHL depend on stars, and the NFL is dependent on gambling.  Baseball needs the historic teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs to compete to get more revenue for the league.  I would blame baseball became more reliant on records than teams because of the strike in 1994 and the steroids issue.  What do you remember in 1998?  Everyone remembers the home run chase, but no one remembers the Yankees won 114 games and dominated the playoffs and won a record 125 games (including playoffs).  However, from the ratings, the nation will only like to see Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs. 

The smart teams like the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays are relying more on scouts to find talent with a shoestring budget.  This is where most of the teams should go to build up the team and not complain about blowing another $10 million on a washed up player.  If you want to build a team from scratch, get scouts, evaluate, develop, keep the player for 4-5 years and see how your team reacts.  So, if you’re a major league team struggling (I’m talking to you Nationals), get some great scouts.  Hey, recruiters are like scouts.  Jim Bowden, if you finish praying your player’s butts, hire me as a scout. 

Just to add, do you want to deal with a big budget, like the Yankees, that have steroid users, media attention 24/7, and opening a new stadium with huge expectations?

4. Nonprofit Newspapers

There was a fascinating op-ed piece in the New York Times about how to save the newspaper and one of the options is turning newspapers into a nonprofit.  It mentions that the current business model for newspapers will not survive in the age of technology.  What the op-ed proposes is have a trust or a big endowment to the newspapers to relieve the financial pressures and focus on the news.  Steve Coll makes an argument for it, Karin Dryhurst is against it and asks the government to bailout the newspaper industry.  However, this article from the Christian Science Monitor sums up of the future of newspapers.

I think there are philanthropists and donors who are willing to save the big newspapers from either Bill Gates or Warren Buffet (who is a Director at the Washington Post).  Advertising will be at a minimum since it will cover overhead and releases the burden of companies paying tons of money.  Although salary might decrease since it’s a nonprofit, you will get a more dedicated staff who want to get the news and tell great stories.  The social media will be a benefit for them since they’re free to use any resource. 

The downside is the conflict of interest with the donors since they are donating to the company.  Another downside is covered by Felix Salmon where families who owns the big newspapers could have little to no value if transferred to a nonprofit and that newspapers will lose their influence in legislation.

By looking at the pros and cons, I think it’s time for newspapers head to the nonprofit route, where currently, newspapers are focusing too much of making dollars than investigating the news.  The internet has become a place of undiscovered talent and social networks made it tough for journalists to get the story as soon as possible.  In addition, there are tons of opinions in blogs, it dilutes most of the columnists.  NPR is successful because they don’t do the breaking news business;  they analyze and tell stories behind the current events, although they were hit by the recession recently.  Newspapers need to recapture quality news and not quantity of money.  The families should not consider a move yet because of the economy, but review the situation again in 6-12 months if newspapers needs saving.  I do agree a nonprofit newspaper is intriguing and if you’re lucky, you get an arena name after the paper (The St. Petersburg Times Forum where the Tampa Bay Lightning play).  I think we’re 2-3 years away for a national newspaper being a nonprofit.

5. The Octoplet Woman

Boring.  She only has 14 children and she’s cheating by using fertility drugs.  That is like taking steroids for mothers.  Wake me up when someone genuinely gives birth 69 times like the Russian peasant did in the 18th century, where she only had ham, bread, and wine.

That is all, now go on with your lives.  Of note, I have lost my jokes about having 5 people reading my blog.  Now I have between 30-40 readers a day.  Thanks a lot guys , thanks a ton.