Here is an interesting article for future MBAs who are looking to use their business skills for the greater good.  It comes to us from The New York Times:

Special Report – International education – M.B.A.’s Guide Socially Concerned Entrepreneurs – NYTimes.com.

PND – RFPs Echoing Green Opens Application Period for Social Entrepreneur Fellowships

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Just came across this new resource: Social Impact Exchange.  A resource to enable professionals to scale up cross-sector partnerships and innovation.  Here is their purpose:

he Social Impact Exchange’s purpose is to:

• Share and develop knowledge that leads to successful execution of local, national and international scaling efforts
• Facilitate increased financing of scaling initiatives through collaborative funding opportunities and venues
• Develop infrastructure that helps build the field of scaling social impact

Part of the intent of the Social Impact Exchange is to establish a learning community of knowledgeable expansion funders, advisors, intermediaries, practitioners and other social sector leaders.

You can find out more at their website here.

The 2010 Community Reinvestment Awards

Improving Access to Financial Services and Education: Building a Foundation for Inclusive Economic Recovery

The organizing committee of the 2010 National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference invites nominations for the 2010 Community Reinvestment Awards.  The Community Reinvestment Awards recognize and honor the work of financial institutions that are advancing innovative solutions to the challenges facing lower-income communities.

The year’s awards will focus on innovations in financial products and financial education.  The recent subprime crisis, as well as the continued proliferation of alternative financial products such as check cashing and payday lending, suggests that more needs to be done to expand access to responsible financial products and effective financial education. Ensuring that people are equipped with the skills, knowledge and appropriate products to make informed decisions that contribute to their financial well-being is a key component of an inclusive economic recovery.

Financial institutions are invited to submit nominations that detail their innovation—be it a product, financial education program, or a service—for the award.  Nonprofits, community development finance institutions, local government agencies and community development corporations may also submit entries for nomination on behalf of their partnering financial insitution(s) or collaborative.A panel of nine judges will evaluate and vote on the submissions. Three awards will be given:  1) Innovation in Financial Education Delivery, 2) Collaborative Approaches to Expanding Access to Financial Services, 3) Product Innovation.

Nominations will be judged on three criteria:

• Innovation: How is the initiative new or different?  How does it meet the needs of lower-income and underserved consumers?
• Effective use of partnerships: How does the initiative collaborate across a group of stakeholders?
• Impact: What has been the impact of this initiative on lower-income families and/or communities?

To submit a nomination, please send an email with a description of the project (750 words or less) answering the questions above to cra.awards@sf.frb.org by January 11, 2010.  Please also provide your detailed contact information on the submission.

Recipients of the award will be recognized at a special awards luncheon at the 2010 National Community Reinvestment Conference, to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 14-17, 2010.  Winning financial institutions will receive three (3) free conference registrations which they can use for their staff or to sponsor representatives from partnering nonprofits.

For questions about the awards or the nomination process, please email cra.awards@sf.frb.org.

For more information about the conference, visit http://www.frbsf.org/community/conference2010.html.

There are opportunities for qualified experts to become federal grants – they even come with a small stipend.  I learned about this possibility from a nonprofit blogger, named Don Griesmann.  Check out information about this process from his blog here.

One of the blogs I read recently discussed an article concerning board diversity in a Council on Foundations e-journal.  The e-journal titled Thoughts, Actions and Ideas possesses a variety of expert opinions and analysis about philanthropic ideas and perspectives.  Check it out here.

A quick post – The Institute of Development Studies has a new Netvibes page on a variety of development news, feeds and blogs – you can find it here.

I’m a huge fan of the work done by the Institute for Development Studies in the UK.  The service, research and leadership they give to  the development community is well known.  IDS has a new podcast (since July) in which they converse with a leader in the development community.  While the podcast is not produced on a weekly basis, I would suggest adding it to your RSS aggregator or IPod.

You can find the podcast here:  http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/bigquestion

If you are thinking about getting your masters’  degree in planning, I recently came across this website that might help you in your search for a quality program.  Remember – a school’s ranking is just but one indicator…

http://www.planetizen.com/topschools

UK Giving 2009: an overview of charitable giving in the UK, 2008/09 launches 23^rd September.  It is the latest report in the UK Giving series produced jointly by CAF and NCVO.

This annual publication provides an overview of the latest estimates and trends in individual charitable giving in the UK:

• 54% of adults donate in an average month, down from 56% in 2007/08
• the median monthly donation is £10 per month, down from £11 in 2007/08
• cash is still the most popular method for giving
• individuals donated £9.9 billion to charity, down 11% from 2007/08

To download the report for free or to find out more visit www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/research/giving or www.cafonline.org/ukgiving.