Hey Network Colleagues and Friends,

Wow, that was a fast month. There's been a lot happening at Network HQ. Here's what you need to know:

• The deadline to submit a breakout proposal for ComNet19 is TOMORROW, MARCH 1 at 11:59pm ET. FAQs and more here.
• The digital edition of the Racism Issue of Change Agent is out, and it's worth your time. Guest edited by Michele Norris, it features insights from BMe Community's Trabian Shorters, W.K. Kellogg Foundation's La June Montgomery Tabron, journalist Maria Hinojosa, Ford Foundation's Darren Walker, National Geographic Editor in Chief Susan Goldberg, and more.
• Related: our Op-Ed (with Michele Norris) in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on how nonprofits and foundations are unintentionally promoting racism.
• Impact is out there, and we need your help celebrating it. Nominations are open through March 31 for the Clarence B. Jones Impact Award. More at www.jonesaward.org.

And, take a moment to say hi to our new Deputy Director of Events and Community, Carrie Clyne! Carrie is going to be making ComNet, our LOCALs, and a whole lotta magic happen.
 

• What does your annual report look like?
• Recs for firms who can plan/execute external comms related to public perception research.
• Consultant to advise on rate increase?

Watch the replay of our last webinar with playwright Jessica Blank on choosing and developing the characters in your org's stories.

Two ComNetworkLOCAL events coming up:

ICYMI: Roundup from ComNetworkDC's event, Advertising Strategies for Nonprofit Communicators.

Words to Avoid: 2019 Edition (Big Duck)
My big takeaway — don't overdo the exclamation marks. (And death to "stakeholder.") 

Here's Where Your New Readers Will Come From in 2019 (NiemanLab)
SmartNews and Flipboard: still soaring. Twitter and Linkedin? Dropping. And…is Facebook traffic making a comeback?

JLaw on Why Our Current Political System Isn't Working, and How to Fix It (YouTube)
According to Princeton, public opinion has 0% impact on policy.

Do You Truly Know Your Audience? Why You Need to and How to Do It (Carney)
Surveys aren’t a good way to truly understand your audience...learning your audience is more about intuition than cold-hard facts. If you want to include a survey as part of your audience research, go for it. But, just remember that your audience is made up of actual people. Not just a dataset.

How to Write a Case Study: Guide and Template (HubSpot)
Using different media in your case study can allow you to promote your final piece on different channels. For example, while a written case study might just live on your website and get featured in a Facebook post, you can post an infographic case study on Pinterest, and a video case study on your YouTube channel.

LinkedIn Launches Live Streaming (SocialMediaToday)
The plan is to cover conferences, product announcements, Q&As and other events led by influencers and mentors, office hours from a big tech company, earnings calls, graduation and awards ceremonies and more.

10 Best Website Builders for Nonprofits, Reviewed and Compared (Wild Apricot)
A helpful list with pros and cons for the usual suspects like Wix and Squarespace, as well as lesser-known tools like Duda.

5 Ways to Protect Your Nonprofit's Data (Nonprofit Tech for Good)
Uh oh: Nearly 70% of nonprofits do not have policies and procedures in place in case of a cyberattack. 60% of the nonprofits surveyed do not provide cybersecurity training on a regular basis to staff.

The Science of Better Meetings (The Wall Street Journal)
Recognize that you may be the problem. We are poor judges of our own meeting leadership skills. Keep it small. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is known for instituting a “two-pizza rule”—if you need more than two pizzas to feed everyone, the meeting is too large.

"Philanthropy desperately needs to be more agile." Molly de Aguiar of the Independence Public Media Foundation: I think there’s an ever present danger when funders, especially those who are new to media, regard journalism as a tool to advance their strategies in specific issue areas.

Fantastic conversation with our friend Gail Fuller: The San Francisco Foundation’s North Star is Equity. What’s Yours?

Knight Foundation's Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy offers recommendations to restore trust in democracy and media. One of them: Create local spaces for constructive civic dialogue bridging various communities.

Nonprofit boards are talking the talk, but aren't walking the walk when it comes to increasing diversity.

Foundation Center and GuideStar have merged into Candid.

The 2019 Annual Letter from Bill and Melinda Gates focuses on surprises—some pleasant, some eye-openning—both focused on priority areas and personal passions.

Check out Let's Hear It, the new podcast from former Network Board Chair Eric Brown. Grant Oliphant is the latest guest.

The Wyncote Foundation commissioned a new report that profiles nine media innovators making a difference in local communities. The goal: showing that place-based foundations can and do use media to make impact in their communities.

A quick DEI roundup: Charts that show bias against women of color at nonprofits, Why "I Don't See Color" is hurting your DEI efforts, Why your event could use a community benefits agreement.

On kindness, which we can all use more of: Kindness is a skill, How to stop the spread of anger.

Why are hyperlinks (except for ours, of course) blue?

Sean—No, you can't ignore email. It's rude.


Tristan—7 of the most creative interactive videos out there. (Major props to Major Lazer.)

From The Network's job board (which is updated regularly and worth checking out):

Also helpful: 8 LinkedIn mistakes on your profile that are killing your profile.

Carol Larson, President and CEO of the Packard Foundation, is stepping down at the end of 2019. Lisa Schroeder is the new president of The Pittsburgh Foundation. Denise Beek is now Chief Communications Officer for Me Too. Our friend (and ComNet18 keynoter) Henry Timms is the new President of Lincoln Center. Donald H. Gips is the Skoll Foundation's new CEO.