Author Archive

Carnegie Grantmaker on the Art of Collaboration

Susan Herr | October 19, 2011 | 0 Comments

This is one of four interviews PhilanthroMedia conducted for the Foundation Center’s Philanthropy News Digest on the art of collaboration.
Collaboration is widely understood to be a strategic option for grantmakers looking to leverage resources and maximize impact.  But as Tade Aina, program director of the Higher Education and Libraries program at the Carnegie Corporation [...]

Heinz Endowments Promotes User-Generated Content

Susan Herr | August 17, 2011 | 0 Comments

A few years ago, when people were still using the term “Web 2.0” to describe interactive and user-generated online content, the Communications Network produced a report encouraging foundations to take the plunge. “Come On In the Water’s Fine” said that there was far more to be gained than what some feared would result from not [...]

Knight Foundation Exec Builds “Message House”

Susan Herr | August 17, 2011 | 0 Comments

In this, the first of two Communication Network videos, Marc Fest of The Knight Foundation, tells me about the “message” house he has developed to help team members stay on point talking to the media or making presentations.

Marc is a self-described “message zealot” who is using strategies like this to enlist his colleagues [...]

W.K. Kellogg Foundation Using QR Codes to Link Print and Video Content

Susan Herr | May 31, 2011 | 0 Comments

These days, being a communications professional in philanthropy probably requires more experimentation than ever before in how you do your work. With so many different ways to reach audiences, and as many challenges at succeeding, there’s both a constant search for the “new new thing” and a willingness to try innovative approaches.

That drive to be [...]

Passion is the Key to Learning Social Media

Susan Herr | May 31, 2011 | 1 Comments

What can cows teach you about social media?
Okay, so maybe cows aren’t going to teach you anything about social media. But Sylvia Burgos Toftness is so crazy about them that she launched both a grass-fed beef operation and a blog to share all the lessons she is learning.
As you will hear [...]

Program Officers Identified as Effective by Grantees

Susan Herr | May 26, 2011 | 0 Comments

Highlights: Chris Kabel on Successful Foundation-Grantee Relationships from PhilanthroMedia on Vimeo.
Chris Kabel, program officer at the Northwest Health Foundation, is one of the high-performing program officers profiled in the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s research report, “Working with Grantees: Keys to Success and Five Program Officers Who Exemplify Them.” Through this research, CEP identified four keys [...]

Debating the “Merits” of Jargon

Susan Herr | November 17, 2010 | 0 Comments

What follows is a post by Bruce Trachtenberg, one of my favorite clients and Executive Director of the Communications Network:
We’re all familiar with the expression “fighting words,” but even I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the verbal exchange that occurred when Communications Network contributor Susan Herr, and producer of our ongoing series of video [...]

Creating the Discipline to Twitter Regularly

Susan Herr | September 7, 2010 | 0 Comments

Want to participate in the Twittersphere but can’t find the time? Here’s a trick that ensures you not only post daily but also get “credit” for being “with it!”
Wisestamp is a free web-based program that enables users to customize the signature of their e-mails. I like the graphic nature of Wisestamp that enables [...]

Digital Media is NOT the Same Thing as Digital Distribution

Susan Herr | July 30, 2010 | 10 Comments

If the past fifteen years has been about disseminating content in new ways (think site design, search engine optimization and social networking) the next fifteen will force fundamental changes in how we produce what we produce. Central to this position — advanced by Jeff Stanger in the most recent episode of the Communication Network’s [...]

Crowdsourcing Multi-Media Content at Conferences

Susan Herr | July 8, 2010 | 0 Comments

There are few things I love better than seeing techniques we hone in the nonprofit sector adapted by the for-profit sector. Even better is when I have the privilege of developing and implementing such a technique myself! Last year, PhilanthroMedia led the Gorilla Engagement Team for the Communications Network’s 2009 Annual Conference in [...]