A powerful tool was made available to the public yesterday. In research reported Thursday in the journal Science, scientists at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Google and the Encyclopedia Britannica unveiled a database of two billion words and phrases drawn from 5.2 million books in Google’s digital library published during the past 200 years. …

(First in a series on Fundraising & Social Media) There’s no such a thing as an “email fundraising campaign.” “Wait,” you say. You’ve heard of lots of nonprofits that are raising money with email. “How can there be no such thing…?” That’s because a typical email just doesn’t have the technical power to get the …

A lot of call centres experience peak call volumes around this time of year, especially if they’re supporting the retail sector, and with inclement weather hitting right now people are stressed with driving, shopping, baking and trying to get everything done before the holidays start. Sometimes our customers can be a little impatient and conversations …

There’s still time to pick up some holiday gifts that also help social enterprises. If there’s a restaurant or coffee shop in your town that’s a social enterprise (and the odds are there’s more than one), give them a call to see if you can purchase a gift certificate. Many of them will let you …

A guest blog from Carter McNamara. What Is Empathy? Why Is It So Important? Empathy is the ability to accurately put yourself “in someone else’s shoes” – to understand their situation, perceptions and feelings from their point of view – and to be able to communicate that understanding back to the other person. Empathy is …

The news is filled with the exploits of more than a few examples of dishonesty and greed, leaders who purposefully worked in their own behalf, rather than from a sense of responsibility for institutional integrity. We know the list and it keeps getting bigger. For the last 50 years it has not been fashionable to …

Many directors of Government owned enterprises take up the role because they want to have an effect on the organisation and, through the organisation, on the society they live in and will bequeath to their children. Even directors who do not profess a burning sense of mission will admit to a deep sense of responsibility for organisational and societal outcomes. Only directors who can apply their passion in a board-appropriate manner will successfully manage to influence events and corporations. Few directors receive any training in how to do this.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner recently claimed that leveraging the social graph is the key to the future success of online marketing.

Business Improvement initiatives rely heavily on Action Plan tips to define important tasks for implementation. This charts the way forward by crucially defining who does what, and by when. Failure to pay due care in compiling an Action Plan can seriously affect the quality of your efforts and output, denting any chances of your improvement …

The recession may be officially but do managers appreciate that Christmas needn’t be cancelled again this year? Boozy parties are probably not the best way to mark the end of a tough year but that doesn’t mean there’s not value in gathering everyone together. As we enter an era when return on investment is at …