Cisco Connected World Technology Report - Cisco Systems: Is the Internet a fundamental human necessity? Is a workplace with flexible mobility policies as valuable as salary?

We asked nearly 3,000 college students and young professionals these questions in an international workforce study that examines:

The behavior and expectations of the world's next generation of workers
How their demands for information access are changing business communications and the future of work

Only About a Third of Tweets Are Worth Reading [STUDY]: The verdict? Respondents liked 36% of the tweets, disliked 25% and ranked their reaction to the remaining 39% as neutral. “A well-received tweet is not all that common,” Michael Bernstein, a doctoral student at MIT who worked on the project, wrote in a blog post. “A significant amount of content is considered not worth reading, for a variety of reasons.”

� 2 Key Nonprofit Fundraising Findings of Blackbaud Index that Point to Promising 2012: The successes and failures of nonprofit fundraising efforts will always be impacted by many variables and that certainly holds true in 2012. From economic conditions to the upcoming presidential elections in the US, it can be daunting for nonprofits and their fundraisers to anticipate and work towards securing the coveted donor dollar.

NPC launching survey on new commissioning landscape - Civil Society - Finance - News - providing news and in-depth coverage of charities, voluntary organisations and not-for-profits

Wealthy take 36 days to decide on major donations, research finds - Civil Society - Fundraising - News - providing news and in-depth coverage of charities, voluntary organisations and not-for-profits: High net worth individuals (HNWI) take, on average, 36 days to decide whether to make a major charitable donation and when they do, the gift averages around $14,000.

This finding is contained in the latest Futurewealth report, a global survey of 3,300 high net worth individuals (HNWIs).

Leveraging Limited Dollars: NCRP - National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy: This report distills findings from more than 400 pages of research amassed over three years as part of NCRP’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project (GCIP). The project documented $26.6 billion in benefits for taxpayers and communities in 13 states, and found that every dollar grantmakers and other donors invested in policy and civic engagement provided a return of $115 in community benefit.

The Inclusive Nonprofit Boardroom: Leveraging the Transformative Potential of Diversity

Faith & Organizations Project: Faith Communities founded most of the nonprofits in the United States and play a key role in social welfare, health, education and community development today. Clarifying specifically religious aspects of the relationship between founding communities and their organizations and effective best practices are key concerns for faith based organizations and the religions that created them. The Faith and Organization project was created to provide communities, organizations and policy makers with concrete information and targeted materials to address this issue.

Grantmaking for Community Impact Project (GCIP) - National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy: NCRP hopes to address this challenge through the Grantmaking for Community Impact Project, which will highlight the positive impact that communities have seen through funder-supported nonprofit advocacy and organizing. We will measure impact using quantitative and qualitative methods, drawing on the latest advances in advocacy evaluation, organizing outcome measurement, and the positive returns to social capital from civic engagement.

Does Charity Advocacy Pay Off? - Government & Politics Watch - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: A study released today from a foundation watchdog group says that advocacy efforts by charities can pay off, to the tune of billions of dollars to communities.

The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy study examined 110 charities in 13 states and found that work such as pushing for more aid to schools and housing for the poor resulted in $26.6-billion in benefits to communities over five years. Money for the campaigns came from foundations and other donors.

Fundraising Returns to Pre-Recession Levels - Barrons.com: CHARLESTON, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 19, 2012--

Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced that fundraising has returned to pre-recession levels. Through the first 11 months of 2011, overall giving is up 3.4% over 2010, and is now officially above the level of giving last seen in 2007.

PNC Wealth Management Study: 59% Of Millionaires Feel Obligation To Give Back: Fifty-nine percent of millionaires agree they feel they have an obligation to give back to their community, according to a survey released Jan. 17 by PNC Wealth Management . The percentage remains the same as it was in 2008.

12 Ways to Embrace the 21st Century Nonprofit Workforce: The latest studies include one from Opportunity Knocks, which was done some months ago, and another more recent one from the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The report from OK is Engaging the Nonprofit Workforce: Mission, Management and Emotion (free registration required). The Chronicle writes about its survey in Charity Workers Report Feeling Extreme Pressure (subscription required).

Real Time Charitable Giving | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project: Yet while their initial contribution often involved little deliberation, 43% of these donors encouraged their friends or family members to give to the campaign as well. In addition, a majority of those surveyed (56%) have continued to give to more recent disaster relief efforts—such as the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan—using their mobile phones.

HR Magazine - Charity and voluntary sector employment drops by 70,000 in 12 months: Employment in the voluntary sector has fallen by nearly 9% over the past year according to Skills – Third Sector’s analysis of the Labour Force Survey.

Data recently released for the third quarter of 2011 shows the UK voluntary sector employs 723,000 people.

This equates to a fall of 70,000 (8.7% of the workforce) over the past 12 months. In comparison, public sector employment fell by 4.3% whilst private sector employment rose by 1.5% over the same period.

One in four Brits reduced donations in 2011 - Civil Society - Fundraising - News - providing news and in-depth coverage of charities, voluntary organisations and not-for-profits: One in four Brits say they gave less to charity last year than the year before, according to a new study released today.

Charities saw a 12 per cent drop in total donation values in 2011, with the average falling to �186.15. Only one in ten of the more than 2,000 people surveyed, in research commissioned by Investec, claimed to have given more in 2011 than in the previous year. A minority of people, 6 per cent, who gave to charities in 2010 gave nothing in 2011.

Survey shows donations held up well in 2011 | Third Sector: State of the Sector, run by Third Sector and nfpSynergy, also suggests sector is doing more with less

Donated income to charities remained strong last year despite growing unemployment and shrinking household incomes, according to the biennial State of the Sector survey by Third Sector and the sector consultancy nfpSynergy.

Forty-three per cent of respondents said donated income at their organisations rose or stayed the same in 2011, with 32 per cent saying it went down. Four per cent said donations went up a lot, while 18 per cent said they went up a bit.

Times Higher Education - Large donations to universities drop 50%: The amount given to universities in �1 million-plus donations almost halved in 2009-10, an annual report from a bank reveals.

The drop takes the total from very large donations down to the levels of 2006-07 and 2007-08 and is thought to be caused by the drying-up of matched funding from the government.

In 2009-10, �299.4 million was given to universities in donations of more than �1 million, according to The Million Pound Donors Report 2011 by private banking house Coutts. This is a 48 per cent fall on the 2008-09 figure of �575.4 million.

Women Drive Philanthropic Decisions in Wealthy Households,

Women Drive Philanthropic Decisions in Wealthy Households, but Nonprofits Must Work for Their Trust, Study Finds - Resource Center - AFP: Dec. 20, 2011) In nearly 90 percent of high net worth households, women are either the sole decision maker or an equal partner in decisions about charitable giving, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2011 Study of High Net Worth Women’s Philanthropy. The power and influence of women in philanthropy may mean that some charitable organizations will need to adapt their messaging and strategies to appeal to women’s distinct charitable giving behaviors and motivations.

Foundation Center - Cleveland: A new report from the Foundation Center finds that there is a growing interest among large foundations in Ohio in supporting economic development activities in the state. Grant dollars increased from $24.5 million in 2005 to $62 million in 2008, a 152% upswing. Download the report�