Author Archive
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Wellbeing
According to it’s Amazon description, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements will provide you with a holistic view of what contributes to your wellbeing over a lifetime. Written in a conversational style by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Rath and bestselling author Jim Harter, Ph.D., this book is filled with fascinating research and novel ideas for boosting your wellbeing in each of these five areas. As a complement to the book, you will have the opportunity to use Gallup’s online Wellbeing Finder to help you track and improve your wellbeing over time. By the time you finish reading this book, you should have a better understanding of what makes life worthwhile. This will enable you to enjoy each day and get more out of your life, and perhaps most importantly, boost the wellbeing of your friends, family members, colleagues, and others in your community. Career Wellbeing Social Wellbeing Financial Wellbeing Physical Wellbeing Community Wellbeing I like the book, but it has one, obvious gaping hole in its treatment of well being: Rath & Harter like so many other contemporary authors ignore the fact that we are not only physical and social beings but also spiritual beings. If we want… Read more
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MicroRate, a Microfinance Rating Agency
MicroRate is a rating agency for microfinance. I am dedicating a couple posts to highlight their important work. Microfinance, as a source of credit access in poor nations, has blossomed in the past fifteen years. While it has been difficult to measure the breadth of the microfinance market, MIX Market, a microfinance information exchange, includes information on over 1800 microfinance institutions (MFIs). From the information that those 1800 MFIs report the following data is available: $43.8 billion constitutes the current loan portfolio. There were 81.4 million borrowers in 2008. Average loan balance is $595 per borrower. MicroRate offers an in depth analysis and rating of hundreds of MFIs. While traditional rating scales report of the risk of default, the MicroRate Performance Ratings seeks to measure an MFI’s “level of excellence in microfinance.” MicroRate seeks to look deeper than a standard risk analysis, into the underlying portfolio which many ratings may miss. Six areas of performance and risk are investigated through extensive onsite visits: Financial Profile Microfinance Operations Portfolio Quality Organization & Management Governance & Strategic Positioning Social Profile A “Social Rating” is also given to participating MFIs. This metric can be used to measure the social impact of the institution.… Read more
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Five Tips on Social Media for your Non Profit
I know there are not only for profits but also at least a few non-profits reading this blog – so here’s a great post from Geoff Livingston on Mashable.com for everyone working in the non-profit sector on how to engage your base more effectively. HOW TO: Turn Slacktivists into Activists with Social Media Throughout the non-profit world, organizations struggle with social media’s impact on the volunteer and donor cycle. The rise of “slacktivism” — doing good without having to do much at all — challenges organizations to rethink the way they cultivate their core volunteers and donors. There are some important social media strategies for transforming those one-click “slacktivists” into fully engaged activists. Here are five tips from some of the best in the non-profit business. 1. Stop Thinking of Them as Slacktivists 2. Steward People Up the Engagement Ladder 3. Reevaluate the Donor Funnel 4. Shift Your Attitude 5. Create New Calls to Action … Easier said than done, but the article gives some good how-to ideas.
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Wilhelm Röpke, Part III
“Price, wage, and exchange controls exemplified the type of intervention in the economy Röpke considered the most disastrous.” – John Zmirak Part III: Wilhelm Röpke’s Ideas Today On today’s political spectrum it would be difficult to place Wilhelm Röpke firmly in either the liberal or conservative camp. For example, he favored an active interventionist role for government to safeguard competition and to abate pollution. However, he strongly opposed any kind of price fixing through subsidies and tariff arrangements. The following presents some of his views which have relevance for today: His observations of the welfare state growing in the West gave Röpke concern on the basis that it blunted incentives and in the end would make people worse off, not better. I speculate that the foreign aid regime of today would also meet with disapproval. He saw the nation-state as an irreducible unit in the economic system, and international trading cooperatives like the EU as antithetical to free trade. Rather, he preferred a system by which all nations traded freely with one another. Big business monopolies, especially when protected by government intervention, also met with Röpke’s disapproval. This kind of arrangement led to false accusations by socialist doctrinaires that a… Read more
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Digital Business
Christian publisher Zondervan keeps pace with digital technology. It offers many great titles on the iPad. While many other publishers struggle, Zondervan will have its first year of sales growth in a long time thanks to its digital business. Digital accounted for 3 percent of sales for the fiscal year 2010 which ends next month. Next year, digital is expected to generate 8 to 10 percent. There’s one product in particular that I recommend you check out in their store both in video and print – whatever mode you prefer, and that is Acton’s The Birth of Freedom, How Biblical Foundations Changed History. This well done documentary and text educates us on just how much of our current notions of human rights and freedom are based on Judeo/Christian principles.