How Can Nonprofit Groups Make Most of Twitter Lists?
People in the nonprofit world now have a new feature on Twitter that can allow them to create lists of followers centered on a specific topic. In the past, Twitter users had only two lists at their fingertips — a list of people they are following and a list of people who follow them. The lists are long and offer no options for searching, grouping, or segmenting. As a result, when a Twitter account gets thousands of followers, sifting through the list becomes an exercise in frustration. The new Twitter Lists feature removes some of that frustration by allowing users to create user lists by category. The Chronicle‘s

Congress Urged to Force Charities to Prove Their Social Value; Plus More: Friday's Roundup
With a recent survey showing that 23 presidents at private colleges earn more than $1-million, Congress should do more to regulate nonprofit salaries and operations, including establishing a national standard for “how much benefit an organization must provide to a community to earn tax-exempt status,” argues an editorial in the Des Moines Register. Tim Ogden, editor in chief of Philanthropy Action,

British Donors Urged to Go Public With Their Big Gifts, and More: Thursday's Roundup [1]
Dame Stephanie Shirley, Britain’s ambassador for philanthropy, is urging philanthropists to be more public about their giving and get charities to focus more on results, writes Lena Schreiber, a senior consultant at New Philanthropy Capital, a nonprofit research group in London. Her views appear on the group’s blog. As another charity scandal gets headlines, the nonprofit world “will have to work harder to ensure that

A Call for Charities to Share Their Data; Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup
Marnie Webb, co-chief executive of TechSoup Global, contemplates the role of charities in a world in which so many people have easy access to data. In response to posts by Allison Fine, the social-media expert, and Lucy Bernholz, an adviser to donors, Ms. Webb says she would like to see nonprofit groups do more to share their data, collect stories to demonstrate what the data show, and agree on standards for the information the

Nonprofit Research and Philanthropists
Do charity researchers and philanthropists have too cozy a relationship sometimes? The Fundermentalist blog is examining this question regarding a study released last month by Brandeis University that showed that a Jewish charity that offers free trips to Israel is increasing the number of marriages within the faith. The study was good news for Taglit-Birthright Israel and its donors, Charles Bronfman, Lynn Sc