By Térèse Coudreaut, Human Resources Director, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The session, facilitated by James Weinberg, founder and CEO of Commongood Careers, covered the topic of turnover and what it means, both positive and negative, for our organizations. Panelists included Don Aguilar, vice president of human resources at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Rafael Lopez, associate director for talent and leadership development at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and James Siegal, executive vice president and COO for KaBOOM!

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Guest post by Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa

Social Impact Bonds are the #1 philanthropy buzzword of 2011 according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. So what’s all the fuss about? And how can the concept help the nonprofit sector?

In essence, Social Impact Bonds are an arrangement between government and an outside organization in which the government defines one or more outcomes and promises to pay a sum of money if they are achieved. The government commits to cooperate with the outside organization’s efforts to achieve the outcome, and also promises to leave it free to devise and implement its strategy.

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Guest post by Tessie Guillermo, president and CEO, of ZeroDivide

Today I began my very first Independent Sector conference experience, by attending the Monday morning plenary, "Conversation with a Sector Leader", featuring Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey being interviewed by Stephanie Strom from the New York Times. In social sector circles, RWJF is considered one of the"heavies," so having Risa open the first full day was a good tone setting move. Stephanie suggested to Risa that she might be in for a "grilling" but the conversation was more collegial than hard-nosed.

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On April 27, Diana Aviv sent an urgent message that called on Independent Sector members and others to make their voices heard in support of the charitable deduction. While Americans give to charitable organizations for many reasons, studies have shown that tax policy greatly shapes the size and number of charitable donations. IS has created a one-pager on the charitable deduction with helpful facts and figures that you to use in your advocacy efforts.

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Guest Post by Emily Davis, president, EDA Consulting

Leadership is unique from management, and we need to educate ourselves on the benefits of strong leadership.  Here are some places to get started.

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