Information Technology

A Handbook for Network Builders

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This handbook provides the growing number of people who are developing networks for social change with practical advice based on the experiences of network builders, case studies of networks small and large, local and international, and emerging scientific knowledge about “connectivity. ”
It is intended to join, complement, and spur other efforts to capture and make widely available what is being learned in the business, government, and civil sectors about why and how to use networks, rather than solitary organizations, to generate large-scale impact.
We start with the point of view that networks provide social-change agents with a fundamentally distinct and remarkably promising “organizing principle” to use to achieve ambitious goals. Given the complexity and enormity of social problems, the unrelenting pressure to reduce the cost of creating and implementing solutions, and the recent proliferation of small nonprofit organizations, networks offer a way to weave together or create capacities that get better leverage, performance, and results.
Relying on networks to generate social change is not new to philanthropy and nonprofits. Many foundations have funded the civil rights, feminist, and consumer movements for decades and more recently have assembled “learning networks” of grantees that work together to innovate and improve their practices. As Jon Pratt, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, points out, “community organizers and grass roots organizations have applied network concepts for years.”3
But something new and important is afoot. The nonprofit and philanthropic sectors are under growing demand to do more and better. The number of nonprofit organizations is expanding substantially, as are the tasks they undertake in light of government downsizing.4 “We’re seeing growth of nonprofit organizations, but not much change in the systems they are trying to impact,” says Pat Brandes, a foundation executive in Boston

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Detail Information

Series Title

A Handbook for Network Builders

Call Number

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Publisher

USA : ., 2006

Collation

1-117

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Classification

NONE

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

1st Edtion

Subject(s)

Information Technology

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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