WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Ascendant Strategy Management Group today announced the launch of its "Shoot. Post. Win." Facebook video contest for national nonprofit leaders in anticipation of the 2012 Mission-Driven Management Summit in Washington D.C. Contestants can upload video submissions to the Mission-Driven Management Summit Facebook page until February 1, 2012.

Today the Wall Street Journal dedicated the Journal Report (section R) to nonprofit organizations. There are a lot of good articles about fundraising and joining a board, but the headliner, or attention grabbing article, is about "operating like a business." The overall question is whether donors should be looking for a return on their investment, similar to businesses? I think this is the wrong question.

Today is the last day to get the early bird registration discount for the upcoming summit in March of 2012. This summit is going to be great. We have keynote presentations from David Norton, co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard, and Daniel Pink, author of DRIVE. If you want to register today to receive the early bird rate, but you cannot get your act together to do it online, please email us, and we can invoice your organization.

Given that we work in the mission-driven sector (governments, education, associations, and nonprofits), I receive a lot of questions about the Balanced Scorecard in this area. How can a for-profit concept apply in the nonprofit space? Does the Balanced Scorecard support nonprofits? Isn't this a management framework that puts financials at the top of the strategy map? Little do people know that even in the 1996 book on the Balanced Scorecard by Drs. Norton and Kaplan, there is a section on nonprofit organizations.

Of course, nonprofits need to modify the strategy map to meet their needs, just like government agencies do. Neither of these organizations is in business to make money, so the financial perspective cannot be at the top of the strategy map.

Good news for fans of strategy management! The watchdog group Charity Navigator has expanded its rating system beyond financials to now include governance and openness about operations. This first step in a long term effort to expand their rating system is a great first step. Transparency of operations is always a good thing and may go a long way to preventing ethical violations that harm the entire non-profit sector. But there is more nonprofits can do - use disciplined strategy management and program assessments.

On the Harvard Business School blog earlier this week, there was a post on how Steve Jobs Solved The Innovator's Dilemma. The posting was quite interesting -- and relevant to those of us in the social and public sector -- because essentially, it's not about profitability, it's about passion.

In part two of this series, we followed the microfinance institution as it learned the importance of having an effective mission statement. After drafting and agreeing upon a mission statement, everyone leaned back in their chair and seemed to be content with what they had just done. Eventually, after a few minutes went by, one of the board members asked, "acum ce?" This is Romanian for "now what?"

This was a story of hope and real impact, but now it's nothing but a tornado of accusations, doubt, controversy, and anger.

Greg Mortenson spoke at Virginia Tech two years ago and I was lucky enough to get a 2nd row seat. He delivered a genuinely touching speech describing how the US military presence in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) set such negative impressions in the region, and how his organization delivered on an opportunity to rewrite those impressions.

After living in Moldova for nearly a year and developing a new strategy for a microfinance institution, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the process of organizational change in implementing the strategy. It may look slightly different in a former communist country, but the key elements span the cultural divide.

Nonprofit organizations are rarely known for being on the cutting edge of technology – after all, budgets are limited, technical expertise is expensive, and many nonprofits are too busy focusing on their core mission to experiment with new technologies.

Fortunately for nonprofits, the technologies available today are cheaper, faster, and more effective than ever before. "Cloud tools" (internet based applications) are transforming the way that nonprofits of all sizes communicate with stakeholders and conduct their daily business. Many of these tools are extremely low-cost or even free.

While you may not be interested in the specifics of each offering, we highly recommend looking into how these new technologies can better spread your message and ultimately increase the impact of your organization. To jumpstart the conversation, we have compiled a list of the seven most interesting technologies as well as a summary of things your legal team should consider here.