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With seed funding from the City of Veneta and lots of volunteer sweat equity, the Fern Ridge Chamber of Commerce created the “Wineries without Walls” storefront as a community economic development initiative. There’s been a great side benefit to my work on the project feasibility analysis and business plan- I now have this great little place nearby with a wonderful collection of local, hard-to-find wines for the holidays!

I can’t remember when we’ve had such fundamental questions about our collective values as a society in my adult lifetime. So I’ve gathered some inspiring quotes about questions to inspire all of us to ask more questions, everyday!

Here is a list of resources, many of which are free on-line, for learning more about building a practical system for tracking and using information on a real-time basis to plan better, implement better and adapt better to achieve your goals.

“You don’t make the hog fatter by weighing it.” This Midwestern farm proverb describes a particular type of nonprofit evaluation that’s the focus for a new workshop I’m delivering.

What a disorienting season this odd-weathered summer has been. Now, as August ends, autumn is truly around the corner, and several clients from the past year are launching exciting new initiatives!

The community has a milestone achievement to celebrate!

Whether or not you consider yourself creative, you’ve undoubtedly contributed to innovation. This is because innovation is largely a social, iterative process of developing, building upon and testing ideas over time. Here are some great examples of mindsets for innovation in the nonprofit arena.

I just delivered a new training for nonprofits on “Five Mindsets for Nonprofit Innovation”. It was quite fun! The photo below perfectly illustrates “flipping your concept”, one of the five mindsets featured in the workshop. It’s excerpted from a “you tube” fundraising clip recently created by an Oregon nonprofit.

For years, the people of Coburg, Oregon (population 1,080) have heard that their elementary school will close because it’s not economically viable. This past June, 4J regional school district officials again warned that Coburg School would likely close within the year. City leaders and parents were once again discouraged about the future of their school. A small group of parents started strategizing. By November, when 4J Superintendent George Russell confirmed the closure as one of his recommendations to address a gaping budget deficit for the 2011 school year, something remarkable had happened in Coburg.

Innovation is the process of “creating something useful through the implementation of new ideas.” Whatever the source, most initial ideas emerge only half-baked. The following five mindsets can help you to recognize and develop promising ideas into innovative and viable business products.