Hey look, it's my thesis!

Wow, it's been a while since I have blogged! What can I say? Life comes at you fast once you have a baby, and everything else takes a back seat for a bit. 

Speaking of things I haven't thought about in a while, here's something that was incredibly gruelling and personally fulfilling.... my college thesis! 

Researching and writing my thesis was way harder for me than running an actual marathon, but since I am still planning to go to grad school one day, I'll consider this my "academic half marathon."

Here it is, in all its glory:

A Sea Change in the Social Sector: Examining Earned-Income Ventures and Entrepreneurial Nonprofits in Rhode Island

By Seth J. Marbin

Brown University, May 2005

In case you are working on your own life goals, and don't have time for 104 pages of pleasure reading right now, here's the two-page Executive Summary.

And to wet your appetites, here's the abstract:

Nonprofits across the nation are increasingly launching earned-income ventures to support their social missions. Even though this is not a new strategy for many nonprofits, for the sector as a whole it is a fundamental shift from traditional sources of revenue. This study identifies and evaluates significant factors associated with nonprofits operating earned-income ventures in Rhode Island and compares these results to data collected for a recently published national study. New data collected from a web-based survey of over 325 Rhode Island nonprofits is analyzed along with data from over 375 nonprofits in a national sample. This study also examines the types of earned-income ventures organizations are operating, the perceived impact, how nonprofits define themselves as “entrepreneurial,” and the reasons why some organizations have never operated ventures. Insights from Rhode Island nonprofit leaders, academics, and funders are also included in this mixed-methods approach, to help understand the motivations of nonprofits launching and operating earned-income ventures. The findings suggest that Rhode Island organizations are operating earned-income ventures at a rate of three times the comparable national sample. Additionally the majority of ventures are related to the organizations’ social missions, and the impacts are overwhelmingly positive.

An extra special shout out to: Ann Dill, Debbie Schimberg, Cynthia Massarsky, Samantha Beinhacker, Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island, The Rhode Island Foundation, and my lovely wife Jyothi Marbin - without whom I would have never finished this silly thing.

Google for Non-Profits

Some exciting news from Google today... we launched Google for Nonprofits! http://www.google.com/nonprofits/

It is a portal for nonprofit organizations to learn more about free tools from Google to help save time and money and promote and expand the great work of the nonprofit sector!

I think it does a great job of breaking down all the various tools, letting you know how to sign up and use each one. It also has some case studies and stories showcasing how others are using the tools... that part could use more - so submit your stories and help spread the word!

For more, see the: Official Google Blog: Google for Non-Profits

p.s. It's been a while since I posted, but in case you haven't heard, I had a baby, and joined a new team at work, so it's been busy!