This Friday is Chicago's Talk Like Shakespeare Day, created by Chicago Shakespeare Theater to raise awareness of "da Bard"

“WHEREAS, in conjunction with Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s annual celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday, Chicagoans young and old, at school, work, and home, will be encouraged to incorporate phrases like ‘prithee,’ ‘thou,’ ‘fie!’ and ‘knave!’ into their parlance as a way to celebrate the legacy of the language….NOW THEREFORE I, Mayor Richard M. Daley, do hereby… proclaim [Shakespeare's birthday, April 23, 2010 and] encourage citizens to let boldness be thy friend.”

Last year we wrote (Microsites? Yea Verily) about how Michael Wood, director of planning and program development for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and his colleagues cooked up the bardic birthday bash Talk Like Shakespeare Day to raise awareness about Shakespeare’s heritage (did you know Shakespeare contributed more than 1,700 words to the English language?) among new audiences. Read the rest of this entry »

Luis De La Torre's art studio in a Bridgeport warehouse is classic, but threatened by a tough market. That is one of the themes that may emerge from Studio Chicago, a year-long project to promote events for or about artists and the spaces where they create--one of several new initiatives to help market arts events. DeLaTorre artist from Flickr, used w/permission.

I love this picture of Luis De La Torre’s studio. I also know from my co-worker Diana that it’s touch and go for Luis (who is her husband) to maintain his space because of economic hard times disproportionately affecting the arts market.

Two new arts-marketing initiatives highlight collaboration and capacity-building to help local organizations build audiences and patronage: Studio Chicago and the Chicago Art Exchange. Read the rest of this entry »

Shoot and Score, by V'ron, from flickr

I scoff at Christmas decorations in stores before Thanksgiving is over, but in the spirit of, if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em & for those of us already thinking about spending our scant $$ for holiday gifts–it seemed like a good moment to list nonprofits that sell stuff — specifically, gifts for the holidays!

This post was inspired by lunch a week or 2 ago with Megy Karydes — writer, marketing/PR consultant and born and bred Chicagoan. So, full disclosure, a bunch of these are folks she works for.

I’ve looked through the sites though, and fell comfortable this is a solid list of great causes offering cool stuff.

Artisans 21 around the corner from my home in Hyde Park is one of the country’s oldest cooperative art galleries, I was there this morning, and saw some photos and demitasse cups for espresso that caught my eye (rather large for those who like me need their coffee strong and lots of it).

Bright Endeavors aims to break the cycle of poverty experienced by inner-city, homeless and at-risk young women 16–25 by teaching them skills to become self-sufficient, successful adults. They make Dreambean Candles as well as other products, like an $8 jar of bath sea salts to a $60 Tealightful Gift Box which includes candles, bath tea bags and fair trade, organic tea.

Greenheart, in Bucktown, carries fair trade and handmade items from more than a dozen developing countries as well as local organizations. Megy says the nonprofit ecofriendly and fair trade shop hosts a launch party Dec. 2 for a new line of copper and brass jewelry from South Africa.

If you would like to give a gift to charity in honor of a friend or family member, consider Hope for a Hurting World Catalog from Heartland Alliance, one of our region’s largest and most vital advocates for and providers of human services. Gifts range from $15-550 and include an infant care kit to healthy snacks for an after-school program. 

MayaWorks works with women in Guatemala to make gifts, home accents, jewelry and, most recently, introduced a baby collection. Baby booties for 6-12-month-olds are $15 a pair. Their best-selling item? yarmulkes.

Update! If you are more of a gift card kind of person — or you have to give a gift card kind of a gift — Oakbrook, Ill.-based nonprofit Opportunity International lets you buy a card whose recipient can designate the funds for a microloan to a woman enterpreneur in Kenya, Ghana, Colombia, Mexico or the Philippines. It looks pretty simple to do, check it out at OptInNow.

Update! Porchlight Counseling Services, an Evanston-based agency that offers counseling and other resources to survivors of college sexual assault, are selling “(k)no(w)more beads” this holiday season–beaded bracelets with an amethyst stone as a centerpiece: “(k)no(w)more beads represent empowerment, resistance, and community connectedness by insisting that the public know more about sexual assault and demanding that sexual assault be no more,” Stephanie Boehmer of Porchlight writes.

Reason to Give, the Firebelly Design-initiated campaign for supporting Humboldt Park families, plans a “holiday pop-up shop” with lots of artists and inexpensive art at Firebelly’s studio from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.

Sweet Beginnings markets Beeline, a line of honey-based personal care products which are handmade by individuals facing barriers to employment, particularly those with histories of criminal conviction.

I think of The Enterprising Kitchen, which helps women work toward self-sufficiency and economic independence by handcrafting soap and body care products out of its Ravenswood studio, as a grandma of Chicago’s social-enterprises. They offer products from $5 to $350 or will be happy to make up a custom order (baskets, anyone?) if you’d like.

WomanCraft is a nonprofit in North Lawndale whose green, handmade paper sheets are embedded with wildflower seeds including flax, cornflower, echinacea, coreopsis, larkspur, and black-eyed Susan seeds. A set of 10 cards is $13.

Need more inspiration? A few more posts featuring Chicago and some Midwest nonprofits’ gift ideas: from About.com and the Reader’s great Holiday Shopping event calendar.

Buy, buy, buy! Who am I missing do you think? And/or, if I missed your organization and you would like me to add you, let me know here.

(You can also add your nonprofit to our brand-new nonprofit organization directory here).

New Yorker cartoon captions they are not.

Looking at nonprofits through the prism of our taglines–thanks to Nancy Schwartz’s new Nonprofit Tagline Report, which came out this week, I just have to say it: We are one earnest group of people.

If you’re at a nonprofit and online, chances are you know about this, but if not–Nancy, a New York-based marketing guru, solicited and received input from literally thousands of folks at nonprofits, including a final vote that produced 13 best taglines by popular acclaim: Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago publicist Rebecca Sive offers up opinions on politics and public affairs, “SiveSiftings.” If nothing else, her posts are worth checking out because of this: they are the perfect length! Check it out, we think you’ll agree.

If you’re thinking about merging, or closing your doors (ack!) you may also find useful a new blog from Jean Butzen, Chicago consultant who formerly was director of housing agency Lakefront SRO acquired in 2006 by Mercy Housing). Jean’s blog, “Mission Plus Strategy Equals Social Value,” like her practice, focuses on “strategic re-structuring: mergers, joint ventures/partnerships, management service organizations, parent corporations, and leadership transitions for nonprofit organizations.”

Win a free phone, an AT&T voice and unlimited data plan for 3 months and 40 ours of free mapping training from this new group’s map challenge–but you have to submit by Aug. 31! Read the rest of this entry »

Three great resources for nonprofit communications, each totally different from the last (and each deserves its own blog post–but better to be quick than thorough, in this case–I think):

ImpactMax on strategy

I recently co-presented on how to create a communications strategy plan and am doing a workshop called The Communications Audit in September for Nonprofit Alliance in Battle Creek, Mich. so I was particularly interested to read the “Impactmax” blog of Gayle Thorsen, Minneapolis-based communications consultant, on the subject of nonprofit/foundation communications plans, beginning last week with audits. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago Tribune editorial board - pic

Facebook profile pic

So social media communicator par excellence Nicole Gotthelf of Center for Neighborhood Technology tells me the Chicago Tribune editorial board has its own facebook page!

Now of course you already know the editorial board is the group of journalists who decide the paper’s official positions on matters of public policy (you remember what Mark Twain said: “Only presidents, editors and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we). Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting program, cute video, cool combination of players involved! (Nice to see volunteers who do not take themselves too seriously). Seems to be a lot of moving parts to this program, and it might be worth checking out if you want a video but do not want to invest massive funds (buyer beware!).

As struggling local newspapers continue to abandon the printed page, foundations, entrepreneurs and journalists are launching “hyperlocal” and watchdog news Web sites.

Where and who are they? What do they tell us about the new media landscape?

We’ve pinpointed significant news Web sites emerging around the United States and beyond by creating this custom Google Map for the Community Media Workshop.

Chicago is fertile ground for a number of “new news” sites, such as LISC/New Communities, Chi-Town Daily News and EveryBlock, to name just a few.

Click on the map, then zoom in or search it for specific locations to get a closer view of the emerging players in online news.

Have more sites to add? Please tell us in the comments!

–Elsa Wenzel