I was shocked but not surprised to read this morning that our state’s unemployment has reached close to 12%, a good 2.5% higher than the national average. When you add in “discouraged” workers, the real rate must be somewhere near 16%. I can’t remember this kind of unemployment in my lifetime.

Last week while driving and listening to NPR I heard someone – I was driving so I didn’t write it down – discussing the job market for recent college grads and he said that the nonprofit sector had not suffered as badly in the recession as the business sector, and that for liberal arts majors there were still some opportunities here. I sure tried to be reassured about the sector after hearing this, but I only partly believe it.

Particularly in California, as state budget cuts trickle down to local government and from there to nonprofits, we can only look forward to at least another six months of dismal news, even if the recession bottoms out.

For many years I have been giving talks on various topics at the annual Craigslist Foundation Nonprofit Boot Camp. I usually feel these sessions are pretty well received and several of them live on as podcasts at the Craigslist Foundation web site.

Recently I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that one of these talks, from 2007, entitled “How to Succeed as a Nonprofit Executive Director” is the most popular podcast from all past Boot Camps. In fact, it has been downloaded more than 5,000 times!

And if that isn’t enough for you, my most recent Boot Camp presentation, from this past summer, on Real-Time Strategic Planning, was just uploaded on the site as well.

Check it out and tell me what you think!