What is so new about the New Normal? “The New Normal” is a phrase favored by pundits to describe the current economic and political condition of our nation. While we are settling into a new social contract—or perhaps it is the absence of one altogether—I can’t call it the New Normal. For nonprofits and the people they serve, for the poor, for the shrinking middle class, and for every American who still believes in the promise of a just society, it is the New Abnormal.

I will be leading the keynote at the Ohio Grantmakers Forum Annual Conference in October on the topic of Nonprofit Strategy in the New Abnormal and check out my recent guest blog at the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Tell me what you think. Is any of this new or normal?

Independent Sector’s 2009 annual conference – “Challenging Times, New Opportunities” – kicked off today in Detroit, Michigan with a thought-provoking panel discussion examining the key trends and opportunities that will define the social sector for the next ten years. The panel was moderated – quite skillfully, given the scope of the topic and the diversity of voices on the panel – by James Canales, CEO of the James Irvine Foundation, with whom La Piana just published a report on the very same topic.

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