If you have followed the emergence and spread of the Occupy Wall Street movement, you can see these trends at work – and it’s precisely the changes implied by the trends that have made this a difficult story for traditional media to cover.   How many times have you seen reports that this is a “leaderless movement?”  In a session on social change at the recent Independent Sector conference, a young woman expressed her frustration at this term, saying “The problem that people seem to have in understanding OWS is that it is, in fact, a leader-full movement.”  She makes a good point.   Those involved are sharing leadership, inviting others to engage in the movement, and they are using technology to communicate broadly and through open channels – but not necessarily the channels to which traditional media are accustomed (no one issues press releases announcing the next day’s events).

If we try to understand what is happening in the sector through applying an older framework, we are likely to end up with a conundrum like that expressed by Arthur Brisbane in the New York Times in which he says “Occupy Wall Street has proved to be a difficult sprawling story to report” and one that has generated a great deal of reader concern about the coverage.  Much of the concern seems rooted in the challenges of applying an old framework (single leader, traditional means and channels of communication, civic engagement bounded within a hierarchical institution) to an emerging new world.

Can advocacy organizations learn anything from the spread of OWS around the country and the world?

Has the media’s confusion regarding the “message” of OWS caused you to look at your communications strategy?  Which way are you going?

Angela Maiers recommends a Twitter Engagement Formula of 70-20-10 which breaks down as:

• 70 percent of your tweets share resources — blog postings, articles, opinions and tools
• 20 percent of your tweets engage in conversations and connections
• 10 percent of your tweets “chirp,” or chat about yourself, your life and your thoughts

Does any of this math add up for your nonprofit organization?

Some bloggers question whether setting “rules” for social media misses the point.

Tell us what you think.

When animal rescue worker Jessica Almeida moved from Los Angeles, CA, to Salt Lake City, UT, she discovered that small breeds are rare in Salt Lake City.  As Rescue and Transfer Coordinator for the Humane Society of Utah, she found vacant cages at the local UT shelters and long-waiting lists of families eager to adopt small dogs.

In contrast, the Los Angeles metro area euthanizes approximately 60,000 animals per year.  Robin Harmon, Adoption Manager of Best Friends Animal Society of Los Angeles, sees county shelters flooded with homeless “purse dogs,” or small breeds that have become popular fashion accessories thanks to Hollywood films and celebrity trends.

How could these organizations work together to achieve their shared goal of saving dogs from euthanasia? The answer: Pup My Ride, a van shuttle service from Best Friends Animal Society of Los Angeles to the Humane Society of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Joining the collaboration, The Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, provides funding for the shuttle services and celebrity star power.  The Foundation, was founded by actress Katherine Heigl and her mother, in memory of their son and brother, Jason, who died tragically young in a car accident. Jason loved animals and the foundation supports nonprofit animal rescue efforts and other animal rights programs.

Today, Pup My Ride transports 20-30 small dogs, twice a month.  With nearly 3,500 dogs saved by Pup My Ride in its first 2 years, Best Friends Animal Society is exploring national expansion of the program.  If you represent a shelter that has a shortage of small breed dogs for adoption, email RobinH@bestfriends.org or donate $5 by texting PUPPY to 90999.

We looked back to the way in which our team announced the Prize in 2008 in order to plan the 2011 Prize announcement.  We found that some of the print sources we used in 2008 are long gone and while others are still around, their print readership is now far surpassed by their online readership. Some blogs have also come and gone. Twitter wasn’t even on our radar in early 2008. In two short years, the Prize team has had to rethink and revamp our communications strategy. Luckily, we have great partners in the Williams Group who are helping us navigate those decisions.

More importantly – knowledge and interest in the sector regarding the use of collaboration has changed dramatically.  Lois Savage and Jerry Hirsch at Lodestar were true pioneers in understanding and promoting collaboration as a strategy that could yield bigger, better outcomes. Today, they are at the forefront of a movement.

As we worked with the Foundation Center who has built an amazing new resource on collaboration, we began to surface a  dozen foundations around the country who are fostering collaboration in their own communities. For example, there are nineteen funders in Cleveland who have launched a Human Services Strategic Restructuring Pilot, while in New Jersey, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is nurturing collaboration among their grantees. Plus, Whitney Johnson at the Anschutz Family Foundation in Denver is playing a pivotal role in creating a Colorado Collaboration Prize, and the Foundation For The Carolinas has built the Community Catalyst Fund to support innovative partnerships, collaboration and strategic mergers.

How exciting is that?

We’ll be working with the Lodestar Foundation and AIM Alliance in reviewing and evaluating the applications for the 2011 Prize that will be accepted between June 1 and July 16.  I can’t wait to see what has been happening out in the sector since the last Prize process.

Like we found while conducting La Piana Consulting’s NonprofitNext research initiative and described in our Convergence report, today’s nonprofit sector leaders are finding innovative ways to achieve their missions through collaboration.  These futurists aren’t just looking at how to combine Organization A plus Organization B.  They are saying, “Why do we need to take on one model or the other or a blend of the two?  Let’s start with the question: how should we organize our programs and operations to have the greatest impact on our mission?”  They are essentially throwing out the old and looking – with great creativity and fearlessness – at entirely new ways to work.

As we approach the 2011 Prize, we have to ask what new ideas have great nonprofits come up with that will help inform the sector and drive the next round of innovation around collaboration?   I can’t wait to see the answer.

To what extent is trust likely to be an issue, and how can networks effectively overcome the resistance likely to arise from those concerns?