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Knowledge & Insights Center: Best of 2024
Social CurrentIn 2024, the Social Current network’s priorities and top areas of interest can be seen through its usage of the Knowledge and Insights Center (KIC). Information and materials on topics related to Social Current’s impact areas were accessed through KIC’s:
- Resource library
- On-demand learning
- Personalized research via the Ask-a-Librarian service
- Research, business, and media databases
The most prominent themes across library and learning usage and research requests were:
- Workforce Resilience: Employee mental health, professional burnout, culture and wellbeing, trauma-informed strategies for workforce, organizational trust, staffing trends and retention strategies
- Organizational Development and Performance: Leadership techniques for building high-performing teams, logic models and program evaluations, performance quality improvement (PQI), change management, board governance
- Advancing Equity: Diversity and equity models for boards, anti-racism tools and templates, social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity, ethics and anti-equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) mandates
- Nonprofit Best Practices: Board member assessments, promotion policies, staff pay differentials, productivity standards, operating reserves, and telehealth policies and procedures
Nonprofit leaders and staff further utilized the KIC information and resources to learn more about emerging public health challenges, innovative funding strategies, the opportunities and risks of implementing AI-based solutions, and more.
Here is a snapshot of the most popular KIC resources in 2024.
Resource Library
Curated by professional librarians, this extensive clearinghouse library contains thousands of catalog records in more than 20 topical resource collections.
Top 10 Articles from Our Resource Library:
- 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People
- 2024 Nonprofit Salaries and Staffing Trends
- 5 Strategies for Improving Mental Health at Work
- 9 Questions to Help You Figure Out Why You’re Burned Out
- 10 Leadership Techniques for Building High-Performing Teams
- A Trauma-Informed Approach to Workforce: An Introductory Guide for Employers and Workforce Development Organizations
- Create (Better) Culture: The Keys to Wellbeing and Leadership
- 10 Pitfalls That Destroy Organizational Trust
- Best Employee Benefits In 2024
- Learning to Love Your Logic Model
Ask-A-Librarian Research Support
In 2024, KIC knowledge specialists provided more than 140 research hours searching, evaluating, and curating responses to information requests. The most popular research topics were:
Practices and Programs
- EDI in the workplace
- EDI certification programs
- Foster parent recruitment trends
- Mandated reporter training
- Compassion resilience
- Peer recovery coaching
Trends and Sociodemographic Topics
- Mental health youth crisis
- Minority health demographic trends
- Gender identity and BIPOC characterizations
- Infant-toddler childcare crisis policies and procedures
- Nonprofit board orientation best practices
- Nonprofit CEO compensation
- Digital inclusion
- Incident report procedures
- Fleet management policies
- Salary surveys
Policies and Procedures
- Nonprofit board orientation best practices
- Nonprofit CEO compensation
- Digital inclusion
- Incident report procedures
- Fleet management policies
- Salary surveys
Organizational Development
- Logic models and PQI
- Change management
- Knowledge management
- Foundation research
Research, Business, and Media Databases
KIC users have access to a wealth of knowledge through multiple databases from EBSCO with full-text content from leading academic journals, industry publications, and business and news articles on a wide range of topics relevant to the nonprofit sector, such as fundraising, grant writing, program evaluation, community development, and social justice. In addition, Social Current’s official journal, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services (FIS), offers research on the art, science, and practice of social work that guides programs and policies in the field.
Top publications in the field that users also have access to include Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Fast Company, Nonprofit Quarterly, and Board Leadership.
Most Popular Journals
- Child Welfare
- Zero to Three
- Child & Youth Care Forum
- Children and Youth Services Review
- Behavioral Health Svcs. & Research
- American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
- Nonprofit Business Advisor
- Knight-Ridder Business Newsfeed
- Board & Administrator for Administrators Only
Top 10 Business Book Summaries
- The Key to Inclusion
- Bringing Up the Boss
- Diversity Training that Generates Real Change
- How to Be an Inclusive Leader
- The Power of Latino Leadership
- HBR’s 10 Must Reads for New Managers
- Leading Inclusion
- The Fearless Organization
- The Microstress Effect
- The New Art of Ideas
Top 5 FIS Article Reads
- The Importance of Policy Advocacy in Social Work
- Critical Race Theory: Opportunities for Application in Social Work Practice and Policy
- Self-Care Framework for Social Workers: Building a Strong Foundation for Practice
- Is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Evidence-Based? An Update 10 Years Later
- Revisiting the Relationship between Micro and Macro Social Work Practice
On-Demand Learning
Social Current’s understanding of best practices combined with our network’s deep field experience allow us to create learning that is engaging, relational, and applicable to real-world situations. Dozens of courses and microlearning opportunities are available in the Learning Community, which is being fully redesigned for 2025 and will launch in February.
Top 10 Learning Community Webinars and Microlearning
- Project Hope: Centering Hope Building Trust, and Fostering Wellness
- Reducing Health Care Disparities within a SDOH Framework
- Building a “How Might We?” Culture
- Lessons from the Field in Reducing Child Abuse through Community-Based Collaboration
- Taking Back Your Narrative: Advocacy 101 for the Social Sector
- Strategies for Insuring the Sector
- Core Strategies for Workforce Well-Being and Resilience
- The Elephant in the Room: Addressing Trauma in Your Organization
- Media Engagement and Crisis Communications Training: Shifting to More Proactive Strategies
- 21st-Century Child Welfare Research Agenda Series
Unlock Your Organization’s Potential with Access to KIC
Through our user-friendly Hub, you can explore a vast library, delve into specialized databases, and connect with knowledgeable librarians for personalized assistance. Whether you’re seeking data-driven insights to inform your programs, exploring best practices in leadership, or developing innovative solutions to community challenges, the KIC is your trusted resource for advancing organizational excellence and driving meaningful social change.
Learn more about KIC resources and services.
An organization can access the KIC by becoming a Social Current Impact Partner and then logging into the Social Current Hub. Additionally, KIC research services are available on an hourly basis; contact us via email for details.
About Social Current
Social Current is the premier partner and solutions provider to a diverse network of more than 1,800 human and social service organizations. Together with our network, we are activating the power of the social sector to effect broader systemic change that is needed to achieve our vision of an equitable society where all people can thrive. We support, strengthen, and amplify the work of the social sector in five core integrated areas including brain science and trauma-informed approaches; COA Accreditation; child, family, and community well-being; government affairs and advocacy; and leadership and organizational development.
