Blog Posts

2025 Chicago Friends of the CommNS Event Recap

In the fall of 2023, the CommNS kicked off an effort to reach out to our neighbors in Chicago. Staff, faculty and students were able to connect and share what we do and why we …

Participate in Wisconsin’s 2025 Civic Health Challenge

Participate in Wisconsin’s Civic Health Challenge this August! August is Civic Health Month! The Civic Health of Wisconsin Initiative is organizing Wisconsin’s 2025 Civic Health Challenge, which is designed to help us become active contributors …

Beyond Land Acknowledgements: The Importance of Community History in Honoring Native Voices

The guidance from this brief is derived from The Community and Nonprofit Studies Affiliate and Civil Society & Community Studies and American Indian & Indigenous Studies Associate Professor, Kasey Keeler and her project Ȟaȟá Wakpádaŋ …

Why Rihanna’s expanding Clara Lionel Foundation is seen as a model for celebrity philanthropy

Nonprofits and Philanthropy Working Abroad in 2025: Navigating Recent Developments in Government and Regulation

By Mary Beth Collins, J.D., M.A., Executive Director of the UW-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies, Professor Mark Sidel of the UW-Madison Law School, and Dr. Vincenzo Bollettino of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. On …

Community Fellowship: Apply by April 7, 2025

The Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (CommNS) is excited to announce a new opportunity for a community practitioner to collaborate with our center: the Community Fellowship. Through its new Community Fellowship, the CommNS seeks …

Save the Date: Chicago Friends of the CommNS Event April 9th!

It’s official, our spring Chicago Friends of the CommNS event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 9th, 2025!  Our social reception will begin at 4:30 pm with some brief programming around 5:15 pm. Please be on the lookout for an invitation …

Creating connections on campus to support Wisconsin communities

Recently published on UniverCity Alliance website: https://univercity.wisc.edu/2025/02/03/creating-connections-on-campus-to-support-wisconsin-communities/ When the City of Madison was interested in evaluating a pop-up shop program, UniverCity Alliance connected the project and city staff with an initiative at the Center for …

Co-Create: Students gain career insights while furthering the Wisconsin Idea

Recently published by the UW School of Human Ecology: https://humanecology.wisc.edu/co-create-students-gain-career-insights-while-furthering-the-wisconsin-idea/ Audrey Treptow x‘25 has always had a passion for public service. After her experience with Co-Create, a community-led research, evaluation and facilitation initiative, she has …

Going From the Classroom to the Boardroom Helps Students Learn How Nonprofits Work

A class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison business school gives an overview of how nonprofits are structured and regulated, as well as how boards support the transparency and compliance of these organizations, which must serve …

What Evaluators Can Learn From Doulas

Recently published on AEA365: https://aea365.org/blog/what-evaluators-can-learn-from-doulas-by-amy-washbush/ Hi! I’m Amy Washbush, Associate Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies. Through our Co-Create team we partner with nonprofit organizations and others to answer the evaluation and research …

What difference can Co-Create make for your organization? Reflections from our clients and partners

  As Co-Create has continued to grow and engage in more projects with nonprofits, funders, and government agencies to lift up and answer the most important questions to advance their efforts, we’ve taken the time …

Celebrity Philanthropy and Activism: A Call for Higher Standards and Optimal Impact

By Mary Beth Collins, J.D., M.A., Executive Director of the UW-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies With special thanks to an important contributor to the conceptual basis of this article,  Dr. Troy Williams, Ph.D., …

Participate in Wisconsin’s August 2024 Civic Health Challenge

Complete a challenge, build a habit, connect with others, and enter to win! You can participate in the Wisconsin Civic Health Challenge in one of two ways: Join us on goosechase! Download the Goosechase app …

Students Reflect Upon Their Experiences in Co-Create

As the Co-Create team celebrated our 50-project milestone at the end of 2023, we took the opportunity to look back on where we’ve been and what we can learn from that. (If you’re wondering, our …

Join our “Social Innovation” Summer Book Club!

Social Innovation”, “Social Enterprise”, and “Social Entrepreneurship” are terms that are commonly used in current popular and professional parlance to describe efforts that aim or claim to offer effective and creative solutions to difficult challenges …

4 Insightful Takeaways from the 2024 CommUnity Conference

Our biannual 2024 CommUnity Conference was a success! In collaboration with partners from the Civic Health of Wisconsin Initiative, dedicated community leaders, students, faculty, researchers, and nonprofit professionals came together for a day of engagement …

Co-Create Reaches 50 Projects!

As we usher in spring, we offer congratulations to our Co-Create team who hit a major milestone toward the end of 2023: their 50th project. It began in 2017 as a small wish by Associate …

Goodwill Industries of North Central WI partners with Co-Create to refine their evaluation

As the CommNS Co-Create team we believe in the value of strong evaluation for nonprofit organizations. At its best, evaluation provides organizations with the data to track progress in programs and activities that advance their …

Nonprofit Capacity Building Efforts Across Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Nonprofit Resources Group (WisNRG) was formed to connect programs and organizations that support “front lines” nonprofits across Wisconsin. Over the past few years, WisNRG has organized informal quarterly meetings that bring together nonprofit-serving …