Biz Briefs: More Than 100 Come for Seminar in Excellence| 01:48PM / Monday, November 28, 2016 | |
 John Kania, global managing director of FSG, speaks at the nonprofit seminar on Nov. 3. |
Excellent: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and Berkshire United Way co-hosted a "Seminar in Nonprofit Excellence" on Nov. 3 at Crissey Farm in Great Barrington. The seminar attracted over 100 nonprofit and business leaders from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York to learn about the collective impact model from John Kania and regional colleagues who are implementing the principles and practices inherent to this approach.
Collective impact is a methodology that brings people together from different sectors to develop a shared agenda for achieving social change. Kania and Mark Kramer, of nationally recognized consulting firm FSG, were first to articulate this powerful approach to tackling complex social problems in a 2011 article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
The season of giving: "Giving Back: Your Guide to Charitable Opportunities in the Berkshires" is a giving guide published by the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires (NPC), a new organization founded by Liana Toscanini and committed to facilitating growth for charitable organizations through shared resources, affordable products and services, and creative collaborations.
The 128-page Giving Back guide includes a directory of more than 900 Berkshire nonprofits, profiles of 60 nonprofit organizations, and articles geared towards charities and donors. Five thousand copies of the guide are currently being distributed to real estate offices, town halls, banks, libraries, businesses, schools, community centers, and more throughout the county.
Those interested can pick up a free copy at the Nonprofit Center’s office at 40 Railroad Street in Great Barrington or at any number of locations throughout Berkshire County including all branches of Lee Bank and Adams Community Bank. The guide can also be ordered online.
Cause for alarm: Starting December 1, older one- and two-family homes cannot be sold with expired or out-of-date smoke alarms. The Board of Fire Prevention Regulations has revised the State Fire Code to require that one- and two-family homes built before 1975 must have working smoke alarms that have not expired. Working smoke alarms installed prior to December 1, 2016 (that met previous requirements) can continue to be used until they are ten years old or have exceeded the manufacturer’s recommended life, whichever occurs first.
When replacing expired alarms, the regulations require the new alarms be photoelectric with a hush button feature to silence nuisance alarms. Intensifying smoke will override the hush feature. Alarms can be photoelectric alone, or in combination with ionization technology. They may also provide smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detection in the same device. The biggest change is that replacement battery powered alarms will have to have a 10-year, sealed, non-replaceable, non-rechargeable battery. These batteries won’t ever have to be changed for the life of the smoke alarm. The entire unit, the smoke alarm and the battery, will need to be replaced at the end of ten years, and the alarm will give you an end-of-life warning.
The Department of Fire Services has posted an updated version our Consumer's Guide to Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Requirements for Selling 1- and 2-Famly Homes on our website. The guide covering the existing requirements for homes being sold through Nov. 30 will remain on the site until Dec. 1. The best source of information about a specific home is your local fire prevention bureau as they will be conducting the inspection
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