Books for Nonprofit Leaders
Here are some books we recommend for fundraising, understanding wealth, managing a nonprofit and team, professional writing, and the inner workings of how power impacts society and philanthropy.
Our team at Purpose Possible is comprised of highly experienced professionals in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, philanthropy, business, and much more. This wealth of expertise is gained from years of hands on experience with a wide range of organizations as well as continual self development. Here are some books we recommend for fundraising, understanding wealth, managing a nonprofit and team, professional writing, and the inner workings of how power impacts society and philanthropy.
Fundraising & Understanding Wealth
Fundraising for Social Change
Fundraising for Social Change is the preeminent guide to securing funding, with a specific focus on progressive nonprofit organizations with budgets under $5 million. Used by nonprofits nationally and internationally, this book provides a soup-to-nuts prescription for building, maintaining, and expanding an individual donor program.
Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance
Edgar Villanueva looks past philanthropy’s glamorous, altruistic façade and into its shadows: white supremacy, savior complexes, and internalized oppression. Across history and to the present day, the accumulation of wealth is steeped in trauma. How can we shift philanthropy toward social reconciliation and healing if the cornerstones are exploitation, extraction, and control?
How We Give Now:
A Philanthropic Guide for the Rest of Us
In this book, Lucy Bernholz shows that philanthropy is more than writing a check and claiming a tax deduction. For most of us--the non-wealthy givers--philanthropy can be a way of living our values and fully participating in society. We give in all kinds of ways--shopping at certain businesses, canvassing for candidates, donating money, and making conscious choices with our retirement funds. We give our cash, our time, and even our data to make the world a better place. Bernholz takes readers on a tour of the often-overlooked worlds of participatory philanthropy, learning from a diverse group of forty resourceful givers.
Train Your Board (and Everyone Else) to Raise Money
Tapping an expert team of fundraising trainers across the U.S., Andrea Kihlstedt and Andy Robinson have produced an extraordinary how-to book of easy-to-use fundraising exercises for boards of all sizes. Some activities are as brief as 15 minutes, others require an hour. And everything you need to conduct any of the 51 exercises - step-by-step instructions, handouts, even questions to pose to participants - is included in the book.
Nonprofit & Team Management
Managing a Nonprofit Organization: Updated Twenty-First-Century Edition
Dr. Wolf's update of Managing a Nonprofit Organization includes material that tackles the demands and challenges faced by nonprofit managers as a result of the legislative and policy changes enacted after 9/11 and in the wake of the economic collapse of 2008. Highlighting the generational issues facing many nonprofits, as current management ages and a younger generation prepares to take the reins, Dr. Wolf suggests ways for organizations to best manage these transitions and adapt to a rapidly changing world.
Creative Trespassing:
How to Put the Spark and Joy Back Into Your Work and Life
Peppered with stories of her own shenanigans--from organizing a wrestling match in the middle of an art museum to staging a corporate culture intervention via post-its--and lessons from the rule-breaking exploits of artists, change-makers, and totally legit business leaders alike, this book is a rollicking, uninhibited guide to using creativity as fuel for a freer and more joyful life.
Writing
How to Say It:
Choice Words, Phrases, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Every Situation
For anyone who has ever searched for the right word at a crucial moment, the revised third edition of this bestselling guide offers a smart and succinct way to say everything
* Apologies and sympathy letters
* Letters to the editor
* Cover letters
* Fundraising requests
* Social correspondence, including invitations and Announcements
On Writing Well:
The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts, or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you both fundamental principles as well as the insights of a distinguished practitioner.
Power & Philanthropic Change
Winners Take All:
The Elite Charade of Changing the World
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The groundbreaking investigation of how the global elite's efforts to "change the world" preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. An essential read for understanding some of the egregious abuses of power that dominate today’s news.
"Impassioned.... Entertaining reading.” —The Washington Post
The Tyranny of Generosity
The practice of philanthropy, which releases private property for public purposes, represents in many ways the best angels of our nature. But this practice's noteworthy virtues often obscure the fact that philanthropy also represents the exercise of private power.
In The Tyranny of Generosity, Theodore Lechterman shows how this private power can threaten the foundations of a democratic society.
Busted! The Overhead Myth by Laura Hennighausen, Director of Funder Relations
It’s November. The leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and you know what that means in the world of fundraising - the return of people on social media crusading against making year-end donations to nonprofits with “high overhead”.
It’s November. The leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and you know what that means in the world of fundraising - the return of people on social media crusading against making year-end donations to nonprofits with “high overhead”.
The Overhead Myth, a name coined by GuideStar, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and Charity Navigator in 2013, is the misguided notion that nonprofit effectiveness can be measured in part by the ratio of budget dedicated to general operating expenses including rent, utilities, benefits, and *gasp* salaries. Believers declare that they want to see their donations going to directly serve a charity’s clients or programs. But how do they imagine the work actually happens?
General operating support dollars are the most important to a nonprofit and often the hardest to come by. Operating support funds what is unsexy but necessary - how can a shelter or art gallery operate if there are no lights to turn on, or no one to turn them on?
It’s important for nonprofits to be honest about what it takes to accomplish your work in order for the public to truly understand the need. I am a big proponent of telling our clients to ask for what they really need - don’t adjust your fundraising goal so it sounds less intimidating, be transparent. And don’t subscribe to the idea that you have to keep your overhead as low as possible to be fundable. We must all advocate for competitive salaries in our industry in order to retain top talent and touting how little we pay the people in charge of achieving our missions does nothing to address these inequities.
We should be promoting how great general operating dollars are. Donors often ask what is most needed, and this is it! Nonprofits need funding that is flexible and can be used to support these most essential needs. And why shouldn’t an Executive Director or Education Coordinator make a reasonable salary? Without their time and talent, these life-saving programs wouldn’t happen in the first place.
So this end-of-year giving season if you see someone posting on social media saying not to donate to a certain nonprofit because of overhead, speak up! Vu Le has some great suggestions on How to deal with uninformed nonprofit watchdogs on his NonprofitAF blog.
We can all do our part to educate donors and advocate for what we really need.
Lara Smith on Making the Shift to Consulting from Nonprofit Life
As a type-A person, I’ve always been good at checking things off to-do lists. But how do we make sure we’re always working towards our legacy, as people, and as organizations? This is going to sound dark, but every year I write my obituary as a way to keep my why as a North Star. Five years ago, as I worked on it, I identified that it’s my purpose in life to help people and organizations reach their full potential. I have loved getting to do it at Dad’s, because I am able to have a deep impact on staff and a more shallow impact on every single person who walks through the door.
So when Susannah reached out to me last fall to see if I was interested in facilitating some board retreats for Purpose Possible, I jumped at the chance. I have been toying with the idea of being a consultant for (literally) years, but never knew how to dip my toe in the water. Working within the structure of an existing firm was extremely appealing because it meant I could try things out without a huge commitment on my part.
I always knew that when I left Dad’s Garage, I wanted to give the organization plenty of notice so that I could leave the organization in as stable a position as possible. I told the board of directors that it was time in October 2020. I thought I wanted another full-time job. I started looking. And at the same time, the number of clients I had in my portfolio increased.
As I reflected on the best way to reach my purpose, I realized that consulting would allow me to have a breadth of impact that wouldn’t be possible at a single organization. I can focus on the things I excel at and love (big picture thinking, coaching, storytelling) and work with clients that serve so many different constituencies.
Purpose Possible has been wonderful for me because there are so many other consultants that I can bounce ideas off of (coming from an improv theatre, I’m definitely used to working in groups!) and leverage expertise from. Purpose Possible has only been around for a short time, and yet I’ve already had the opportunity to work with twelve different groups. Their missions run the gamut from breaking the cycle of poverty using dirt bike culture to providing identification to individuals experiencing homelessness to bringing world class photography to Atlanta and everything in between.
In a world that feels increasingly specialized, I really didn’t know what I was going to do with my generalist background. In my eleven years of leading organizations, I learned a little bit about a lot of things. I can speak for a couple of minutes about topics ranging from City zoning codes to capital campaigns to professional development practices. I believe it’s a leader's job to hear the best idea, not to have it. And it’s a true gift to be able to leverage these skills every single day for the clients we serve.
5 Things Nonprofit Leaders Can Do to Reset and Jump Into the New Year
2021 marks the start of a new year.
Here are five ways nonprofit leaders can take this time to reset and start the year on the right foot.
1. Take a deep breath and exhale all the bad things that 2020 threw at you, your organization, and everyone you know.
Take a moment to get it all out. Get fundamental with it: take a piece of paper and write down everything you couldn't stand about 2020 and either wad it up and throw it out (with gusto!) or burn it in a firepit outdoors. Now take another sheet of paper and write down all the good things that happened for you and/or your organization this year. Small things count. That day you felt like giving up but you found a way to persevere? That was a win. That grant you never thought you'd get that actually came through? That was a win. That moment you realized you could cook more than mac and cheese? That was a win. TAKE THE WIN. Then let this liberating thought resonate in your head and your heart: 2020 IS OVER. Congratulate yourself for being here. Congratulate yourself for still having an organization. No matter what happens in 2021, 2020 is over and will never come back. That in itself is a victory worth celebrating. Light a sparkler, think a good thought, or have a celebratory drink because this is everyone's rallying cry right now (from Stephen Sondheim's famous song):
"I've run the gamut, A to Z
Three cheers and dammit, c'est la vie
I got through all of last year
And I'm here!"
2. Determine what your energetic needs are right now.
I'm not talking about the needs of the organization you run. I'm talking about your needs as its leader. Check-in with yourself, and determine where you are in your energetic cycle. The phrase "it's lonely at the top" exists for a reason. Staff members can commiserate with each other about their work, but organization leaders are not afforded that luxury. They have to lead, which means they generally have no equal at the organization and therefore cannot commiserate with anyone about their work. If this is ringing true for you, then address it. Put your oxygen mask on first. Join a nonprofit leader group in your area and set up a monthly meeting for everyone to just talk about their work. If there isn't a nonprofit leader group, start one.
As the "face" of the organization, it's crucial that you project stability to the public. Towards that end, never post on social media about your personal woes and certainly not about the politics or inner workings of anything about the organization you lead. This goes for your personal social media pages as well as the organization's. If you find you need some emotional support, that's great. Ask a friend to listen to you, or get some counseling in 2021. 2020 has been stressful for everyone, so acknowledging the need for support is important for everyone, especially now.
3. Give your nonprofit organization a tune-up.
Consider the tasks that bog your organization down, and make a plan to eliminate or streamline them. Running a nonprofit organization is challenging. It is not for the faint of heart. But there are often tasks that make running that organization harder than it needs to be. Make a list of tasks that are more than hard: they're stupid-hard. Stupid-hard tasks are not only challenging, demanding, and time-consuming - they also prove to be ineffective, inefficient wastes of time in terms of their impact. Make a list of five of them (enlist each of your staff members to do this as well), and eliminate them entirely. This one thing can tune up the entire organization and create greater job satisfaction and staff effectiveness across the board.
4. Take an eagle-eye view of your organization.
What are its strong suits? What needs are consistently not being met? Ask each staff member to make a list of what's working in their department, and what consistently falls to the side. Gather everyone's answers together, and categorize them. Do you see a pattern? Finding out what's consistently working and what obviously needs more support can be liberating, and can help chart a path forward towards a healthier future. Having individual meetings with staff members to collaboratively create solutions for the issues they raise can make them feel more empowered and can lead to better outcomes for the organization. Use the wisdom from your staff members to create a better, more effective workflow and impact.
5. Improve your daily working life.
Are there regular tasks that take up too much time and drag you down? Are there ways to make your life easier in that regard? Can you delegate those tasks, or use a software solution to streamline them? As a leader, time is your most precious commodity, so if you're bogged down with tedious tasks, find a way to get those tasks done by someone or something else. The aim is to spend your time proverbially steering the ship, not having your energy sapped by scrubbing the deck every day.
If there are major gaps in your organization, also consider ways to get those needs met, either with the staff you currently have or with consultants who can create plans to make your organization (and your life) run more smoothly.
It's a new year. It's a chance for a whole new paradigm. Seize this moment.
–Lee Nowell, Consultant
Purpose Possible
Lee Nowell is a Consultant with Purpose Possible. She is the previous Managing Director of Synchronicity Theatre, which was given the coveted Managing for Excellence Award from The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta during her tenure. She is highly experienced in management practices in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Lee’s specialties include nonprofit organization stabilization and intelligent growth, including financial, programming, and HR components for success, in addition to grant writing, fundraising strategy, and designing and executing public and private fundraising events.