Every year for the last five years I have written a Wishlist of Books for Nonprofit Folk at my blog – Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant. This is a curated list with recommendations made by thought leaders covering a wide range of topics including governance, finance, social media, board development, marketing,mergers and more. I also am maintaining a Pinterest Board with this title. For the last two yers I have also featured a giveaway book compliments of the author. Well, both of these resources have become very popular and are viewed many times all year long.
The summer is the perfect time to step back, think a bit, learn new things and plan for us “nonprofit folk. And so here are some ideas for summer reading from the Wishlist:
Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World
by Beth Kanter and KD Paine
JD Lasica was the first response to my request for
recommendations saying that this is “The one I always
recommend.” Measuring the Networked
Nonprofit is this year’s Terry McAdam Book Award winner. The Alliance for
Nonprofit Management confers the Terry McAdam Book Award to the most
inspirational and useful new book published which makes a substantial
contribution to nonprofit management. It
is the most prestigious book award that a book for nonprofits can receive. Well deserved by Beth and Allyson, this book
should be on the bookshelf of every nonprofit executive.
Social Change Anytime ementOnline Multichannel Strategies to Spark Advocacy, Raise Money, and Engage your Community
by Allyson Kapin and Amy Sample Ward
I personally recommend Amy’s book –
it is both inspirational and practical. Amy and Allyson advocate integrating multiple
channels into your communications strategy and they use lots of excellent
examples and case studies. Social Change
Anytime Everywhere was a Terry McAdam Book Award finalist – recognized as one of the best
nonprofit books of the year. See all I
had to say at this blog post: Social Change Anytime Everywhere – Think MultichannelStrategy
Heather Carpenter, PhD, Assistant
Professor, Grand Valley State University recommendations:
Heather is a young PhD already with a wealth of practical,
academic and research experience in the nonprofit field. Heather is using these books as texts in her
courses this term and this is what she had to say about them: “These books are practical and provide
concrete help for successfully running a nonprofit… the research I’ve done
shows that nonprofit managers still need the core financial management and
fundraising skills to effectively run their organizations.” Hey, Heather,
I completely agree and this is an excellent set of current books which
address both basic and more advanced skills for nonprofit leaders.
Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals
by Darian Rodriguez Heyman
Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability
by
Jeanne Bell,
Jan Masaoka and Steve Zimmerman
Fundraising for Social Change
by Kim Klein
Budgeting and Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations
by Lynne A. Weikart and Greg G. Chen
Amy Sample Ward recommends….
Content Marketing for Nonprofits: A Communications Map for Engaging Your Community, Becoming a Favorite Cause, and Raising More Money (The Jossey-Bass Nonprofit Guidebook Series)
by Kivi Leroux Miller
Another important fundamental for nonprofits is marketing and no one knows more about nonprofit marketing than Kivi Leroux Miller. Amy Sample Ward called this booksimply “Great.” And that’s the word from the reviews at Amazon. This is a must have for nonprofit marketing. Update since the wishlist was written: This is a terry McAdam Award nominee for this year.
Moving onto Board and Governance Issues…..
You and Your Nonprofit Board: Advice and Practical Tips from the Field’s Top Practitioners, Researchers, and Provocateurs
edited by Terrie Temkin
I was so proud to be a contributor to this book. Terrie Temkin and Debra Beck offered these comments:
“This anthology is comprised of 38 strong, knowledgeable voices from around the world – each taking a different approach to deal with some critical aspect of governance. The reviews have been stellar. One reason is that the book speaks to governance as it exists today, not last year or even yesterday.” Debra says of Terrie: “She picked the brains of some of the great governance writers and practitioners, offering from-the-field wisdom about what it takes to support and inspire nonprofit boards to perform to their highest potential (and their greatest aspirations). Advice is highly practical as well, and infinitely do-able. “ See my post for more on this volume:
You and Your Nonprofit Board – Just Published
governance topics:
The Practitioner’s Guide to Governance as Leadership: Building High-Performing Nonprofit Boards
by Cathy Trower
follow-up to Chait, Ryan and Taylor’s seminal “Governance as
Leadership.” She offers practical, grounded approaches for applying GAL in
the field, based in large part on her own research and her work in the sector.
Those of us who responded to Chait et al’s work with, “Wow! Now
what?” now have the “Now what…”
Nonprofit Governance: Innovative Perspectives and Approaches (Routledge Contemporary Corporate Governance)
edited by Chris Cornforth and William A. Brown
Debra is a contributor to this volume and she describes it as, “articulate, inpractitioner-friendly ways, the best and latest research that has the potentialto impact board practice. Each chapter explores a different study and a different aspect of what actually happens in nonprofit boardrooms. It offers insights into some of the more pressing “how” and “why” questions and research that attempts to address them.”
See the whole list at 2013 Wishlist of Books for Nonprofit Folk.
Marion