April 9, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Notes From a Non-Profitable Life, by Martin C. Lehfeldt, is a series of essays by a former president of the Southeastern Council of Foundations, in Atlanta, that share insights gleaned from a long career spent working for nonprofit organizations. Written in an easy, conversational style, the book dispenses advice in a straightforward, sometimes humorous fashion. One essay, titled “Eschew Obfuscation,” is a pointed critique of jargon used in the nonprofit world. Mr. Lehfeldt writes, “Like the social sciences (whose inferiority complex, I suspect, led them to translate common-sense sentiments into arcane hogwash), too much of the not-for-profit world has elected to take a noble calling and smother it in obscuring cant.” The book has six parts: how charities contribute to American democracy, reflections and anecdotes on fund raising, management, complaints and frustrations, generosity, and thoughts about grant making and donations.
Publisher: WordPlay, 45 Panola Street, Asheville, N.C. 28801; (828) 505-2476; 125 pages; $24.96; ISBN 978-0-557-02437-7.
