November 13, 1997 | Read Time: 7 minutes
Beyond Prince and Merchant: Citizen Participation and the Rise of Civil Society
Edited by John Burbidge
Small groups of thoughtful, committed citizens around the world are stepping up to solve society’s problems where government and businesses have failed, say the compilers of this book. Twenty authors elaborate on what they say is a newfound populism shaping those grassroots efforts.
“While building civil society involves citizens working in partnership with government and business at all levels of society, it is essentially a bottom-up activity,” writes Mr. Burbidge, the communications director at the Institute of Cultural Affairs in Seattle.
Contributors include Robert Bothwell, president of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, who defines the elements that compose a “civil society”; Mildred Robbins Leet, co-founder of the New York-based Trickle Up Program, who shows how microenterprise loans have provided relief to impoverished villages in several countries; and Paul L. Watson, Jr., former executive director of San Diego Youth and Community Services, who details steps for helping troubled youths.
An appendix provides a plan developed by ICA to create and sustain volunteer groups that share common values and that work to improve their communities. Publisher: Institute of Cultural Affairs, 1504 25th Avenue, Seattle 98122; (206) 323-2100; fax (206) 322-6266; World-Wide Web http://www.ica-usa.org; 314 pages; $29.95; I.S.B.N. 1-888753-09-9.
50 Ways to Motivate Your Board: A Guide for Nonprofit Executives
By James A. Donovan
Assign each board member a task. Plan a retreat. Serve popcorn prior to a board meeting.
Those suggestions and 47 others compose this mix of serious and light-hearted advice for stoking the fire underneath complacent board members.
“[Many non-profit executives] think they need more money, when, in fact, they really need a better-run organization,” writes Mr. Donovan, a consultant based in Winter Springs, Fla.
His credos include appealing to the egos of board members (No. 27: Recognize and reward directors for their leadership), instilling a sense of urgency (No. 18: Create a calendar that shows how few days are available for volunteer work), and setting a good example (No. 50: Strive to be a generous person).
Each idea runs no more than two or three pages and in many cases is augmented with anecdotes from the author’s 25-year career as a fund raiser and management consultant. Publisher: Donovan Management, P.O. Box 195068, Winter Springs, Fla. 32719; (407) 366-8340 or (800) 247-3023; fax (407) 977-9668; 112 pages; $19.95 plus $2 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 0-9639875-2-6.
Mission-Based Marketing: How Your Not-for-Profit Can Succeed in a More Competitive World
By Peter C. Brinckerhoff
The time when a non-profit group had a monopoly on the services it provided has passed, writes Mr. Brinckerhoff. This book examines how groups can employ business-like marketing techniques to insure survival while still embracing their charitable missions.
Mr. Brinckerhoff, a non-profit- management consultant, says that a competitive non-profit group knows its markets, treats everyone in and out of the organization like a customer, involves all staff members and volunteers in the organization’s promotion, asks questions continually, tries new ideas, and doesn’t fear competition.
He provides examples of groups from both the non-profit and the business worlds that either followed or failed to meet those standards — and explains how they did so. He also suggests “hands-on” exercises that are meant to jump-start marketing plans.
In various chapters, Mr. Brinckerhoff focuses on identifying competitors, producing effective marketing materials, and providing exemplary customer service.
He also identifies what he calls the marketing “disability” of most non-profit organizations: workers from service-oriented backgrounds who are accustomed to telling people what they need and never asking what they want.
“They are doomed in a competitive market,” he writes.Publisher: Alpine Guild, P.O. Box 4846, Dillon, Colo. 80435; (970) 262-6505 or (800) 869-9559; fax (970) 262-9378; 224 pages; $34.95; I.S.B.N. 0-931712-23-8.
National Guide to Funding in Health, Fifth Edition
Edited by Elizabeth H. Rich
This guide profiles 4,100 foundations, corporate-giving programs, and charities that make grants to health-related institutions and projects.
Each entry includes contact information, financial data, areas of interest, geographic limitations, application information, and, where available, a sample of recent grants.
The 12,620 grants listed total more than $1-billion in support for hospitals, medical research, health-care reform, nursing and medical education, mental-health services, national health associations, and rehabilitation.
Indexes provide an alphabetical roster of donors, officers, and trustees, as well as lists of grant makers by name, subject, state, and types of support awarded. Publisher: The Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York 10003-3076; (212) 807-3690 in New York State or (800) 424-9836 elsewhere; fax (212) 807-3677; World-Wide Web http://www.fdncenter.org; 1,195 pages; $150; I.S.B.N. 0-87954-710-3.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Finding Profit in Non-Profits: The Influence of Management Consultants on the Third Sector, by Christopher D. McKenna, traces the history of the consulting firm Cresap, McCormick & Paget, which provided management advice to many burgeoning non-profit organizations in the decades following World War II before the firm closed down in the 1970s. Mr. McKenna, a history professor at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, looks at the firm’s work for higher-education institutions, religious groups, cultural institutions, associations, and hospitals. He concludes that the firm’s methods were seminal in instilling corporate-management models at non-profit organizations and that its focus on charitable institutions “preceded the widespread perception that [non-profit groups] constituted a distinct sector of the economy.” Publisher: Program on Non-Profit Organizations, Institute for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, 88 Trumbull Street, P.O. Box 208253, New Haven, Conn. 06520-8253; (203) 432-2121; fax (203) 432-7798; 41 pages; $4.50; ask for PONPO Working Paper No. 235 or I.S.P.S. Working Paper No. 2235.
An Invisible Crisis: The Educational Needs of Asian Pacific American Youth, by Laurie Olsen, is a report from the New York-based group Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy that is intended to alert grant makers to the educational needs of children who speak an Asian language — and to shatter the stereotype that all students of Asian descent excel academically. The report provides statistics on the growing numbers of Asians who have migrated to the United States, including the percentages that live in poverty, and it argues for educational programs that stress both proficiency in English and appreciation of Asian culture and heritage. Publisher: Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, 116 East 16th Street, Seventh Floor, New York 10003; (212) 260-3999; fax (212) 260-4546; e-mail aapip@aol.com; 48 pages; free.
Nonprofit Organizations, Public Policy and the Political Process: A Guide to the Internal Revenue Code and Federal Election Campaign Act, by B. Holly Schadler, tells non-profit organizations just what is legal under two federal statutes when engaging in lobbying, voter education, and other “political” activities. Three sections summarize rules that govern groups classified under Sections 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) of the tax code, as well as issue-oriented political-action committees. Penalties imposed when those rules are broken are also explained. Publishers: the Tides Center, San Francisco, and Perkins Coie Political Law Group, Washington. Available from The Tides Center, P.O. Box 29907, San Francisco 94129-0907; (415) 561-6300; fax (415) 561-6301; 118 pages; $10.
A Right Wing and a Prayer: The Religious Right and Your Public Schools is a report from the Washington-based organization People For the American Way that documents instances during the 1996-97 school year where PFAW asserts that right-wing religious groups forced their agenda on public schools. Censorship of books and films, promotion of school-sponsored religious activity, suppression of student expression, and lobbying in behalf of “parents’ rights” initiatives are among the sins committed in 26 states by proponents of faith-based teaching and conservative politics, the compilers say. The religious right’s ultimate goal, they allege, is the enactment of a voucher plan in which public money would support private and religious schools. Publisher: People For the American Way, 2000 M Street, N.W., Suite 400, Washington 20036; (202) 467-4999; fax (202) 293-2672; 104 pages; $10.95 for PFAW members, $12.95 for non-members; I.S.B.N. 1-890780-01-4.
