July 21, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
Managing at the Leading Edge: New Challenges in Managing Nonprofit Organizations
by Mike Hudson
This book is a British consultant’s examination of what leading U.S. nonprofit managers are doing right, and how other charities can achieve similar success.
Mike Hudson, who directs Compass Partnership, in Britain, interviewed 65 scholars, consultants, and senior officers at foundations and nonprofit groups about management approaches that work best. He asked them which new techniques hold the most promise, what managers and board members can do differently to improve performance, and how the nonprofit field can expand its influence and impact.
Mr. Hudson says that successful nonprofit managers invest heavily in building the capacity of their organizations. He recommends that charities choose among four ways to increase their impact: diversifying the work they do, becoming more specialized, copying successful programs, or focusing on a geographic area.
Strong management also means forming alliances with other nonprofit groups, developing tools to measure performance, and taking advantage of new opportunities to obtain money, according to Mr. Hudson. He offers advice on mobilizing people to support a charity’s mission and building a small team of top employees who report directly to the chief executive. The book also includes tips for improving relationships between charity employees and trustees, and making the board more efficient.
Supplementing his analysis are appendices detailing the history of the nonprofit world, comparing British charities with American nonprofit groups, and listing other readings on nonprofit management.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103-1741; (317) 572-3986 or (800) 956-7739; fax (317) 572-4002; http://www.josseybass.com; 301 pages; $38; ISBN 0-7879-7806-x.
