October 12, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times: Using Nonprofit Resources Effectively
edited by Dennis R. Young
Sixteen academic figures and charity leaders contribute essays focused on the idea that nonprofit groups always need to be prepared to deal with rapid transitions in the conditions around them.
“Uncertainty and change were not temporary issues associated with the confluence of events at the turn of the millennium, but rather a chronic condition of nonprofit life,” says the introduction.
The book examines four basic topics: how charities decide to run their operations; strengthening a charity’s management; grant makers’ decision-making; and the relationship between nonprofit groups and businesses.
Eugene Scanlan, president of eScanlan, a nonprofit-management consulting company, and Robin Dillon-Merrill, a professor of decision and risk analysis at Georgetown University, contributed “Risky Business: Understanding and Managing Risk in the Nonprofit Sector,” which discourages charities from becoming “risk averse.”
Organizations that fear risk avoid making important decisions and confronting challenges — such as starting a capital campaign and asking potential donors for support — because they fear they will fail, even if that is not likely.
The writers describe techniques and tools to keep decision-makers realistic about potential risks.
Other chapters explore fiscal stress, political mobilization, volunteering, and more issues related to change.
Publisher: Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003; (800) 424-9836; fax (212) 807-3691; http://fdncenter.org; 281 pages; $34.95; ISBN 1-59542-099-1.
