April 17, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
How Effective Nonprofits Work: a Guide for Donors, Board Members, and Foundation Officers, by Marcia Festen and Marianne Philbin, is designed to help donors understand how charities operate and how to choose organizations to support. Ms. Festen, principal of a Chicago consulting company that bears her name, and Ms. Philbin, a consultant and former development director at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, describe the characteristics of a well-functioning organization, such as the roles that staff and board members should play and what a donor should look for in a charity’s financial statements. The authors also tell donors how they can help an organization in trouble by discussing their concerns with the director and by providing financial support for operating expenses or salaries. The authors discuss what they believe donors can reasonably expect from a charity and what is too much to ask. For example, the authors say charities should acknowledge gifts and answer donors’ questions about finances and programs; however, they say it is unreasonable for donors to assume that they can be directly involved with an organization’s decisions, clients, or program activities.
Publisher: Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, 1111 19th Street, N.W., Suite 650, Washington, D.C. 20036; (202) 467-1120; fax (202) 467-0055; info@givingforum.org; http://www.givingforum.org; 102 pages; $30; $20 for nonprofit organizations.
