‘Scaling Up’ Not Necessary for Great Nonprofit Work, Book Argues

NEW BOOKS

Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant

“The secret to success lies in how great organizations mobilize every sector of society — government, business, nonprofits, and the public — to be a force for good,” write Leslie Crutchfield, managing director of Ashoka, and Heather McLeod Grant, senior adviser to Stanford University’s Center for Social Innovation.

The authors look at 12 groups — among them, America’s Second Harvest, Habitat for Humanity, the Heritage Foundation, and Teach for America — that, in a short period of time, have created national and international social change and “have produced significant and sustained results.”

Those groups, Ms. Crutchfield and Ms. Grant write, have in common six practices that enable them to make a big difference: They work with the government and advocate policy change, cultivate friendships with businesses, turn individuals into “evangelists for the cause,” build networks with other charities, encourage organizational innovation, and share leadership responsibilities.

Chapters discuss each of these ideas in depth, and describe how the 12 groups have made lasting changes in the world. The authors explain how other charities might integrate the six practices into their operations.

“To win at the social-change game, it’s not about being the biggest or the fastest or even the best-managed nonprofit,” the authors conclude. (An article about the book appears on Page 35; an opinion piece by the authors appears on Page 45.)

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 111 River Street, Fourth Floor, Hoboken, N.J. 07030; (201) 748-6000; fax (201) 748-6088; http://www.wiley.com; 336 pages; $29.95; ISBN 0-7879-8612-7.