(Part 2) Top products from r/nonprofit

I can hear it in your voice, to coin a phrase, Brad: you're chomping to take the reins and realize the vast potential of your school, and fulfill the vision you have for it. But at the end of the day, a successful nonprofit leader inspires others to create an impact, working together, far more than they could ever achieve on their own. You might have the ten strongest horses, but if they aren't all pointed to the same destination, your cart will be pulled apart. This means going back to my first suggestion, which is to bring your leaders together to make sure you are all aligned. The precursor to this step is to have a frank, earnest talk with your dad about HIS vision for the school. (If he brought you in, I'd be curious to hear HIS answer about to whom the school belongs...) Then you can share your vision, which might inspire him to try new strategies and think in new ways.

Once you have THAT conversation, it's then time for you two to confer about which people to invite to board positions. That shifts the designation of board members from a power struggle to a candid conversation about a means (leaders) who can deliver you to the end (the vision).

What does this have to do with your initial question? Because visioning conversations like these make the difference between managing and leading. ANYONE can 'run a nonprofit', but true community leaders create opportunities for people to do great things. Had I known that, I would have engaged the myriad people who offered to help me with all the work that I insisted on doing myself, and SO MUCH MORE would have been done.

Also, this book will change how you lead:
https://www.amazon.com/Work-Leaders-Vision-Alignment-Execution/dp/1118636538/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470002677&sr=8-1&keywords=vision+alignment+execution

Hope this is helpful. Kinda cathartic for me... :) Thanks for the opportunity to share!

M

Happy belated birthday. I finally have some time to respond to this when I'm at the office and have relevant things handy.

Books to read:

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• The Board Member's Book: Making a Difference in Voluntary Organizations by Brian O'Connell, published by the Foundation Center. If you only read one of these books, read this one. Despite the title, this book is about creating and using good volunteers at all levels. For organizations I work with, every time a new "class" of volunteers comes in, I like to give all of them copies of this book and have a few discussions about it.
  
  
• Developing Dynamic Boards by James Hardy. This book is more focused on the board of directors, and it's very detailed-- a good textbook and road map.
  
  
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. This one may even have been translated into Estonian. In brief, it's a system for looking at big processes and finding the places where your effort can make a difference.
  
  
• Good To Great: Why some companies make the leap and others don't by Jim Collins. This book looks at factors that create success or failure in growing organizations.
  
  
  

If it were me, I would maybe start with crowd-sourcing rather than grant-seeking. In general, grants have gotten pretty competitive, and they want to see a track record of success before they hand you money. It's really difficult to get grants as a startup.

If you have a university near you, I would recommend reaching out to some students in the Accounting department or Business/Management department, or if you're really lucky and they have an MPA program, some of the students there. Doing consulting work can bolster a student's portfolio and employability down the line, and they will probably give you advice at a lower price than you'd pay for an established pro.

If you're into reading a few more books, I would recommend this one for a general overview, and this one for fundraising information. I found them both to be very readable and informative, and you can dig through their bibliographies for additional sources.

The basic philosophy goes by a number of names and specific strategies, but give 'major gift cycle' or donor moves management a search. I unfortunately, don't have any electronic resources on the matter I can share that aren't confidential or pay walled. I'd recommend the AFP though as a great resource.

But this book may interest you. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0471738379/

In my fundraising class in undergrad we used this book . It's not an interesting read but it's packed with lots of useful information and points of reference. I would check out some university websites as well, they're pretty good at retaining annual donors.

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but it offers some really great guidance for transforming the way your board functions. Have started to implement some of the authors suggestions. May be worth looking into, but may not be worth spending $50+ on.

https://www.amazon.com/Practitioners-Guide-Governance-Leadership-High-Performing/dp/1118109872/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4ZW450XWE3TBYH6F7WHX

Nonprofit Bookkeeping and Accounting For Dummies


I've not read this book in particular, but I've found this series shockingly good at giving you basic education on any given subject.

Nonprofit Sustainability is a good one. A CEO I've worked with has specifically cited it as helping her to prioritize programs within her organization.

We used Carver's "Boards that make a difference" in one of my nonprofit classes in my MPA program. It was a good intro to Boards and Board governance issues.

http://www.amazon.com/Boards-That-Make-Difference-Organizations/dp/0787976164

Just a quick recommendation that you read about the Carver Model of Board Governance. (I have no connection to anything Carver.) I used it once to successfully establish the proper boundaries between the board and the ED.

https://www.amazon.com/Carver-Policy-Governance-Guide-Member/dp/0470392525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469061278&sr=8-1&keywords=carver+model

One of the issues for Directors in a not-for-profit is they get asked to play two roles -- operational volunteers and governors. To get around this, I create committees and the rule is operations can be discussed at committees, but governance is discussed at the board level.

This is the textbook that was used in my fundraising class for a master's in nonprofit management. Might be worth a read to gather your bearings and get a fundamental approach to development! The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management (Afp Fund Development) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119289327/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_m6JvDbK06C4Q2

This. And buy the NOLO

If anyone's actually interested in the slavery issue, or trafficking, I'd recommend reading A Crime So Monstrous- Face to Face with Modern Day Slavery.

It's pretty eye-opening, and also very difficult to read, but also has some very good points about why Western nations tend to focus on sex trafficking instead of the broader issue of slavery worldwide, and how politics plays into that.