Powerful Nonprofit Leadership: The D Factor
by the editors

Our country is not well served by an alienated and inactive citizenry. Traditionally, nonprofits have been local schools for people’s active involvement in public life—places where people can hone their skills for public dialogue and collective action for public benefit. But many nonprofit leaders are not attentive to building this civic engagement, instead building organizations that serve rather than engage. This leaves our jobs half done.

Boards and Leadership Hires: How to Get It Right
by Deborah Linnell

How a board handles leadership transitions can have powerful and long-lasting effects. In this article, Deborah Linnell, author of “Founders and Other Gods,” takes on the reasons why boards may approach the process largely unprepared and she examines common mistakes and provides practical advice on how to avoid them. A must-read for boards no matter how close or far from a transition.

Gap or Pap: Generational Differences at Work
by Jennifer J. Deal

Conventional wisdom about the dynamics of the nonprofit workplace would have us believe that a great generational shift is under way and that the up-and-coming have a fundamentally different set of values and expectations of their work environments. Enter Jennifer Deal’s recent publication Retiring the Generation GAP, a book that draws on nearly seven years of research—much of it among people working in nonprofits—regarding the generation gap. Deal argues that conflicts attributed to the generation gap are more often based on power differentials and the abuse of power. In an extensive survey of what workers in all generations value in the work environment, she finds little difference between them. The next time someone chalks up conflict to the generations, look for the power dynamics beneath.

The Bright Future of Community Building
by Bill Traynor

Over the last several years, practitioners, funders, and policy experts have been exploring a broader approach to community redevelopment, which includes an aggressive effort to develop the civic and social infrastructure alongside the physical. Long-time activist and thoughtful practitioner Bill Traynor explores the root of this trend and the emergence of pseudo-community organizing efforts that have grown in response to the desire simultaneously to strengthen community fabric and physical space. He uses the lessons of this recent period to posit that new thinking and practices are needed which embrace the challenge of rebuilding civic life, arguing that community builders must create the deeper relationships that will eventually form strong networks for change.

A Leader’s Guide to Executive Coaching
by David Coleman

For struggling nonprofit executives, sometimes it’s simply a long, slow twist in the wind, with no one there—or no one capable—of providing help and support through what seem to be unsolvable problems. Lots of us have been there. Reading a book or attending a workshop might be a nice educational pick-me-up, but not necessarily a reliable path through the nonprofit management thicket. As an alternative, some nonprofits have called on external executive coaches to work with nonprofit leaders to overcome leadership gaps, skill mismatches, problems in navigating rapid organizational change, and to tap underdeveloped skills. An experienced executive coach sought by nonprofit and business institutions, David Coleman provides a roadmap for nonprofits contemplating coaching as a response to executive performance questions.

The Nonprofit ED’s First 100 Days
by Oliver Tessier and Ruth McCambridge

The first 100 days represent a critical time in the life of a new leader in a nonprofit organization. Like the first several weeks of a new presidential administration, this period provides an extraordinary opportunity for a leader to gain credibility or embarrass himself and create resistance. How leaders use those first few months is critical, as  internal and external observers watch to see what they do. Authors Tessier and McCambridge walk us through the critical steps and questions that every new executive should ponder when assuming a new leadership post and offer anecdotes and lessons that demostrate how others have handled this transition.

The Evolution of Nonprofit Management Programs
by Judith Millesen

What’s new in nonprofit management education? A lot, as it turns out. Interviews with educators from programs around the country reveal a field that is experimenting with new ways to serve and adapt to student needs, to a changing nonprofit landscape, and to new technology. The interviews reflect a great deal of variation between programs as the result of different approaches to education, different populations, and resources.

Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism
by Michael Edwards

Michael Edwards, veteran foundation officer and student of the nonprofit sector claims that the burgeoning field of venture philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and the like (which he terms philanthrocapitalism) has been hyped without evidence and poses a possible threat to the nonprofit field if it is embraced without question. In examining the trends and evidence, Edwards asks, “Could it be that civil society can achieve more impact on capitalism by strengthening its distinctive roles and values than by blending them with business? Are civil society and business just different ways of answering similar questions about production and delivery, or are they asking different questions about society altogether?” His answers to these questions take this important debate about nonprofit identity and role in democracies to its next level.

Volunteer Management: Once More with Meaning
by Jennifer Woodill

What’s wrong with the way most organizations view volunteers? According to Woodill, a volunteer manager herself, the model of “human resources” misses the point and the power of volunteers. While most organizations try to fit volunteers into specified roles and using particular skills while turning away those that don’t fit, the author maintains that they lose more than just free workers, they lose a fundamental source of strength. “Social exclusion is an inevitable result of conducting volunteer management based on the principles of efficiency, resource development, and control.” The author proposes a new approach in which “the emphasis is on social inclusion and community development.”

A Conversation with California Congressman Xavier Becerra
by Rick Cohen

Hailing from Los Angeles with a background as a legal services lawyer, Congressman Xavier Becerra is focused on nonprofits and foundations, asking what and how they address the nation’s critical social issues. The Congressman, a member of the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, sat with Cohen Report author Rick Cohen to explain his concerns about how charitable giving and nonprofit programs and services should be reaching people in need. In 2007, Ways and Means subcommittees held hearings on nonprofit sector issues, with Congressman Becerra playing a lead role in asking cogent, well-prepared questions without accepting evasive, incomplete answers. In this interview, the congressman asks what the nation gets for the more than $30 billion in charitable deductions taken every year, how much of charitable giving is reaching the “poor and disadvantaged,” how transparency helps in presenting the nonprofit case, and what might be appropriate roles for government to spur more nonprofit attention to minorities and the poor.

Eliminating Random Acts of Kindness by 2010
by Phil Anthrop

Once again on the front lines of the nonprofit sector, intrepid reporter Phil Anthrop takes readers to the bleeding edge and beyond. From the fertile minds of the Young Social Entrepreneurs Network has arisen an idea whose time has come: a National Bureau of Evaluation. The bureau will guarantee unbiased evaluations of nonprofit and philanthropic projects in part by ensuring that its evaluators are insulated from the pernicious influences that run rampant in the industry by giving them high salaries and lifetime appointments.