Forces for Good, Leslie R. Crutchfield
Forces for Good, Leslie R. Crutchfield
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Forces for Good
The Six Practices of High-Impact Non-Profits

Author: Leslie R. Crutchfield, Heather McLeod Grant

Narrator: Erik Synnestvedt

Unabridged: 9 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 04/17/2008


Synopsis

What makes great nonprofits great? Not large budgets. Not snazzy marketing. Not perfect management. The answer is not what you might think.
Great nonprofits spend as much time working with institutions outside their four walls as they do managing their internal operations. They use the power of leverage to become greater forces for good. This landmark book reveals the six powerful practices of 12 high-impact nonprofits and tells their compelling stories.
Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant spent four years surveying thousands of nonprofit leaders, conducting hundreds of interviews, and studying in-depth a dozen high-impact organizations to uncover their secrets to success. Their quest took them from the well-known (Habitat for Humanity) to the less well-known (YouthBuild USA) and to the unexpected (the Exploratorium). What the authors discovered surprised them.
How did seeing a pile of McDonald's trash lead Environmental Defense's president to join forces with business instead of treating it as the enemy? Why did a school bus driver prompt Self-Help Credit Union to move from serving low-income groups in North Carolina to launching a national advocacy campaign against predatory lenders? And how did Teach For America turn the teachers it places in underserved public schools into a national vanguard for education reform?
At a time when the social sector has grown to more than $1 trillion, understanding what leads to impact is essential. Whether you're a nonprofit leader, philanthropist, business executive, board member, volunteer, or simply interested in changing the world, this book will inspire you to be a stronger force for good.

Reviews

Goodreads review by David on May 02, 2014

The six practices of high-impact nonprofits are: 1. Advocate AND serve. You need to add advocacy to have high impact. Leverage your message toward governments, policies, other powerful networks, etc…. 2. Make markets work. Tap into the power of self-interest and economics rather than pure altruism. Fo......more

Goodreads review by Adelaida on November 15, 2018

The first half of this book is 100%! 5 Stars, I loved it. If you're thinking of investing in a non-profit or starting one, I highly recommend the first half of this book where they cover the 6 practices. The second half... meh... 3 stars, feel like you don't really learn much more and it's just exam......more

Goodreads review by Ian on March 09, 2024

This was very much a “Good to Great” for nonprofits. I found it helpful in creating space to think about unique challenges we face in the nonprofit world. Definitely worth a read for new people in the nonprofit world. 4/5......more

Goodreads review by Robert on July 26, 2008

As is true of several other outstanding business books, the work on this one was driven by a question: What makes great nonprofits great?” What Crutchfield and McLeod learned is shared in this volume. They assert that high-impact nonprofits demonstrate all or most of six practices: They both advocat......more

Goodreads review by Alex on August 06, 2015

I often find books by nonprofit consultants too obvious, but this is one of the best I've read. Despite looking a multimillion dollar organizations, I found the advice relevant to small nonprofits, and was especially pleased to see them analyzing very different types of organizations--from the Herit......more