CPR for Nonprofits: Creating Strategies for Successful Fundraising, Marketing, Communications and Management [Paperback]

Alvin H. Reiss (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jossey-Bass Nonprofit and Public Management Series | Publication Date: September 1, 2000

In this innovative, practical guide, Alvin H. Reiss shows how dozens of organizations have developed creative strategies for tackling the real-life fundraising, marketing, and management challenges that nonprofits face every day.

In an easy-to-follow format, Reiss introduces a real Challenge faced by a nonprofit, guides readers through the steps the organization took in developing a Plan to meet the challenge, and then presents the Result of the organization's plan. The book offers accessible, adaptable strategies for dealing with a broad spectrum of nonprofit concerns, such as increasing attAndance at special events, stepping up board involvement in fundraising, and handling negative press. Throughout the book, Reiss poses the practical questions readers need to answer in order to apply the case study strategies to their own organizations' experience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Alvin Reiss has assembled many of the key types of challenges facing nonprofits today and has found great examples of successful solutions for each. I find this book necessary and most helpful." (John Thomas, VP Communications, IndepAndent Sector)

"A significant contribution filled with timely models that work. This important new resource for nonprofit governance and management provides essential help when needed--now." (Frances Hesselbein, chairman, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management)

"One of the fastest rising powers in American life today is the nonprofit sector. In the arts, in environment, health, and other fields, nonprofit organizations are making their voices heard and their muscles felt. Here, in one revealing case study after another, Alvin Reiss offers them practical ways to reach out in new ways. In doing so, CPR for Nonprofits also helps us understand why the influence of civil society grows as that of government declines." (Alvin Toffler, futurist and author of Future Shock, The Third Wave, Creating a New Civilization, and other influential books about the future)

"Alvin H. Reiss strikes again--and not only about the contemporary realities and practicalities of our exotic field, but now extAnding his wisdom even more widely, via his CPR for Nonprofits. GET IT, READ IT, BENEFIT BY IT!" (Danny Newman, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and author of Subscribe Now!)

From the Back Cover

Breathe new life into your fundraising and marketing efforts—with CPR!In this innovative, practical guide, Alvin H. Reiss shows how dozens of organizations have developed creative strategies for tackling the real-life fundraising, marketing, and management challenges that nonprofits face every day. In an easy-to-follow format, Reiss introduces a real Challenge faced by a nonprofit, guides readers through the steps the organization took in developing a Plan to meet the challenge, and then presents the Result of the organization's plan. The book offers accessible, adaptable strategies for dealing with a broad spectrum of nonprofit concerns, such as increasing attAndance at special events, stepping up board involvement in fundraising, and handling negative press. Throughout the book, Reiss poses the practical questions readers need to answer in order to apply the case study strategies to their own organizations' experience."One of the fastest rising powers in American life today is the nonprofit sector. In the arts, in environment, health, and other fields, nonprofit organizations are making their voices heard and their muscles felt. Here, in one revealing case study after another, Alvin Reiss offers them practical ways to reach out in new ways. In doing so, CPR for Nonprofits also helps us understand why the influence of civil society grows as that of government declines."—Alvin Toffler, futurist and author of Future Shock, The Third Wave, Creating a New Civilization, and other influential books about the future"A significant contribution filled with timely models that work. This important new resource for nonprofit governance and management provides essential help when needed—now."—Frances Hesselbein, chairman, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management" Alvin Reiss has assembled many of the key types of challenges facing nonprofits today and has found great examples of successful solutions for each. I find this boo

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787952419
• ISBN-13: 978-0787952419
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,453,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A First-Aid Kit: Not Comprehensive Medical Teatment, February 20, 2001

By 

Michael Wyland "Nonprofit Consultant" (Sioux Falls, SD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: CPR for Nonprofits: Creating Strategies for Successful Fundraising, Marketing, Communications and Management (Paperback)

This book is a collection of forty-six 3-page vignettes arranged into chapters on major challenges facing a nonprofit: marketing, public relations, making a special event work well, board issues, soliciting corporate donors, etc. The stories, many drawn from New York City-area nonprofits, are designed to show how the profiled organization faced a challenge, planned a response, and achieved a result. Challenge, plan, and result -- "CPR."

Each vignette uses the "CPR" format, followed by "questions to ask" (if you're facing the same challenge), "lessons learned," and "last word," usually a one-sentence summation of the "moral" of the story.

All kinds of organizations are profiled, and it was fun to see CharityChannel regulars as Lynn Shaftic-Averill among the experts sought for their expertise and "war stories." "The Pig that Saved the 'Y'" chronicles the success of the YWCA of the Tonawandas in staving off financial collapse. They used a board member's connection with a local nonprofit theater to arrange for a benefit showing of the movie "Babe" as a joint fundraiser, and the 'Y' was saved from serious and imminent financial danger. The film showings are now annual fundraising events.

Like the first-aid kit on the cover, the book contains a lot of tools that are specific to a situation. Just as you wouldn't use all the tools in the first aid kit at the same time, the book is best read sporadically, almost as a reference manual, when you're looking for help or inspiration.

Unfortunately, also like the first-aid kit, the book is unable to provide comprehensive relief, or information, for the patient/reader seeking assistance. To say that the book uses a "band-aid" approach sounds pejorative, but it really isn't. Band-aids are important tools, as are many of the stories in the book. However, people buying this book believing that they'll find the answers for an organization in trouble will be disappointed.

CPR for Nonprofits is a good "ready-reference" book for stimulating ideas and brainstorming, best read in small doses over time. If symptoms persist, you'll need to look elsewhere for additional help.