Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit [Paperback]

Peter C Brinckerhoff (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: Fieldstone Alliance (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940069555
• ISBN-13: 978-0940069558
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Brinckerhoff has spent his entire adult life working in, around, and for not-for-profits. He is dedicated to the concept that a not-for-profit organization is a mission-based business, in the business of doing its mission.

When Peter formed his firm, Corporate Alternatives, inc. in 1982 it was the first consulting and training company in the United States dedicated exclusively to the management concerns of 501(c) (3) organizations.

A former VISTA Volunteer, Peter knows how not-for-profits work from his experience as a volunteer, his work as a staff member and later as executive director of two regional not-for-profits, and from his service on numerous state, local, and national not-for-profit boards. He brings this understanding of the many perspectives in a not-for-profit organization to his work.

Peter is an award-winning author, with eight books and two workbooks in print, and over 60 articles published in the not-for-profit press. Three of his books, Mission-Based Management, Financial Empowerment and his newest, Generations, The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit, each won the prestigious Terry McAdam Award from the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. The award is given for "The Best New Nonprofit Book" each year. He is the only author to win the award multiple times. Peter's books are used as texts in courses at the undergraduate and graduate nonprofit management programs in over 100 colleges and universities worldwide.

Peter is also a highly acclaimed speaker and lecturer, presenting his ideas on how to make not-for-profits more effective to dozens of audiences across the United States as well as overseas each year.

From 2003-2007, Peter was an Adjunct Professor of Nonprofit Management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He taught the core graduate course in the Nonprofit Management program at Kellogg. In addition, Peter has guest lectured at the graduate level at Boston University, University of Colorado, University of Illinois, and Vanderbilt University.

Peter received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Master's Degree in Public Health Administration from Tulane University. Raised in Connecticut, Peter and his family lived in Springfield, IL from 1977-2007. Peter and his wife now call Union Hall, VA home.

Peter can be contacted by email at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BRINKERHOFF DOES IT AGAIN, September 1, 2008

By 

S. Stearns (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit (Paperback)

Last week, one of my senior staff members complained because I call too many meetings and am always trying to build consensus when everyone knows that the job of a boss is to tell people what to do. At the same time, another younger staff member came and asked if we could have more meetings because they feel "out of the loop" in the decision making process. Clearly there was a difference in generations talking!

J.B. Priestly once wrote, "There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age - I missed it coming and going." As an aging baby boomer, I have often felt like Priestly, especially when leading my nonprofit organization and dealing with everyday generational issues like the one I cited above.

However, Peter C. Brinkerhoff's book, "Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit", offers some practical ways of looking at the dilemma of generational diversity. Like most of Brinkerhoff's books, this one is a practical guide. He has discussion questions, practical examples and exercises for thinking about this grossly engaging and extremely complex subject. He examines generational differences in the way that staff members interact. In one of the best sections on Board and Volunteers, he talks about the way generational diversity changes the way boards make decisions and the way volunteers are recruited. In the final sections, Brinkerhoff talks about changes that will occur to the people that your nonprofit serves and how you can market your services to them.

Brinkerhoff outlines "Six Big Actions" that are at the core of generational planning. He shows how each of these Actions can be used to look at generational issues with staff, boards and constituents. This is a wonderful framework to examine and to structure change within any nonprofit (or for profit) organization.

Finally, Brinkerhoff builds on the great work of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and talks about what has been referred to as "The Nonprofit Leadership Crisis" - the great turnover in nonprofit executives that will occur in the next ten years. As the Casey Foundation has reminded us, the "Next Shift" in nonprofit leadership will change not only the faces in nonprofit leadership, but also in many ways will change the perceptions of leaders. Leaders with different generational issues and values will occupy seats previously held by the Baby Boom Generation. How these generational shifts change the nature and complexity of our nonprofit organizations will be fascinating to watch. Beyond that, Brinkerhoff gives us some practical ways of evaluating that change yet keeping our nonprofit organizations focused on our true missions.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Real, September 7, 2008

By 

Carol Weisman (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit (Paperback)

There is a good reason that Peter Brinckerhoff is the only person to win the McAdam Award for the best nonprofit management book of the year twice: its because he writes the best nonprofit management books. Generations is a must read for anyone who wants a vital, dynamic, forward thinking board for the 21st centuary. Carol Weisman, CSP, MSW

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for Development Directors, March 13, 2009

By 

Julie Eberly "entrepreneurial expansion officer" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit (Paperback)

Anyone that is working within a non-profit and has the challenging task of raising funds, should read this book! It takes a look at the generations of yesterday and today in a clear and innovative way. New strategies are sure to emerge once you read this and discuss with your staff and board!