5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Survey Written Up!, January 22, 2006
This review is from: The Not-for-Profit CEO: How to Attain and Retain the Corner Office (Hardcover)
This book was full of great content regarding the subject matter described by its title. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It should help anyone considerably if they decide to sit down and strategize how to become an Executive Director (or CEO) of a nonprofit organization or institution. The author seems to be very knowledgeable about (1) the inner-workings of a generic nonprofit organization, (2) the know-how and skill-sets necessary to sit at the helm of a nonprofit, (3) what it takes to be granted the privilege to sit at the helm of a nonprofit, and (4) how to be successful sitting at the helm of a nonprofit.
The author organized this book as a simple write-up of the information gained from 105 Executive Directors to whom he mailed surveys/questionnaires. As a result, we don't get to read a book that tells us the author's story or stories as they relate to the subject matter. The author has been around long enough (he has ample experience in the field) that he could have written a beautiful book in that fashion and supported his points by referencing the digested results of his survey. He did not do this though.
I would have enjoyed the book much more if it had been organized so it neatly covered the four above-listed subjects, and given more of the author's own personal insight into each. The author mentioned, but did not discuss, the following functions/aspects an Executive Director typically faces: (1) board of directors, (2) paid staff, (3) volunteers/donors, (4) operations and related bookkeeping, (5) fundraising and related recordkeeping, (6) organization offerings and programs, (7) marketing, (8) government relations, and usually (9) members/patrons. Without adequately describing these nine functions/aspects, the author could not properly explain what know-how and skill-sets clearly are necessary to be a successful Executive Director.
I have read extensively on nonprofit management and fundraising and have worked as a fundraising consultant. I am also a CPA and an attorney. Because of my readings and experience I could read between the lines in the book and determine that someone aspiring to be an Executive Director at a nonprofit needs to amass the following skills:
* People skills (how to win friends and influence people)
* Leadership skills, including Public Speaking skills and Meeting Planning skills
* Strategic Planning skills, including marketing, public relations & program design
* Accounting and Finance skills
* Legal skills
* Fundraising skills
* Writing Skills
* Computer skills
Also, an Executive Director needs to be a people person rather than an introvert. He or she needs to be a self-promoter and a promoter of his or her organization. This is not so much a skill as it is a lifestyle.
The author does not itemize the eight skills I just mentioned, and he does not specify how those skills can be obtained except by saying that one can attend college, seminars, or other training courses. I expected much more from the author in this area when I read the title to the book.
If the author had organized his book as I suggest, then he would have been able to better describe in a chapter what a student should do if she aspires to be an Executive Director. And there could be two other chapters that cover (1) what nonprofit employees can do to become Executive Directors, and (2) what for-profit professionals can do. The way the author handles these points in the book is not the easiest to follow. They certainly are not broken out into three separate chapters, as they probably should be.
As I mention above, I did not learn from the book where to go to develop people skills, but if you need help then you can take the Dale Carnegie Course (see www.DaleCarnegie.com). I did not learn from the book where to go to develop leadership skills and strategic planning skills. However, I can say that joining and becoming active in a Toastmasters club (see www.toastmasters.org) will go a long way in helping you to develop those skills. You can learn accounting, finance and legal skills by going to college and law school. That's the way I did. And if you get through school these days, then you probably have had to learn how to write and use computers.
Learning about fundraising can be involved. There are the basics to running an annual campaign, i.e., public relations, government relations, direct mail, special events, and grant writing. Then there are advanced fundraising programs that can be added to the annual campaign: major gifts and planned giving. Lastly, there is the capital campaign which is sometimes called an endowment campaign. I learned about all of these things and how to do some of them by working for a fundraising consulting firm that specialized in directing capital campaigns across the United States and in Canada. I also read many books. Consider joining the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) to meet and network with fundraising professionals. See www.afpnet.org.
I would have loved to have given this book a 5 star rating, but when I finished it I felt like I could re-write it and make it so much better. With that much room for improvement I could not in all fairness give it 5 stars or even 4.5 stars. Thus, I rated it as a 4 star book.
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