Customer Reviews

Starting and Running a Nonprofit Organization

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I guess that when I bought this book I was looking for the quick and easy route to starting a non-profit. Well, this book sure didn't make it easy, and I resorted to working with some non-profit verterans to help me get started. There really is no easy way to start a non-profit, but this book could have been a little "nicer". You may want to look for a book more relevant to your state if you're not from Minestoa. However, it is very in-depth, if you have the time and energy.

This book was extremely helpful. However, it was not as good as the book by Ted Nicholas. The information contained in this book is a valuable resource tool and should be an addition to your professional library-compliments the book by Nicholas extremely well.

I thought this was a great book for introducing the basic steps involved in starting a non-profit organization. It clarified some simple issues for me. I have ZERO experience in starting a non-profit organization and wanted to get an idea of what it takes to do so, and this book was a great starting point, although you will clearly want to move on to more "meaty" books if you actually get your organization off the ground. After a few hours, I had solid drafts of my mission statement, articles of incorporation, and bylaws, and I knew what I needed to do next. It might be too simplistic for large organizations, but it was perfect for my itty bitty dream!

When I wanted to start my nonprofit organization, Finches With Wishes , I wanted a quick, easy refrence to navigating the legal and business aspect of starting a nonprofit. This book provided me with all the information necessary, and although we're up and running now, I still refer to this book quite frequently. A great buy!

Talk about restating the obvious! The author reminds you that when you're about to hire somebody it would be a good idea to interview them rather than rely on their resume. Under the subtitle "goals" of the organization we are told that goals are the intended outcomes of what you intend to do. Gosh, that's a pithy insight! I should have known not to buy a book by an academic, as opposed to somebody who actually ran a non-profit in the real world!

This was an interesting little guide book written with nonprofit founders and executive directors in mind. The first edition was written back in 1980, and the current edition was written back in 1996. I think the time has come to put this book out to pasture - or write a new edition. The book just doesn't cut it in 2007. It really surprises me that Amazon still sells copies of it. The book is comprised of the following chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Startup checklist
3. The nonprofit Board
4. Organization bylaws
5. Legal issues
6. Mission, vision, and strategic goals
7. Financial intelligence
8. Bookkeeping
9. Raising funds (donations)
10. Staff and volunteers
11. Community relations
12. Resources that can help
13. Bibliography

Chapter 2 was a simple checklist of 37 items. I found many of the items to be pretty well thought out. In fact, I think the checklist is the high point of the book. However, it was deficient in my humble opinion. Small nonprofits are not all that different from small businesses. Both need to be conceptualized. Someone starting a small business needs to document a sound business model or profit model. And then a business plan must be written to explain how the person is going to create the business over a period of 3 months to a year. Instead of a business model nonprofits need an operations model. And instead of a business plan they need what is called a Financial and Operations Plan. Nowhere in the book's second chapter is there mention of the need for an Operations Model. Nor is there any mention of a Financial and Operations Plan. This is a serious flaw in the book.

Chapter 3 failed to mention that Board members should be wealthy and financially able and willing to make sizeable gifts to the organization. And it failed to properly highlight the duty of EVERY Board member regarding donating funds to their organizaton and soliciting funds from donors. This problem was made worse in Chapter 9 because there was no mention made of Board member duties regarding personal financial contributions and solicitation responsibilities. Furthermore, Chapter 9 on fundraising could have covered lots more material about fundraising and it didn't. There was way too much emphasis placed on grant fundraising and corporate donations, and not enough coverage on soliciting gifts from individuals.

Chapter 11 probably should have been entitled Marketing and Promotion instead of Community Relations. So much more could and should have been discussed that wasn't. Topics that come to mind are advertising, direct mail, public relations, and special events. It wouldn't be fair to add Internet and Web sites here since the book was written in 1996. So I won't.

Chapters 12 and 13 are out of date and pretty much worthless to a reader in 2007.

It is stated in this book that many nonprofits fail to reach their goals because they were not put together well in the first place. Many books fail to get high ratings because they are not put together well in the first place. Unfortunately that is the case with this book. 3 stars!

This book has everything you need to start a non-profit and can be used by someone with limited knowledge of the types of organizations available. This book can be used as a guide or a reference. Rules are well defined and samples are provided. There are many books on this subject this is one of the best. I bought other books on the subject and I can say you can't go wrong with this one.

I found the book useful, particularly for larger foundation type organizations with a mainstream charitable mission. Not as useful for smaller charities that do not have a large board of directors or advocacy\education types of nonprofits. I felt I got my money's worth, but had to read between the lines a bit to apply the information to my particular organization.

I purchased this book years ago,1990 in fact. That was before the days of do it yourself legal on line stores. It was a lot of work compared to having someone do it for you..but it did work for me. I followed it to the letter and received my Nonprofit.. So if you don't want to pay a few hundred dollars and you have lots of time..go for it.

The status of the book is alright, nothing to mention about that. About the shipping either, since it came all the way from oversea. This book gives just basic information and only usefull literature for the US, but still I estimate it's value as quite usefull especially for the first steps of your non profit org. Though it lacks of the connection between small, very local and nation wide operating n.p.o. First steps are wonderfully described, then nothing till you have your own board of directors and couple of departments under you. Therefore i can truely recommand this book of Hummel for beginners, for organisations in their childhood, because when you grow the rest will come anyway with your own experiences and a little help of this book's literature.