The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age [Hardcover]

David J. Neff (Author), Randal C. Moss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2011

"The creaky wheels of the nonprofit industry are about to get the grease they need! The Future of Nonprofits combines twenty-first century innovations (social media, alternative currencies, digital channels) with enduring success strategies of the best nonprofits (hiring killer talent, structuring smart). Moreover, David and Randal lay out a formula for organizational innovation--the Holy Grail of the nonprofit world. This is the playbook every nonprofit soldier needs to make it in the Digital Age."
--Beth Kanter, coauthor of The Networked Nonprofit

"The Future of Nonprofits is a must-read for anyone looking to go beyond the status quo and instigate sustainable change in an organization. Moss and Neff translate decades of hard-earned experience into an action-oriented book. The rapid rate of change brought on by digital technology has rendered the word 'innovation' a broadly defined cliché. The Future of Nonprofits reclaims meaning for this word."
--Kevin Dugan, Director of Marketing, Empower MediaMarketing

"If you work in nonprofits, I believe that this is the book that will eventually be sitting atop your desk highlighted, underlined, and dog-eared. Fostering workplace innovation and creativity is a lofty goal that all of us in the nonprofit world desire, but few of us know the secret formula to achieve. The Future of Nonprofits provides that formula, and I'm excited to put it to use to help Best Friends achieve our mission of No More Homeless Pets."
--Gregory Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society

The Future of Nonprofits helps organizations capitalize on internal innovation and predicting future trends to remake and reshape their culture, structure, and staff. By applying the strategies laid out in this book, nonprofit professionals of all levels can prepare their organizations to take advantage of future trends and develop innovative "internal entrepreneurs" that will grow revenue and drive their mission.

• Provides nonprofits with a comprehensive playbook on how to create a new, more flexible, innovative organization.
  
• Provides nonprofits a look at the future of fundraising and communications trends into 2016.
  
• Case studies highlight successes and failures.
  
• Highlights the power and strength of Social Media.
  
• Hightlights how to hire, train, manage and inspire "internal entrepreneurial" employees.
  
• Features actionable advice on creating an organization that is primed to grow and thrive in the immediate and long-term future.
  

This game-changing book reveals how every nonprofit can put technology, innovation and future trends to work to reach their mission and grow revenue.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Ever heard of an internal entrepreneur? You might know the type. They're kind of employee who pushes mercilessly towards the trends of the future. Often looked at as a little bit outside the mainstream, more often than not the decisions this internal entrepreneur makes on behalf of an organization pay off in spades.

So what makes an internal entrepreneur? How can you, as a nonprofit, create a culture that rewards innovation and doesn't shut it down?

The book "The Future of Nonprofits: Thrive and Innovate in the Digital Age"  helps organizations do those very things. Better predicting future trends helps to reshape culture, creating the kind of environment ripe for positive growth in this fast changing world we work in today.

Designed for nonprofit employees on all levels, the book will become a handbook for those interested in adapting in the modern world, not looking to be left behind.

The Future of Nonprofits helps organizations like yours capitalize on internal innovation. Innovative nonprofits are able to better predict future trends to remake and reshape their culture, structure, and staff to be a more nimble and lean. By applying the strategies laid out in this book, nonprofit professionals of all levels can prepare their organizations to take advantage of future trends  and develop innovative "internal entrepreneurs"  that will grow revenue and drive your mission.

David J. Neff and Randal C. Moss

From the Inside Flap

In 2009, a group in the United Kingdom did something extraordinary. They held a Tweetup (using Twitter to gather friends for a meeting) to support one of their favorite charities, Charity Water, a nonprofit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Globally, the Twestival raised more than $250,000, providing the funds needed to bring access to clean water to more than 17,000 people. Learn how your nonprofit can discover new revenue streams, improve your constituent relations and become an engine of innovation with The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age.

Providing both inspiration and tactical advice to nonprofit leaders, program managers, staff, philanthropists, foundations, and new media professionals, The Future of Nonprofits shows you how to remake and reshape your nonprofit's culture, structure, and staff to become a more modern, nimble, and lean organization. This comprehensive playbook demonstrates how to create and launch a new, more flexible, innovative organization that is better equipped to embrace and leverage today's digital technologies. Authors David J. Neff and Randal C. Moss share their decades of experience creating innovative digital marketing, community building, social media, fundraising, and developing engagement projects and programs for the American Cancer Society, the AIDS Research Alliance, Planet Cancer, United Way, and Goodwill, among many others, to provide you with the tools, skills, and knowledge to grow and drive your nonprofit's mission.

Neff and Moss offer a wealth of insights into their methodologies and the projects and programs that inspire them. They dispense practical and tactical advice on how to begin and sustain a culture of innovation, how innovation pays, and how to evaluate the impact of your innovation efforts. They also show you how to present and sell the concepts to your organization's leadership at both the field and board levels.

Rich with case studies and experience gained from the authors' real-life successes and failures, the book concludes with actionable, concrete advice on how to create an organization that is ready and primed to grow and thrive on innovative ideas that reap results.

Make the most of today's digital marketing opportunities with the help of The Future of Nonprofits.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470913355
• ISBN-13: 978-0470913352
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone involved in nonprofits April 19, 2011

By Dan Graham

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A fantastic overview of the changing face of non profit management, structure, strategy and tactics. In addition to being a great read, full of inspiring ideas, the authors include ample resources, case studies and interviews to put practical tools into the hands of the readers. A must read for anyone working at or managing a non-profit. I particularly enjoyed reading about several distinctions drawn between running efficient business processes and creating an innovative nonprofit environment.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great resource for building innovation into your organization May 3, 2011

By Clay Spinuzzi

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Full disclosure: I know David Neff. Actually, I'm pretty sure that at least 60% of Austin knows David Neff, who is one of the most gregarious people I've met. He's constantly on social media, he was named the 2009 AMA/AMAF Social Media Marketer of the Year, and he is famous for his annual Mustache and Bad Sweater Party. He's spoken to my classes once or twice. And he's very passionate about nonprofits.

So I was happy to hear that David had teamed up with Randal Moss, with whom he had worked at the American Cancer Society, to write a book on the future of nonprofits. The Future of Nonprofits is definitely worth reading - not just for those in the nonprofit sector, but for anyone who is interested in opening their organization's culture up to innovation. Neff and Moss take a strategic approach, illustrated with cases from their own work and interviews with innovation leaders at nonprofits.

The authors cover a lot of ground here: they define innovation, discuss how to measure it, discuss how to build it into the organization's culture, and describe upcoming social and technological trends that will impact it. They give us lots of resources, from basic processes to sample job descriptions to advice on how to set up an innovation "Skunkworks." Their cases, interviews with innovation leaders in the nonprofit sector, and other examples are all illuminating. And the writing style makes the book a page-turner.

Although the authors talk about strategy, future trends, and principles, they also cover nuts-and-bolts decisions and resources. The book's not just full of ideas; it also covers practical issues and gives plenty of guidance.

With lists that predict trends of the next five years, obviously parts of this book will have a short shelf life. That just means you should buy it quickly. The other parts will age more gracefully, I think, and the book as a whole should be useful to nonprofits - but also to other organizations that prize high constituent engagement. If you're in the position to hire, innovate, or engage in your organization, consider picking it up.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars "Innovate" is vital, but the key word is "Future" May 22, 2011

By SteveG

Format:Hardcover

I've read a number of print, blog and twitter reviews that focus on the innovation theme of David and Randal's new book. While that's certainly appropriate, I'd suggest that the more important word for why one should read the book is the word "future."

A lesson from my personal experience: In 1997, after being a member of the founding management team of a company that was sold the previous year for $350 million, I was offered the job of CEO of the Central Texas chapter of Easter Seals.

What followed was an amazing, life-altering year for me that was richly rewarding, professionally and personally, and that provided me a new, deeper understanding of community. As I left to return to industry, after a year at the helm, the regional vice president assigned from the national Easter Seals office to our organization called the changes in our chapter the "greatest one-year turnaround" he had ever seen.

I offer this story, because in many respects, the key to our team's survival at Easter Seals - and, trust me, it was a team effort, from bottom to top - was through the core message of "The Future of Nonprofits." That message? To ensure a future, you must innovate!

If we had kept going down the same path and resisted innovation at Easter Seals nearly 15 years ago, we would have been bankrupt within 6 months. Likewise, my personal sense of many organizations - frankly, a belief I consider as true for for-profits, as it is for non-profits - is that their lack of commitment to innovation is at the heart of the struggle and decline many face.

Sure, they might make "happy talk" about the future and invest in 5 years strategic plans. But, seldom do they invest day-in-and-day-out with an institutional imperative to innovate.

Thus, as I scanned "The Future of Nonprofits," I was particularly looking for practical guidance on creating and sustaining organizational commitment to innovation. A few of the highlight sections from the book, in this regard are:

>> Innovation as a strategic business tool, pp. 50-52 - excerpt: "growth comes in a few forms...income, cost, and revenue" - true that!

>> The innovation development process, pp. 113-115 and pp. 153-154 - the steps are essentially duplicated in two different forms, but the bottom-line, in this reviewer's opinion, is that this is the kernel of any sequel to The Future of Nonprofits

>> The future of communications, Chapter 10 - this is where the authors especially shine...they are pros at explaining technology and providing practical suggestions for implementing it, for large and small non-profits alike

>> Organization innovation quiz, Appendix 2 - there are some great questions in his appendix that, if honestly and objectively applied, provide everyone a good starting (or check) point for being more innovative

My view is that the strongest sections of the book are also the most time-dependent, in that they provide real, current guidance about the tools, measurements, and methods that are available to integrate into a non-profit's programs, right now in May 2011.

That's why I'd encourage anyone interested in the subject to sign up for their newsletter on the book's website ([...]) or keep an eye on their Facebook page, so that you'll get a steady stream of updates from a couple of the bright minds in non-profit innovation.