High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Impact (Hardcover)

by Christine W. Letts (Author), William P. Ryan (Author), Allen Grossman (Author) "The nonprofit sector is filled with great ideas and thoughtful, caring people..." (more)
Key Phrases: program development capacity, nonprofit agenda, proving period, Building the Organizational Capacity That Leads, New York, Public Allies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"It is the one book that every non profit manager should read." (Administration in Social Work, Volume 26, No. 2, 2002)

Product Description
Nonprofit leaders are beginning to confront the most important unfinished business of their sector. Having invented scores of successful model programs to address virtually every type of social problem or goal, they are discovering that large-scale, sustained impact remains elusive. Today, the only way to get the full benefit of successful programs, however, is for nonprofit leaders to begin building high-performance organizationsænonprofits that are capable of creating sustained, effective impact. That requires reversing decades of under-investment in the capacity of nonprofits. A sector that has been indifferent, if not hostile, to the needs of its organizations, where leaders are forced to manage upstream, against countless obstacles, now needs to apply its ingenuity and passion to the challenge of creating high-performance organizations.

Drawing on management techniques used by successful managers in both businesses and nonprofits, High Performance Nonprofit Organizations outlines approaches that nonprofits can use to build their capacity for learning, innovating, ensuring quality, and motivating staff. Illustrated with case studies and examples, the book outlines processes for achieving these goals, including:

• human resources management-to attract and develop employees truly in synch with an organization's mission
• benchmarking-to identify practices that best meet a nonprofit's needs
• responsiveness and quality systems-to continuously review and upgrade quality of service
• product development-to tap the talents of every employee to create effective programs

The authors argue that these processesæfar from corrupting a nonprofit with practices that evolved to make companies more profitableæactually help an organization convert its values and integrity into results for clients and communities. These adaptive capacities help nonprofits deliver on their mission, building the model organization that will make the biggest impact with model programs.

High Performance Nonprofit Organizations goes further, laying out an agenda for changing the nonprofit environment, making it more supportive of its managers and more aware of the potential of organizational capacity. The authors assess the special opportunity of several stakeholders-including the nonprofit board, foundations, and the national office of multisite nonprofitsæto create a new culture that values organizational performance. For the nonprofit manager trying to build an organization that is truly responsive to its clients and community, High Performance Nonprofit Organizations is an essential review of best practices. For the board member, foundation program officer, or nonprofit leader trying to create sustained impact, it is a provocative challenge to deal with the sector's unfinished business with a new approach.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 16, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471174572
• ISBN-13: 978-0471174578
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #256,624 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best rendition of barriers of high performance in nonprofits, October 16, 1999

By	Robert M. Kardon (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the best treatment I've seen of the barriers nonprofit leaders have in implementing high performance strategies in a nonprofit organization. The authors rightly point to the convergence of the bias of funders and nonprofit leaders to only invest in programs and not organizational performance improvement. They present a well-researched case that this mono-focus on investing in new programs and not the structural needs of nonprofits results in less than desireable outcomes. Our intention at the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits is to use this book to help educate the philanthropic community and nonprofit leaders in the need to better balance the altruistic urge to use every penny for client service with the need to develop the internal capacity of these organizations to continously improve their deliver systems.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent thought-provoking book for non-profit directors, December 23, 1998

By	[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

A great, thought-provoking look at non-profits with helpful, action-oriented examples and clear writing. What I like about this work is its focus on building organizational capacity - both as funded and prioritized by the organization itself and through foundation support.

The authors provide the insight that non-profits all too often focus exclusively on expanding their program offerings without providing for the needed organizational capacity to really pull them off. As a non-profit manager, it helped me to think through the capacity challenges we face everyday - and to think of how to create opportunities for both management and foundation support for capacity building.

The ideas they espouse will change the world of non-profits by helping to make them financially and structurally sound, while achieving high performance mission-driven results - if we listen!

A great book! Read it! Enjoy it!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Impact, March 10, 2006

By	Glen Werner - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good coverage of the topic. An easy-to-read format with good examples to illustrate the principles and/or concepts.

The authors are american and are writing from an american perspective with all the examples based in the US. While most of the principles are transferable to the canadian situation, it is not a crisp as if canadian examples would have been included. This singular focus did take away from the impact that the book had for me and my area of interest.