Nonprofit Stewardship: A Better Way to Lead Your Mission-Based Organization

In an environment of increasing competition and eroding trust, nonprofits are under pressure to up their ability to deliver on their mission. Stewardship is a paradigm-shifting way to view your role, your board, your staff, your funders, and yourself. Understanding that the nonprofit is rooted in its ownership by the community helps break the boundaries of turf and fragmentation that prevent sustainable impacts. Author Peter Brinckerhoff, internationally known expert at helping not-for-profits get more mission for their money, explains why stewardship is the smart thing to do and how you can use it to transform your organization. You'll discover: The eight characteristics of a mission-based steward; The various stewardship roles that exist in your not-for-profit, and why each is essential in a well-functioning organization; Three surprising truths about your not-for-profit; The nine characteristics of a successful not-for-profit; Fifteen warning signs of trouble in your organization; Stewardship-rich ways to view your finances, your budgeting, and your financial reporting; A refreshing new perspective on the relationship between funders and not-for-profits; Crisis management tools that really work; A stewardship self-assessment to use now as a starting point, and later as a reference point to measure your progress. Comprehensive, passionate, and practical. Dozens of real-world examples make this book relevant. End-of-chapter discussion questions reprise key points and reinforce important ideas. Nonprofit Stewardship is recommended for leaders of all types of not-for-profit organizations serving individuals, the local community, the state, the nation, or the world. Also recommended for donors, grant makers, government agencies, and others who fund your work.

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.