This book explores leadership and management in social sector organizations, which include, NGOs, non-profits, social enterprises, social businesses, and cross-sector collaborations focusing on advancing human dignity and social justice. It provides social sector leaders with an overview of current trends, issues, and challenges in the field as well as best practices to foster effective programs, sustain organizations and meet the growing demands of the sector. The enclosed chapters cover topics such as cross-sector organizational design, innovation for client services, gender management dynamics, policy advocacy, and the growing social entrepreneurship movement. The social sector is currently in a vibrant, dynamic, and exciting stage. The sector’s role and relevance to advancing human dignity and social justice is greater than ever. The number and types of social sector organizations have increased exponentially around the world and are offering extraordinary and much needed contributions toward an array of social issues. The traditional NGOs and non-profit organizations continue to be an integral part of the global civil society. At the same time, the emerging organizational forms under the social entrepreneurship umbrella are providing new momentum and excitement within and outside of the social sector. The interest in social entrepreneurship is encouraging existing social sector entities to actively embrace and encourage innovation. This interest is also inspiring a new breed of professionals and organizations to contribute to the social sector. This trend falls under the larger social sector dynamic promoting the creation of “hybrid” and emergent organizational forms, which cross and combine the traditional non-profit and for-profit domains. Despite the increased interest, the social sector still faces challenges around the world. CIVICUS – an international group promoting civil society organizations and groups-- recently reported a rise in the restrictions on civil society activities in a number of countries through worsening policy and legal environments. Funding challenges for the social sector are thus becoming more significant. At the same time, the calls for social sector accountability and emphasis on results and impact are growing. This book aims to offer approaches and tools which allow for the bridging of demands between creativity and accountability, between inspiration and results, and between gaining individual commitment and shared ownership of agendas and achievements, all of which are needed to effectively operate in the changing social sector.

We are entering a new era—an era of impact. The largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history will soon be under way, bringing with it the potential for huge increases in philanthropic funding. Engine of Impact shows how nonprofits can apply the principles of strategic leadership to attract greater financial support and leverage that funding to maximum effect. As Good to Great author Jim Collins writes in his foreword, this book offers "a detailed roadmap of disciplined thought and action for turning a good nonprofit into one that can achieve great impact at scale." William F. Meehan III and Kim Starkey Jonker identify seven essential components of strategic leadership that set high-achieving organizations apart from the rest of the nonprofit sector. Together, these components form an "engine of impact"—a system that organizations must build, tune, and fuel if they hope to make a real difference in the world. Drawing on decades of teaching, advising, grantmaking, and research, Meehan and Jonker provide an actionable guide that executives, staff, board members, and donors can use to jumpstart their own performance and to achieve extraordinary results for their organization. Along with setting forth best practices using real-world examples, the authors outline common management challenges faced by nonprofits, showing how these challenges differ from those faced by for-profit businesses in important and often-overlooked ways. By offering crucial insights on the fundamentals of nonprofit management, this book will help leaders equip their organizations to fire on all cylinders and unleash the full potential of the nonprofit sector. Visit www.engineofimpact.org for additional information.

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

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Why getting results should be every nonprofit manager's first priority A nonprofit manager's fundamental job is to get results, sustained over time, rather than boost morale or promote staff development. This is a shift from the tenor of many management books, particularly in the nonprofit world. Managing to Change the World is designed to teach new and experienced nonprofit managers the fundamental skills of effective management, including: managing specific tasks and broader responsibilities; setting clear goals and holding people accountable to them; creating a results-oriented culture; hiring, developing, and retaining a staff of superstars. Offers nonprofit managers a clear guide to the most effective management skills Shows how to address performance problems, dismiss staffers who fall short, and the right way to exercising authority Gives guidance for managing time wisely and offers suggestions for staying in sync with your boss and managing up This important resource contains 41 resources and downloadable tools that can be implemented immediately.

Written for students and practitioners of social entrepreneurship, this text is about the opportunity and challenge of applying leadership skills and entrepreneurial talents creatively and appropriately to create social value.

Nonprofits and the social sectors are taking on an increasing share of the world's most vital work. Make sure your organization is ready for the challenge. If you read nothing else on nonprofits and the social sectors, read these 10 articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you align your organization's mission and strategy, deliver immediate impact, and create lasting change. This book will inspire you to: Choose the right problem to solve Understand when the best practices of for-profits don't apply Assemble an engaged and goal-driven board of directors Make the most of for-profit initiatives and corporate partnerships Drive demand, scale up, and be ready to change course Learn from the success stories of the world's most respected nonprofit leaders This collection of articles includes "Lofty Missions, Down-to-Earth Plans," by V. Kasturi Rangan; "What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits," by Peter F. Drucker; "Life's Work: An Interview with Desmond Tutu"; "Are You Solving the Right Problem?" by Dwayne Spradlin; "Life's Work: An Interview with George Mitchell"; "Enterprising Nonprofits," by J. Gregory Dees; "Life's Work: An Interview with Wynton Marsalis"; "State Street's CEO on Creating Employment for At-Risk Youths," by Joseph Hooley; "Life's Work: An Interview with Salman Khan"; "Do Better at Doing Good," by V. Kasturi Rangan, Sohel Karim, and Sheryl K. Sandberg; "AEI's President on Measuring the Impact of Ideas," by Arthur C. Brooks; "Life's Work: An Interview with Michelle Bachelet"; "The New Work of the Nonprofit Board," by Barbara E. Taylor, Richard P. Chait, and Thomas P. Holland; "Life's Work: An Interview with Bill T. Jones"; "Reaching the World's Poorest Consumers," by Muhammad Yunus, Frederic Dalsace, David Menasce, and Benedicte Faivre-Tavignot; "Life's Work: An Interview with Muhammad Yunus"; and "Audacious Philanthropy: Lessons from 15 World-Changing Initiatives," by Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Abe Grindle.