Nonprofit founders face a challenging environment of regulations, fundraising, and donor and shareholder expectations. Learning is essential to grow and evolve in this environment. Knowing the right resources to turn to is an important part of investing in your personal and professional growth and being a resilient nonprofit leader. In this blog, we’ve listed our top ten nonprofit books for leadership to help you get started.
Trying to change the world for the better is a difficult task.
Nonprofits face various challenges every single day. They battle regulations and struggle to find the money to achieve their missions, all while fighting to get the word out about what they do and juggling donor and shareholder expectations.
In such a challenging environment, learning is essential. Knowing the right resources to turn to is an important part of being a resilient nonprofit professional. This article covers our top 12 best nonprofit books for nonprofit leaders – which have you read?
Author: Simon Sinek
Author of one of the most popular TED talks of all time, Simon Sinek is a British-American author, motivational speaker, and marketing consultant. His somewhat unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention.
Based on his Ted Talk, “Start with Why” contains valuable insights for the nonprofit world, especially in regard to how nonprofits can communicate what they do to the outside world. For this reason – and more – it definitely makes it to our top nonprofit books list!
In “Start with Why,” Sinek argues that organizations should put their “why” at the forefront of their communications and strategy. He believes that it’s not the “what” or the “how” that motivates and retains talent, drives sales, or attracts outstanding board prospects.
When most organizations or people think, act, or communicate, they do so from the outside in, from WHAT to WHY. They go from the tangible to the intangible. Sinek suggests that the most successful organizations are the ones that manage to communicate from the inside out.
“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves. The pursuit, for those who lose sight of WHY they are running the race, is for the medal or to beat someone else.”
Author: Adam Braun
Adam Braun is an American entrepreneur, bestselling author, and philanthropist. After attending Brown University, Adam traveled to over 50 countries. He asked local kids around the globe what they wanted most in the world. In India, a young boy begging on the streets told Adam that he wanted a pencil. Adam gave the boy his own pencil, but this story served as the inspiration for Braun and finally led him to start his own organization: Pencils of Promise.
He started the organization with just $25 and has since built more than 200 schools around the world.
Each chapter in “The Promise of a Pencil”, which many believe is one of the best nonprofit books out there, explains one clear step that every person can take to turn their biggest ambitions into reality, even with as little as $25.
Braun has received some criticism for calling himself ‘an ordinary person’, having had a very privileged upbringing. However, the lessons from the book can be used as an inspiration for anyone. Adam himself shows that he’s well aware of his background, expressing his gratitude multiple times. This is a touching nonprofit book for all of you out there seeking some inspiration.
“Most of all, I’ll remind them each morning that we make a choice to bring positivity or negativity into the world, and that within every single person lies an extraordinary story waiting to unfold.”
Author: Dr. Chris Lambert
Dr. Chris Lambert, award-winning author of “Next Level Nonprofit,” is also the founder and CEO of Life Remodeled and the creator of the Next Level Nonprofit organizational operating system. He studied marketing at Indiana University before earning his MDiv from Fuller Seminary and a doctorate in preaching from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. After spending time in Liberia helping a village mobilize support for various needs – including a well, farm animals, and a school building – he founded a church in the U.S. before launching Life Remodeled, which repurposes vacant school buildings.
With “Next Level Nonprofit,” Dr. Lambert aims to use his experiences to guide nonprofit leaders, founders, and managers through proven steps and tried-and-true methods that will help them build a better organization. The book will show you how to recruit and retain your dream team by determining if you have the right people in the right roles, running engaging team meetings, making better decisions, and more.
Dr. Lambert provides readers with an easy-to-implement strategy to “do more good by operating at the highest levels of organizational excellence.”
“Ten years ago I was burned out, because the nonprofit I led had not become what I envisioned…
I knew we were capable of reaching far more people, but I was frustrated it wasn’t happening. We needed a stronger team to lead us into a more impactful future, but it felt impossible to attract, retain, and develop top talent.”
Authors: Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant
Leslie R. Crutchfield is a managing director of Ashoka and a research grantee of the Aspen Institute. Heather McLeod Grant is a nonprofit consultant and advisor to Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship and the Stanford Center for Social Innovation.
The two authors studied 12 large and global nonprofits, such as Habitat for Humanity, Teach for America, and the Environmental Defense Fund. They then uncovered six key practices that these high-impact nonprofits employ to achieve extraordinary impact, and shared them in “Forces for Good.”
In 2012, the book was updated to include how the six practices could be applied to local and smaller nonprofits.
“Forces for Good” has lessons for all readers interested in creating significant social change, including nonprofit managers, donors, and volunteers. It’s a must-read and an evidence-based nonprofit book for anyone thinking about any aspect of nonprofit organizations – from working for one to starting one. It addresses everything from fundraising to boards, setup, and groundwork.
“What we found surprised us – and flew in the face of the perceived wisdom in the field. Achieving large-scale social change is not just about building an organization and then scaling it up site by site. Many of these groups are not perfectly managed. Nor are they all well marketed. And at least half don’t score well on conventional ratings because they care more about having an impact than having low-overhead budgets. They do what it takes to get results.”
Author: Jacqueline Novogratz
Jacqueline Novogratz is an American entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen, an organization that seeks to solve the toughest issues of poverty.
In 2009, Novogratz published the New York Times bestseller “The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.” The book is a firsthand account of her journey from being an international banker to a social entrepreneur and founder of Acumen.
Novogratz was inspired to write “The Blue Sweater” when she met a boy in Rwanda. He was wearing a sweater, with her name still on the tag inside, that she had donated to Goodwill 11 years ago.
This book, in the end, is more autobiographical than practical, but it is an inspirational and raw read for anyone who has been playing with the thought of going into advocacy, development, and social work.
“The Blue Sweater” is essentially a guidebook for what not to do in global aid. What’s particularly beautiful about this nonprofit book is that the lessons don’t come out of a place of superiority, but a profound humility.
“Solutions to poverty must be driven by discipline, accountability, and market-strength, not easy sentimentality. It is about building solutions from the perspective of the poor people themselves rather than imposing grand theories and plans upon them.”
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He’s an English/Canadian journalist, author, and speaker. He has written five books so far, and all of them have been on The New York Times Best Seller list.
“The Tipping Point” was inspired by a sudden drop in crime in New York City. Gladwell sought to explain this and other similar phenomena through epidemiology.
The book explains the phenomenon of why some products, businesses, and authors become hugely successful (“tip”) while others never seem to break apart from the masses as anything special.
Gladwell wrote “The Tipping Point” before social media became so ever pervasive and omnipresent, but it draws on a variety of universal concepts from psychology and sociology to explain why some things “catch fire” and others don’t.
Gladwell is a storyteller, so the book is written in such a way that it can be readily understood by most people. “The Tipping Point” is also one of the best nonprofit books for communicators.
“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push—in just the right place—it can be tipped.”
Authors: Beth Kanter and Allison Fine
Beth Kanter is a nonprofit expert and has been presenting her writing online for years on how nonprofits and technology merge in the 21st century. Allison Fine is an award-winning author and co-editor who writes about the intersection of social media and social change on her blog.
“The Networked Nonprofit” is a guide for nonprofits looking to incorporate social media into their fundraising activities. Practical examples from the field and success stories that are easy to emulate fill the book, which is structured as a how-to manual.
Although “The Networked Nonprofit” is likely to be most relevant to nonprofit organizations that are just starting to use social media, this book’s strength lies in providing a clear framework for how all nonprofits can think about social media.
This was a groundbreaking nonprofit book when it was written in 2010. It’s now a bit outdated as social media has become more integrated into our personal and professional lives. Despite this, it holds many effective tips and remains one of the most helpful nonprofit books.
“Networked nonprofits are simple and transparent organizations. They are easy for outsiders to get in and insiders to get out. They engage people in shaping and sharing their work in order to raise awareness of social issues, organize communities to provide services, or advocate for legislation… Networked nonprofits don’t work harder or longer than other organizations, they work differently.”
Author: Eric Ries
Eric Ries is an American entrepreneur, blogger, and author.
“The Lean Startup” prefaces that too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want. They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever showing the product to the prospective customer. A core component of “The Lean Startup” methodology is the “build-measure-learn” feedback loop. This loop is based on the idea of building an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and testing it as soon as possible.
This approach can be transformational for nonprofits. It allows nonprofits to invest as little as possible in early, often faulty attempts at solving problems. This provides a massive opportunity to expand the impact and efficiency of the social sector.
“The Lean Startup” challenges the nonprofit sector to get smarter and more nimble with strategy, program design, and implementation.
“We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.”
Authors: Dan and Chip Heath
Chip Heath is a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching courses on business strategy and organization. Dan Heath is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs.
The two brothers co-authored three New York Times bestsellers: “Decisive,” “Switch,” and “Made to Stick.”
“Switch” talks about how difficult it is to implement change in our companies, careers, and lives, why change is so hard, and how to overcome resistance. The book identifies the crucial factors in effecting lasting changes for both individuals and organizations.
It also talks about three components of change – the rational side (the “Rider”), the emotional side (the “Elephant”), and the situational world (the “Path”). The Heath brothers focus on how to improve each of these three components with simple guidelines and real-life suggestions.
“Switch” is particularly helpful when thinking about how to implement change in your nonprofit, making it a no-brainer to add to our best nonprofit books list!
“Knowledge does not change behavior,” he said. “We have all encountered crazy shrinks and obese doctors and divorced marriage counselors.”
Author: Dan Pallotta
Dan Pallotta is an American entrepreneur, author, and humanitarian activist. In recent years, Dan has given nearly 300 talks on philanthropy and innovation in 34 states and eight countries.
Pallotta’s first bestseller, “Uncharitable,” explored how the nonprofit sector evolved. “Charity Case” takes the next big step and discusses ways to start changing the status quo.
“Charity Case” has also established various ways for charities to be accountable, offering several immediate action steps to make a nonprofit as effective as possible.
Pallotta is a voice worth listening to. His nonprofit book will absolutely make you think differently about the sector.
“If you put these five things together – you can’t use money to attract talent, you can’t advertise, you can’t take risks, you can’t invest in long-term results, and you don’t have a stock market – then we have just put the humanitarian sector at the most extreme disadvantage to the for-profit sector on every level, and then we call the whole system charity, as if there is something incredibly sweet about it.”
Author: Daniel Lubetzky
Daniel Lubetzky is a social entrepreneur, the CEO, and the founder of KIND Healthy Snacks and the KIND Movement. He is the founder of PeaceWorks and OneVoice and co-founder of the apparel company Maiyet.
While Lubetzky didn’t build a nonprofit, he talks in-depth about his focus to impact the world and other companies by implementing a “not-only-for-profit” model.
The book is actually about the KIND corporation’s history and mission. Lubetzky takes a straightforward approach to teaching how to run a rewarding business you are passionate about. The message in this book is to be kind to yourself, kind to others, and stay focused on your passion.
This is one of the nonprofit books that will inspire you and motivate you to keep working for the mission of your nonprofit!
“I’m conscious of my role as KIND’s founder and CEO and my responsibility to hold myself to the highest possible standard of ethics and human behavior.”
Author: Jeff Brooks
Last – but certainly not least – on our list of top nonprofit books is this popular fundraising book from author Jeff Brooks. Brooks has more than 30 years of fundraising experience under his belt, having worked for several fundraising agencies. He has produced results for numerous nonprofits and wrote this book to answer the question, “What do I need to know to effectively raise funds?”
In “The Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications,” you’ll find actionable advice and discover knowledge that will help you write impactful appeals, develop winning strategies, and more. Brooks says that he has made every fundraising mistake possible – he now knows what works and what doesn’t and wants to share that with other fundraising professionals.
“If you’re someone who wants to do fundraising right … if you want to work with knowledge, not hunch and superstition … this book is for you.
Based on decades of hands-on fundraising with dozens of great nonprofits, this book zeroes in on the hard stuff, the surprising, counterintuitive things that most often trip up fundraisers.”
From smaller nonprofits to grassroots movements and big established organizations, strong leadership is vital. And great leadership can be difficult to cultivate! Keeping up to date and investing in one’s own personal and professional growth can help one acquire the necessary leadership qualities.
From the inspiring to the practical to the thought-provoking, these books offer great solutions for nonprofit leaders of all experience levels.
Looking for more nonprofit advice? Visit The Nonprofit Blog for numerous articles covering fundraising, leadership, and so much more.
Happy reading!
Ilma Ibrisevic is a content creator and nonprofit writer. She’s passionate about meaningful work, sustainability, and social movements. If she’s not working, she’s obsessing over coffee or cooking. You can connect with her on Linkedin.
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Ilma Ibrisevic