You and Your Nonprofit Board – Just Published

I am soooo excited to be a contributor to the just published You and Your Nonprofit Board:  Advice and Practical Tips from the Field’s Top Practitioners, Researchers and Provocateurs.  The book is edited by Terrie Temkin and published by Charity Channel Press.  As I went through the table of contents there were so many articles that I wanted to read, I didn’t know where to start.  I was attracted to being involved with this ambitious project from Terrie’s first call for papers.  She described the project as “a series of practical, conversationally-written articles on subjects of interest to the nonprofit or community benefit sector” and requested articles that would “offer readers new thinking.” She provided a list of potential questions as thought provokers and asked for proposals on topics that excited us.  She whet the appetite of potential contributors with her description and open ended approach.  Then her perfectionist editing and superb organizing of the final product has produced a book that is practical and at the same time will make you want to try new ideas. There are 38 contributors and I am honored to be among this well respected cadre of contributors. 

This is not a basic handbook.  It is an anthology of articles featuring current trends and fresh ideas on topics of importance to nonprofit boards.  There are plenty of examples and short boxes throughout which provide food for thought, definitions, principles, quotes, examples and practical tips.  My copy is going to be full of yellow highlighting very soon.

I work with and write for small nonprofits and often nonprofit books assume a level of staffing and economic status of the Board that is not representative of their reality.  This anthology has many articles that speak to the small nonprofit experience honestly and offer practical advice.   Articles such as “Yes, Your Board Can Be Strategic without Staff!” by Jane Garthson and “What Staff?  Keeping Operations and Governance Separate in an Organization with No Staff”  by Mitch Dorger are examples. 

The whole gamut of board issues is covered from “A Blue Ribbon Nominating Committee for your Board” by Jan Masaoka to “Act Your Age: Organizational Life Cycles and How They Impact Your Board” by Mike Burns to “Don’t Just Whack“Em and Plaque“Em” with an excellent example for an exit interview of Board members by Carol Weisman.

I chose to submit an article that I have written about on my blogs.  It is entitled “Exercising Board Leadership with Social Media” and started out as a slightly changed composite of existing blog articles at Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant and Nonprofit Capacity Building at managementhelp.org.  Terrie’s editing with a zillion comments and questions helped shape it into a much better article with crisp presentation.  Thank you Terrie even though I was getting impatient, your perfectionist editing did produce a much better product than my first submittal.  Am I a Practitioner or a Provocteur?  What do you think?

Carter McNamara says it best with this review – “Seldom have I seen a more thorough publication and with such well-respected authors. The book covers the critical basics and brings in the state-of-the-art. It's well-organized to be a reference manual for all of us in nonprofits.” 

Right now Amazon is offering You and Your Nonprofit Board for only $27.72 which is a 31% discount from the $39.95 list price making it affordable and eligible for free shipping.  Click below to go to Amazon now.