U.K. Author Finds Out What Makes U.S. Charities Tick
Building organization capacity is about systematically investing in developing an organization’s internal systems (for example, its people, processes and infrastructure) and its external relationships (for example, with funders, partners and volunteers) so that it can better realize its mission and achieve greater impact, writes Mike Hudson, director of Compass Partnership, a U.K.-based management consultancy specializing in the nonprofit sector, in his new book, Managing at the Leading Edge: New Challenges in Managing Nonprofit Organizations.
In the book, Hudson offers an outsider’s perspective on three key questions of concern for U.S. charities:
- What are the leading-edge approaches to managing nonprofit organizations?
- What should managers and board members be doing differently to enhance the performance of their organizations? and
- How can the impact of the nonprofit sector be significantly increased?
Based on interviews with leading nonprofit CEOs, consultants, academics and senior managers, Hudson presents advice for managing organizational performance, creating strategic alliances, making the most of changing patterns of funding and developing an effective, mission-focused leadership.
“Cynics might say that capacity building is just a repackaging of established ideas,” Hudson writes. “ … The most compelling reason for its ready acceptance is a recognition that the nonprofit sector is failing to have the impact it could have on the pressing social issues the nation faces.”
(Jossey-Bass, $38.)
