Building Smart Nonprofits: A Roadmap for Mission Success

A much-needed overhaul plan for the nonprofit model arrives from O’Brien, who formerly served on the boards of for-profit and nonprofit companies, and Craig, vice president at JPMorgan Chase. Arguing that nonprofits need to start operating more like businesses if they want to survive, the pair highlight case studies of nonprofit innovation, going in depth on Feeding San Diego, which changed the food bank model by avoiding reliance on a central warehouse where food is stored and passed out and instead coordinating meal distribution to locations such as supermarkets and convenience stores that are more accessible to the people being served. O’Brien and Craig encourage pushing for greater transparency in reporting of spending and overhead; cultivating trust with donors by identifying major issues early on, rather than avoiding problems until they become unavoidable; and overcoming a view common among nonprofit boards of debt as “anathema to good fiscal stewardship” and instead guiding them toward seeing credit as a valuable tool. Any nonprofit leader thinking that there must be a better way will find persuasive answers here. (Aug.)