Parsonian Echoes and Luhmannian Reframing of the Organization-Society Interface. Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have long been recognized as playing vital roles in society. Nevertheless, a coherent understanding of how these roles align with broader social theory, and how to conceptualize the interface between nonprofits and society is still lacking. 

In pursuit of a solid theoretical foundation, we conducted a systematic literature review encompassing 119 publications spanning from 1959 to 2021 that delve into the societal roles of NPOs. We reason that much of prior research has implicitly adhered to a functionalist perspective akin to that proposed by Talcott Parsons nearly seven decades ago. Our review identifies four overarching societal roles fulfilled by NPOs: service delivery, advocacy, integration, and the development of cultural patterns. Recognizing the limitations of Parsonian functionalism, we advocate for a shift towards a neo-functionalist, systems-theoretical framing to allow for an analysis of societal functions that is more sensitive to the heterogeneity and contradictions pervasive in contemporary society.

SocRoles-in-NPOs_PREPRINT.pdf

• Publisher: Stanford Business Books; 1. Edition

• Publication Date: 5. November 2024

• ISBN-13: 978-1503635364

Shared Values, Unintended Consequences

The nonprofit sector leans heavily on consultants to guide strategic planning, advise on fundraising strategy, gather data on program effectiveness and more. How Consultants Shape Nonprofits explores how consultants, while working diligently to customize solutions for their clients, reinforce status-quo practices and ideas while prioritizing the opinions of people in power (nonprofit funders, leaders, etc.) over those of lower-level staff and communities. Consultants thus leave unaddressed some of the most pernicious problems in the nonprofit sector.

The book's important conclusions about the complex role of consultants in the nonprofit world are based on more than a year of ethnographic research and nearly 200 interviews with practitioners. Dr. Reisman concludes with guidance on how consultants, nonprofit leaders, and donors can better collaborate, and overcome traditional "blind spots" in the nonprofit-consultant relationship.

• Publisher: Routledge

• Publication Date: 20. September 2024

• ISBN-13: 978-1032812731

How to Create a Strategy That Is Focused, Understandable, Embedded, and Living

Most nonprofits approach strategic planning in ways that take too much time and effort, focus on the wrong issues, and set up the plan to be something that gathers dust on a shelf rather than being implemented. If you want a different approach, this is the book for you.

This book shows nonprofit leaders and organizations how to conduct strategic planning processes that deliver both a great strategy and an organization that can drive strategic change and continually refresh its strategy. It introduces a new framework—Strategic FUEL—and shows leaders how to map their organization’s strategic situation to a planning approach that addresses the most important opportunities and challenges, without wasting time and effort. It also shows the actions leaders can take during strategic planning to increase the odds of successful strategy implementation. The core content of this book was developed while working with nonprofit leaders on strategic planning, so it converts the best research and ideas to practice and step-by-step guidance.

This book will be a valuable resource for nonprofit CEOs and their teams, foundations looking to support their nonprofit grantees, and students in nonprofit management courses and programs. While the book is focused on the nonprofit world, the lessons are also applicable to any leader trying to drive strategy effectively.

• Publisher: Routledge

• Publication Date: 22. August 2024

• ISBN-13: 978-1032599861

Twelve Frameworks for Organisations and Research

Non-profit Governance offers twelve perspectives and analytical frameworks to facilitate the development of governance in non-profit organisations. In this sector, governance is all the more important because it is often voluntary. Organisations therefore need to be supported in their management, accountability and strategy. International standards (in particular ISO 37000:2021, dedicated to the governance of organisations) propose key principles to ensure value creation around stakeholder engagement, leadership, risk governance, social responsibility and organisational sustainability.

This book proposes to explore and adapt these principles to the non-profit sector. To do this, the book focuses on four facets of governance: the controls it puts in place, the stakeholders it must listen to and manage, the performance it must monitor and, finally, the people it must lead and mobilise. The book also highlights the interest of governance mechanisms and processes in developing effective performance, ethics in non-profit organisations, and responsible management.

Each chapter therefore takes one or more of the principles of ISO 37000 in the non-profit context and builds an analytical framework around them. These twelve frameworks can thus be used by the organisations themselves to develop their governance practices, but also by researchers who will find original approaches to incorporate into their studies.

• Publisher: Independently published

• Publication Date: 15. Mai 2024

• ISBN-13: 979-8883644930

7 Easy Steps; Checklist and Templates Included!

Are you interested in starting a nonprofit, but not sure where to begin? "Build a Nonprofit, 7 Easy Steps" is a workbook style text detailing everything you need to do in order to launch your own organization. Each section not only summarizes but provides instructions (and templates) for everything you need. It is a complete guide to starting your mission. The checklist included will help you stay on track!

Kjerstin Davies is the cofounder of the children's bereavement nonprofit Charlie's Guys that receives thousands of referrals annually and serves hundreds of bereaved children monthly. Since its inception in 2018 she has encouraged others to start their own organizations. Now, with more experience and expertise, she is passing on this one-stop-shop guide to the many more hoping to launch their own nonprofit.

Charlie's Guys is based in Boulder, Colorado and has been a recurring guest organization for the Executive MBA courses at the University of Colorado - Boulder. The EMBA program's graduate students research and analyze a specific skill-set of the nonprofit. This program has provided the organization with a deeper knowledge and skill in both fundraising and marketing.