Book reviews
Philanthropy News Digest offers reviews of recently published books exploring topics of debate inside and outside the philanthropic sector. For more information, contact Kyoko Uchida, managing editor, at kyoko.uchida@candid.org.
Compassionate Careers: Making a Living by Making a Difference
August 21, 2015Foundation Center's Grace Sato finds that the book not only offers stories of inspiration, passion, and serendipity but also makes a case for why a career in the nonprofit sector makes practical sense....
In Defense of a Liberal Education
August 11, 2015Our reviewer, Michael Weston-Murphy, says Zakaria's book serves as a reminder of the importance of knowledge for the sake of knowledge in the increasingly globalized world of the twenty-first century....
How to Be Great at Doing Good: Why Results Are What Count and How Smart Charity Can Change the World
July 27, 2015For those looking to make the world a better place, animal rights activist Nick Cooney's "complacency-shattering guidebook" deserves to be read and widely discussed, says our reviewer Mirielle Clifford....
Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change From the Cult of Technology
June 29, 2015If you're looking for an anti-technology manifesto, look elsewhere, says our reviewer, Kyoko Uchida; Geek Heresy presents a nuanced argument for a human-centric approach to development work that leverages, rather than relies on, technology to create social change....
The Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide to Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, and Achieving Success for Mission-Driven Organizations
June 12, 2015In his new book David Grant, former president and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, looks at how mission-driven organizations can define and ultimately improve the outcomes they are trying to achieve....
The Chocolate Trust: Deception, Indenture and Secrets at the $12 Billion Milton Hershey School
June 5, 2015Mark Rosenman reviews Bob Fernandez's book detailing the questionable practices of the Hershey Trust and the inability (or unwillingness) of local and state government authorities to effectively regulate nonprofits....
Curtains? The Future of the Arts in America
May 28, 2015Foundation Center's Daniel X. Matz reviews Michael M. Kaiser's latest take on the state of the arts in the United States....
Staying the Course: Reflections on 40 Years of Grantmaking at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
May 12, 2015Kyoko Uchida, PND's features editor, finds much to admire in Bill Moody's account of his four-plus decades in the grantmaking trenches....
A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity
February 10, 2015PND's Kyoko Uchida reviews Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book about how everyone has the means to give, and to give meaningfully....
The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession
January 22, 2015The Foundation Center's Chuck Bartelt, a former New York City public school teacher, reviews Dana Goldstein's book about the much-maligned profession of teaching and its potential alongside that of the American system of public education....
The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor
June 4, 2014The director of the NYU Development Research Institute argues that the conventional approach to development is based on the erroneous assumption that poverty results from a shortage of expertise, whereas it's really about a shortage of rights....
Abusing Donor Intent: The Robertson Family's Epic Lawsuit Against Princeton University
April 8, 2014The legal standoff between heirs to the A&P supermarket fortune and Princeton University over a $35 million gift made in 1961 is a cautionary tale for donors and beneficiaries alike, our reviewer, Daniel Matz, writes....
The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers
December 30, 2013In their new book, Paul Polak, author of Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail, and Mal Warwick explain how "zero-based design" can help lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty....
The Cycle: A Practical Approach to Managing Arts Organizations
October 30, 2013In The Cycle, Michael Kaiser draws on his extensive experience to illustrate how "good art, well marketed" attracts loyal audiences, volunteers, board members, and donors whose support can be reinvested in developing even bolder, more exciting programming, eventually creating a positive feedback loop with a circular momentum of its own...
Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement
September 21, 2013PND's Kyoko Uchida reviews the new book by Saratovsky, the former vice president of social innovation at the Case Foundation, and Feldmann, the CEO of Achieve, that provides a long-term model nonprofits can use to connect with the millennial generation....
