Competition in the nonprofit sector? It's often viewed negatively and rarely discussed in polite management conversations. Play to Win: The Nonprofit Guide to Competitive Strategy may shift that perspective. David La Piana and Michaela Hayes construct a roadmap so that nonprofit managers can move beyond the current emphasis on collaboration and recognize the benefits of competitiveness for their organizations. To support their assertions, La Piana and Hayes succinctly explain the failures and limitations of collaboration between nonprofits and explain how to revamp those traditional methods for competitive ends. Competition may be seen by many as an uncouth practice or unwelcome dynamic, but La Piana and Hayes offer a thought-provoking challenge for redefining, and perhaps even embracing, this strategy.

The authors acknowledge the value that collaboration has and will continue to serve for nonprofits, but they assert that competition has equal importance to the sector. There is an appropriate time and place for both tactics. La Piana and Hayes promote the use of ethical competition that follows "a pattern of thoughtful action through which an organization's leaders seek an increased share of limited resources, with the goal of advancing their mission." In other words, the spirit of the nonprofit sector need not be replaced with a predatory, winner-take-all approach to management and service.

Play to Win speaks most directly to nonprofit executive directors. The authors provide a challenging body of concepts and self-assessment worksheets that can help determine an organization's competitive strengths and weaknesses with customers, third-party payers (government or foundation funders), human resource issues, the media, and the general public. The assessments are one of the best aspects of this text. Nonprofit executives may decide that competitiveness is not best for their organization, yet could still find the worksheets to be valuable tools for improving their collaborative strategies.

This book may just inspire a new image for competition in the nonprofit sector. If nothing else, completing the assessment worksheets offers organizations the opportunity to evaluate their vitality. David La Piana is a founder of La Piana Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in strategic solutions for nonprofit organizations and foundations. Michaela Hayes is currently a senior manager at La Piana Associates and focuses on research and development, marketing, and communications.

For citations to additional materials on this topic refer to the Literature of the Nonprofit Sector Online, using the subject heading "Nonprofit organizations — management."