The 5 Life Stages of Nonprofit Organizations
By Judith Sharken Simon with J. Terence Donovan; 128 pages; published by the
Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
Nonprofit leaders who have been around for a few years know that running
a successful organization requires much more than just identifying a mission
and obtaining nonprofit status. What many may not know is how to assess what
stage their organization is at, or how to move it to the next level. Judith
Sharken Simon and J. Terence Donovan help eliminate some of the guesswork
in The 5 Life Stages of Nonprofit Organizations: Where you are, where you're
going, and what to expect when you get there. In an easy to read and well
laid-out format, the book explains the five progressive stages of a nonprofit
organization and how seven key arenas of the organization (governance, staff
leadership, financing, administrative systems, products and services, staffing,
and marketing) are affected during each stage.
Perhaps most important, the book provides a reproducible assessment tool to
assist nonprofits in determining their current life stage. The authors then
take a closer look at the different stages, offering sample analyses of an
organization in each stage and advice on possible next steps in the development
process. They also address the issue of decline and dissolution, explaining
some of the indicators that organizations should be aware of so that they
can avoid this fate. Finally, there is a chapter on how consultants can use
the assessment model in their own work with nonprofit clients.
Leaders and managers, board members, organizational development consultants,
and even those who might be thinking of starting a nonprofit will find this
book to be a useful tool in understanding the different life stages that successful
organizations pass through. And because it identifies and explains many of
the common patterns and similarities found in the development of nonprofits,
it also reassures readers that what their organization is experiencing is
'normal' for that stage of development. However, the authors do point out
that each organization is unique and therefore may not fit into this assessment
model, though they do state that any nonprofit can use the book to better
understand how the seven key arenas of their organization might be affected
during a particular life stage.
Buy the book:
Canada: buy through Amazon.ca: CDN$43.08
International: buy through Amazon.com: US$28.00
