Book Description
Foundations are a peculiarly American institution. They have been the dynamo of social change since their invention at the beginning of the last century. Yet they are cloaked in secrecy- their decision-making and operations are inscrutable to the point of obscurity-leaving them substantially unaccountable to anyone.
Joel Fleishman has been in and around foundations for almost half a century...running them, sitting on their boards, and seeking grants from them. And in this groundbreaking book he explains the history of foundations, tells the stories of the most successful foundation initiatives-and of those that have failed-and explains why it matters.
The baby boomer generation is going to participate in the largest transfer of wealth in history when it passes on its assets to its successor generation. The third sector is about to become more powerful than ever. This book shows how foundations can provide a vital spur to the engine of the American, and the world's, economy-if they are properly established and run.
Customer Reviews:
ESSENTIAL Primer, the Good, the Bad, and the Recommended.......2007-10-19
This is a very helpful book, indeed, a unique book. Here are some of the notes I took. As one of 24 co-founders of a new 501c3, the Earth Intelligence Network, created to provide decision support to foundations, the United Nations, NGOs, and others seeking to address the ten high-level threats to Humanity, I could not have found a more relevant work.
A few notes:
* Foundations are the dynamo of social change, with three roles varying from foundation to foundation: as driver, as partner, or as catalyst.
* The author is very critical of the general state of mismanagement and in some cases, lack of clear ethical guidelines or stated values, and says the field must do better.
* In his view, and his case studies bear this out, foundations are an enormous force for good, but they are unregulated, unaccountable, and if they are to retain the tax breaks and the trust of the people, they must change their process, their governance, and their attitude--this will, in the author's words, strengthen the social contract within which they are given so much leeway.
* He states that foundations *need* a decision-making process (music to my ears) and also a progress-checking system.
* He clearly communicates the willy-nilly state of many foundation programs, their lack of boundaries and focus, and hence their relative lack of impact. He states that many underperform, are insulated, and are arrogant.
* A positive quote (the book is generally positive and constructive) from page 3: "Foundations enable the creation of countless civil sector organizations--groups dealing with human rights, civil liberties, social policy experimentation, public advocacy, environmental protection, knowledge generation, human capital building, and service delivery, among other causes--and assist them in building national, regional, and local constituencies that move into the forefront of continuing social change. Elsewhere in the book he points out that in many areas, foundations preceeded and inspired later government programs.
* He is careful to point out that foundations have had limited success with education, health care, and poverty, and that in the face of global challenges (e.g. the ten high level threats to Humanity) the best they can do is educate the public and press government for action. I disagree. If foundations could collaborate with the United Nations UN) and leverage the Multinational Decision Support Center (MDSC) that we are trying to create in Tampa, Florida, they could among themselves agree to take on specific elements of a $230 billion a year program that Medard Gabel has been researching for ten years.
* He points out that US foundations take in 1.1 trillion a year in revenues, but only dole out $33.6 billion a year. In my view, given the enormous value of preventive action, I believe the foundations should be required to dole out 20% of their endowment in the first year of a concerted global program, and then so much as to keep the endowment steady, not hoarding and growing.
* While the "overarching objective" of foundations is large-scale social change, the author notes that they are peripheral players *unless they can organize and catalyze in the aggregate--precisely what the UN and the MDSC could help them do.
* He laments the current lack among most foundations of the "scientific method" that the Carnegies and Rockefellers first imposed, to wit: 1) get the facts; 2) identify problems precisely; 3) study options for action; 4) identify supporting and opposing stakeholders; and 5) plan for action. He blames the predominantly academic leadership of foundations today for the loss of "business" rigor and focus.
* The bottom line in this book appears with regularity in these pages: without goal setting and progress measuring, most foundation programs are simply arbitrary give-a-ways. He admires the Carnegie "Appraisal List" as a good starting point. He points out that neither inputs nor outputs matter; what matters is outcome.
* He lists all that ails foundations, a list that includes arrogance, discourtesy, inaccessibility, arbitrariness, failure to communicate, foundation Attention Deficit Disorder, lack of accountability, invisibility, scholarly void, and political vulnerability.
* The balance of the book consists of chapters that are extremely helpful, and here to whet the potential buyer's interest, I will simply list five core aspects of the book.
* Strategies and practices include (with subheadings not shown here):
* Creating and disseminating knowledge
* Building human capital
* Public policy advocacy
* Changing public attitudes
* Changing the law
* Creating a blue ribbon commission
* Offering an award or prize
* Building a model through a pilot program
* Financing litigation
* Building institutions
* Building physical plant
* Catalyzing partnerships among foundation
* Catalyzing partnerships with the for-profit sector
* Ways of recognizing impact include:
* Major benefits to the public
* Expansion of knowledge
* Helping to launch a movement
* Catalyzing an urgent social change
* Taking an initiative to scale
* Characteristics of high-impact programs (with much detail for each):
* Focus
* Alignment
* Due diligence about the problem
* Due diligence about the solution
* Intelligent talent selection
* Due diligence about prospective grant-receiving organizations
* Entrepreneurial riskp-taking
* Optemistic thinking
* Independence
* Effective grantee selection and management
* Long-term thinking and commitment
* Maintaining focus and alignment over time
There is a chapter on how foundations fail, and certainly this entire book, and especially this chapter, need to be read by any foundation executive--or any prospective donor to any foundation.
This is a truly great and helpful book. I put it down thinking to myself, "my goodness, not only does the United Nations need an Assistant Secretary General for Decision Support, but so also do the foundations in the aggregate." Worthy book!
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
Preparing for the 21st century: An appraisal of U.S. intelligence : report of the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition)
On Intelligence: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future
Information Operations: All Information, All Languages, All the Time
THE SMART NATION ACT: Public Intelligence in the Public Interest
Examining a Big but Little Known Area.......2007-03-09
Foundations are a subset of Non-Profit organizations that have become surprisingly big busines in the United States. Somewhere around 1/7th of the business in the country is conducted by these organizations. Somewhere around 1/9th of the workforce is employed by one. They have become an integral part of the American economy.
In this book Mr. Fleishman looks at Foundations (a number of which he has been associated as employee, trustee or some other capacity). He examines what makes a foundation successful, and how some have failed. He offers insight and advice on how to make a foundation more successful, and at the same time how foundations should have an obligation to become more accountable since they received special tax considerations from the Government. He suggests that this accountability should be done by the foundations voluntarily. However, Mr. Fleishman is an attorney and believes that if voluntary response is not forthcoming then new legal requirements should be placed upon them to require more openness.
Deserves serious reading from people who want to make a difference........2007-02-06
Joel Fleishman's book lays an excellent bedrock of history underneath its discussion of philanthropy as a great element of American tradition. We live in days of some staggering examples - from Warren Buffet's living bequest of billions, to the fine work of Bill and Melinda Gates - and many others. But rather than see this as some product of the new millennium - Fleishman shows how the new avatars of corporate generosity are following a fine tradition. More than this, the author shows that certain gifting strategies have been leveraged for huge social benefit. For those who are thinking - at whatever scale - of giving to support a cause, this book sets out the strategies that have produced most benefit. This is an excellent, thoughtful piece of work on a topic that currently has wide currency. Well worth reading.
Book Description
This important book offers a revolutionary approach to solving a range of social problems--drug use, smoking, unsafe sex, and overpopulation--by applying marketing techniques and concepts to change behavior. For example, it shows that at-risk teenagers are consumers who decide whether or not to "buy" safe sex practices. This successful approach is based on Alan R. Andreasen's more than twenty years of experience in consulting, teaching, and research with social marketing programs around the world.
Andreasen shows that effective social change starts with a thorough understanding of the needs, wants, and perceptions of the target consumer--who has ultimate control over the outcomes. The book offers a detailed explanation of how to design a step-by-step program that will move the customer from ignorance and indifference to action and ultimately maintenance of that action. Marketing Social Change offers a wealth of information for developing an effective social marketing plan.
Customer Reviews:
Very good basic book on social marketing.......2004-10-10
This book provides a very good overview of social marketing. I use this as a text book in a graduate course that I teach and find it useful in giving students a clear idea of how social marketing relates to the broader topic of nonprofit marketing, without requring them to wade through all of the additional information that a more general marketing textbook would offer. Author Alan Andreason is a leading thinker on the topic of social marketing and has organized this relatively short book in a straightforward manner that makes it easy to separate the preparatory work from the actual execution of social marketing plans.
The one complaint I have about this book, and the reason that I have not awarded it five stars, is that the examples used are less than exciting and I find that I need to supplement this book with additional titles so that my students get the bigger picture of how social marketing principles play out in various cultures around the world, not just in the United States. For those who are looking to expand their understand of social marketing in the developing world and in emerging economies, see also Marketing the Public Sector by Seymour Fine. Sadly, this great book is a bit dated, as it was published in 1992, but balanced with this Andreason book (or a comparable book by Philip Kotler) you will be able to give yourself a solid grasp of the topic.
The definitive book.......2002-07-17
This is the best book to give you grounding in social marketing. It also is a handy reference that you'll go back to again and again. It's well written and very accessible.
Book Description
Childhood is a brand new series of textbooks, co-published with The Open University which represents a coherent and integrated treatment of a wide range of topics and approaches, which will have a relevance to courses in childhood studies; sociology; psychology; anthropology and cultural studies as well as education and social policy.
The fourth volume, Changing Childhoods: Local and Global considers the status of children and society, and the significance of children's rights. Topics include the effects of poverty, ill-health and violence on children's well-being. Finally, the book illustrates the ways in which children and young people become engaged with social issues, including issues surrounding their status as children.
Illustrated throughout with both cross-cultural and historical examples, this text is ideal for a wide range of courses.
Features includes:
- An interactive text
- Carefully-selected case studies and readings from the USA, Bangladesh and South Africa
- Attractive layout and colour design throughout
- A high level of illustration
- Clear and 'student-friendly' style
- Used by the OU for its own teaching
Book Description
"Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector is a 'must-read' for anyone seriously interested in the near-term future of philanthropy." --Philanthropy Monthly
A useful addition to the libraries of researchers on the third sector. --Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
What is the future of philanthropy in a changing America? This volume of agenda-setting essays suggests how philanthropy and the nonprofit sector might respond to a society which is seeing not only the devolution of federal programs to the state and local levels, but also the blurring of lines between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, globalization, tax and other regulatory reform, and the rise of privatization and market models, among other sea changes.
Book Description
Assisted Living Strategies for Changing Markets is about getting back to basics - focusing on the senior consumer and their families while executing sound business strategies. In these 42 chapters Jim Moore addresses the most relevant issues facing the senior housing/assisted living industry in the first part of the 21st Century. This book provides leading edge information on strategies, tactics, industry benchmarks, rules of thumb, current trends and future marketplace impacts. The author presents real world problems along with cost-effective, practical solutions.
The information in Assisted Living Strategies for Changing Markets is structured and sequenced as a series of relevant issues and strategies. Each chapter is written so that the reader can benefit from “random access”. This means the reader can scan the detailed table of contents and jump to the chapter addressing the issue of interest on any given day.
Assisted Living Strategies for Changing Markets profiles a typical 80-unit assisted living community using detailed industry comparables and financial factors that are representative of existing projects in approximately 75 percent of the U.S. markets in the 2002 time frame. Financial factors are presented in 2002 dollars using the prevailing interest rates of this time period.
For the experienced senior housing professional and their staff, this book can be a useful checklist of appropriate strategies and initiatives. For those who are new to the industry, it can act as a strategic planning handbook.
Average customer rating:
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Health and Illness in a Changing Society
Michael Bury
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415115159 |
Book Description
Health and illness are intensely personal matters. It seems self evident that health is a basic necessity of the "good life," though it is often taken for granted. Illness, on the other hand challenges our sense of security and may introduce acute anxiety into our lives.
Health and Illness in a Changing Society provides a lively and critical account of the impact of social change on the experience of health and illness. It also examines the different sociological perspectives that have been used to analyze health matters. While some of the ideas developed in the last twenty years remain relevant to social research in health today, many are in need of urgent revision.
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Children, Changing Families And Welfare States
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Social Services & Welfare
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ASIN: 1845425235 |
Book Description
The nature of the relationship between children, parents and the state has been central to the growth of the modern welfare state and has long been a problem for western liberal democracies. Welfare states have undergone profound restructuring over the past two decades and families also have changed, in terms of their form and the nature of the contributions that men and women make to them. More attention is being paid to children by policymakers, but often because of their importance as future `citizen workers'. The book explores the implications of changes to the welfare state for children in a range of countries.
Children, Changing Families and Welfare States:
* examines the implications of social policies for children
* sets the discussion in the broader context of both family change and welfare state change, exploring the nature of the policy debate that has allowed the welfare of the child to come to the fore
* tackles policies to do with both the care and financial support of children
* looks at the household level and how children fare when both adult men and women must seek to combine paid and unpaid work, and what support is offered by welfare states
* provides a comparative perspective on these issues.
The contributors have written a book that will be warmly welcomed by scholars and researchers of social policy, social work and sociology and students at both the advanced undergraduate and post-graduate level.
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The Changing Face Of Welfare: Consequences and outcomes from a citizenship perspective
Manufacturer: Policy Pr
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1861345917 |
Book Description
Timely and practical, Pattern Changing for Abused Women is a manual designed for those who are currently facilitating or would like to start a group for abused and formerly abused women. The book is based on the accumulated experience of the authors and groups they have facilitated over the past eight years. Along with the material for clients, group leaders are provided with easy-to-follow scripts for each session. The program focuses on the woman herself, and her own power to change the course of her life. Its goal is for women to begin to understand the problem of abuse and its realities for the entire family, to become aware of their lifelong patterns, to set realistic goals, and to learn techniques for developing new patterns of their own choosing. Sessions are not intended to function as group therapy and clients who are not already in counseling are frequently referred for psychological help. Intended for group leaders of educational groups for battered women, social workers and counseling psychologists will also find the book valuable in dealing with this population.
Books:
- The Great Crash 1929
- The Great Crash 1929
- The Hand-Sculpted House: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage (The Real Goods Solar Living Book)
- The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business (Collins Business Essentials)
- The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation
- The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation
- The Lean Pocket Guide
- The Lean Pocket Guide
- The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth (Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies)
- The New Executive Assistant: Advice for Succeeding in Your Career
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