Financing Nonprofits

Nonprofits often struggle financially, overwhelmed by the need to muster a complex combination of income streams that range from grants and government funding to gifts-in-kind and volunteer labor. Financing Nonprofits draws upon a growing body of scholarship in economics and organizational theory to offer a conceptual framework for understanding this diverse mix of financing sources. By applying theory, readers can understand when a nonprofit organization should pursue particular sources of income and how it should manage its portfolio of income from different sources. Organized under the auspices of the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise, Financing Nonprofits argues that those who would manage nonprofit organizations must first develop a conceptual framework through which they can understand the complicated and fast-paced landscape surrounding nonprofit decision-making. It offers a piece by piece analysis of the many potential components of nonprofit operating income, including a detailed study on how to accumulate the capital needed for major infrastructure projects or endowments and an examination of how to maintain a healthy investment profile once sufficient capital exists. By melding theory with practice, Young and the other contributors to Financing Nonprofits have created a volume that will serve as a practical guide to financing strategies for executive directors, CFOs, and board members of nonprofit organizations in a wide variety of fields; as a text for graduate students in nonprofit finance; and as a source of ideas for researchers to continue to probe and illuminate the many subtle issues associated with finding the right mix of resources to support the essential work of nonprofit organizations in our society.

This is a most important and illuminating book about the very complex subject of nonprofit organizations' resources. The book provides an excellent guide to the subject: It deals thoroughly with the different types of resources—financial and non-financial, each of them separately and all of them as a whole. It makes a strong case for diversification of organizational resources but not at all costs and not in all cases. Finally, it links the issue of obtaining resources to the issue of organizational strategic planning, where it belongs. This is a 'must read' for nonprofit managers, researchers, and policy-makers., This book is a 'must-read' for all those interested in the nonprofit sector. Dennis Young has assembled an exceptional group of experts who expand our understanding of nonprofit finance., Financing Nonprofits combines elegant academic analyses of various financial issues, such as managing endowments, with practical examples and advice. A must read for financial overseers of nonprofit organizations., This is the most comprehensive treatise to date on nonprofit financing. It will be of great utility to both practitioners and scholars., Financing Nonprofits attains a new plateau in advancing research and practice in nonprofit finance. Young and his colleagues clearly distinguish the study and analysis of nonprofit finance from that of government or for-profit entities, thus clearing the way to develop a distinct body of normative theory and practice for nonprofits. . . . All of the chapters are rich in case studies and analysis of real world issues. This impressive and accessible volume is a 'must-read' for CEO's, CFO's and trustees of nonprofits and for students and scholars interested in nonprofit finance.

Dennis R. Young is Bernard B. and Eugenia A. Ramsey Professor of Private Enterprise, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University and president of the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise.