Resources
Curated resources we reference in our podcast and blog.
The Scanland Group
Empowering Mission-Driven Organizations to Thrive through Strategy, Innovation, and Impact
Candid
Formed from the merger of GuideStar and Foundation Center, Candid provides data, research, and tools that help nonprofits, foundations, and funders make better decisions. Their financial health data on the sector informed key statistics in Episode 11.
Visit Website →National Council of Nonprofits
The largest network of nonprofits in the U.S., connecting state and regional associations to provide resources on financial management, board governance, public policy, and operational best practices for organizations of every size.
Visit Website →charity: water
100% of public donations fund clean water projects directly. All operating costs are covered by a dedicated group of private donors — a model that built extraordinary donor trust and is discussed in Episode 11 as a creative approach to revenue diversification.
Visit Website →Habitat for Humanity ReStore
Retail stores selling donated building materials generate earned income that funds operations at many local affiliates — with several carrying little to no government funding dependence. Discussed in Episode 11 as an earned income diversification strategy.
Visit Website →Organizational Culture and Leadership
The definitive framework for understanding why culture is so hard to change. Schein describes culture as operating on three levels — observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions — and argues that the deepest layer is the one most leaders never examine. Now in its fifth edition with Peter Schein as co-author, it remains the foundational text for anyone serious about organizational culture.
View Book →The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
More than three million copies sold — because it's painfully accurate. Lencioni's pyramid model identifies five interconnected dysfunctions that undermine team performance, starting with absence of trust and building through fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. Mission-driven organizations are especially vulnerable to several of these patterns, particularly when shared purpose is mistaken for shared health.
View Book →Corporate Culture and Performance
A landmark study of more than 200 companies across 22 industries that put hard numbers on the culture question. Organizations with adaptive, stakeholder-focused cultures produced revenue growth of 682% compared to 166% for non-adaptive cultures — and net income growth of 756% versus 1%. The research makes clear that the distinction isn't strong culture versus weak culture. It's whether the culture is built to respond, learn, and change.
View Book →Uncharitable
The most direct challenge to how society thinks about nonprofits and the double standards they face. Pallotta identifies five areas where nonprofits are held to different rules than for-profits — compensation, marketing, risk-taking, time horizons, and access to capital — and quantifies the cost: from 1970 to 2009, only 144 nonprofits crossed the $50 million revenue mark. In the same period, over 46,000 for-profits did. His TED Talk on the subject has been viewed more than five million times.
View Book →Mission-Based Management
Brinckerhoff has been making the case for nonprofit business discipline since 1984 — to audiences who literally threw things at him on stage. His core argument: your organization is a mission-based business. Focus too much on mission and not enough on money and you go out of business. Focus too much on money and not enough on mission and you become just a business. Now used as a textbook at more than 100 universities, it remains one of the most direct and practical guides to running a nonprofit like the organization your community deserves.
View Book →Center for Effective Philanthropy
An independent research organization that provides nonprofits and foundations with rigorous, actionable data on organizational effectiveness. Their State of Nonprofits 2024 report found that 95% of nonprofit leaders expressed concern about staff burnout — and that 75% said it was impacting their organization's ability to achieve its mission. One of the most comprehensive annual assessments of the sector's leadership challenges.
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