How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps: Bringing Out the Best in Nonprofits - Softcover

Schizer, David M.

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798888451885

Publisher: Post Hill Press, 2023

Synopsis

A must-read for anyone who loves nonprofits but worries about inefficiency, infighting, and inertia, How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps is the definitive guide to advancing the mission effectively and mobilizing support.

The US has over 1.5 million nonprofits, which touch our lives in countless ways. The finest are inspiring, but unfortunately, too many let us down. Luckily, there’s a solution. How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps by expert scholar and nonprofit leader David M. Schizer is the ultimate management book for nonprofit professionals, board members, and donors.

Since the goal of nonprofits is to advance their mission—not to make money—performance can be difficult to assess. Schizer explains how this fundamental challenge makes it harder to expose unwise and self-interested choices, resolve conflicts, and evolve with the times.

In response, nonprofits need to do two challenging things really well: figure out the best way to advance the mission, and then build support for it. With entertaining anecdotes from his many years leading Columbia Law School and international humanitarian organization JDC, as well as interviews with an all-star cast of nonprofit leaders, Schizer explains how to accomplish these twin goals with the “six Ps”:

• Plan: Run a rigorous planning process
• Persevere: Line up internal support
• Prioritize: Set priorities by asking three key questions
• Pivot: Test innovations
• Publicize: Share ideas and hold yourself accountable
• Partner: Raise more money by involving donors in the work

By chronicling the good, the bad, and the ugly at nonprofits and explaining how to get more out of them, this book shows how we can “save the world” together with the “six Ps.”

About this title

About the Author

David M. Schizer is a twenty-five-year veteran of the nonprofit world. He became the
youngest dean in Columbia Law School's history at age thirty-five and also served as the
CEO of JDC, a humanitarian organization active in seventy countries with a $365 million
annual budget. Schizer has served on the board of a number of nonprofits and for-profit
companies, including 92NY, the Ramaz School, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Feil
Properties, and SEACOR Holdings.
 
A member of the Columbia Law School faculty since 1998, Schizer is a leading
scholar of nonprofits, tax, energy, and business law, as well as an award-winning
teacher. He has taught at Yale, Harvard, Hebrew University, University of Tokyo, and
other major universities around the world. Schizer also clerked for US Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski.
Schizer has a BA, MA, and JD from Yale. He lives in New York City with his wife
and three children.

From the Back Cover

A must-read for anyone who loves nonprofits but worries about inefficiency, infighting, and inertia, How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps is the definitive guide to advancing the mission effectively and mobilizing support.

"Drawing on his own expertise and insights from other nonprofit leaders, David Schizer teaches a master class in what makes nonprofits successful."
—JOE LIEBERMAN, former United States Senator, Connecticut

"As the CEO of a mission-driven nonprofit, I know all too well how important this guidance is so we can save the world together. I keep the six Ps on my desk and refer to them often. Thank you, David, for this incredible guidance."
—CAROL BALDWIN MOODY, President and CEO of Legal Momentum, The Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund

"This essential book offers a powerful and practical guide for nonprofits to thrive in the 21st Century. David Schizer gets right to the heart of the complexities of the nonprofit world. His detailed and actionable book is a true gift for the sector. Highly recommended."
—HENRY TIMMS, President of Lincoln Center and Co-Founder of #GivingTuesday

From the Inside Flap

We depend on nonprofits to provide essential services and address burning issues—from climate change and health care to racial justice and income inequality. When nonprofits don't deliver, the consequences can be devastating.

In How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps, author David M. Schizer shows how to bring out the best in nonprofits. Along with his own experience, Schizer draws on insights from a distinguished group of twenty-seven nonprofit leaders. Together, they have led more than thirty nonprofit organizations with a broad range of missions, including 92NY, the Archdiocese of Newark, Earthjustice, DonorsChoose, Jewish Federations of North America, Lincoln Center, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.

Edition details

• Publisher: Post Hill Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798888451885
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248