What Counts: Social Accounting for NonProfits and Cooperatives

Social accounting focuses on the effects of an organization on its communities of interest—this book specifically focuses on non-profit firms and cooperatives. Quarter/Mook/Richmond look at how nonprofits and cooperatives create value and how they can measure their social performance. The book makes extensive use of models that can be applied by nonprofits and cooperatives. The models are explained in detail and there is a how-to chapter that is oriented towards managers and directors of nonprofits and cooperatives. These models include volunteer contributions and other social inputs that normally are not given a monetary value within financial statements. For anyone who «keeps the books» for nonprofit organizations and cooperatives.

How do nonprofit organizations add value to communities? How can they create social capital out of the dollars invested in them? Can nonprofits and cooperatives measure their social performance and make their business case? How can nonprofits justify the public's trust in them? How can nonprofits measure their outputs with more accuracy?

What Counts: Social Accounting for Nonprofits and Cooperatives answers these questions and more. Jack Quarter, Laurie Mook, and Betty Jane Richmond from the University of Toronto go beyond traditional accounting and tell the story of nonprofit and cooperative performance.

Touted by many sector leaders, both domestically and internationally, this book will appeal to:

• Nonprofit and Cooperative Managers, Members, Staff, and Boards
• Instructors in Nonprofit Management, Business, Public Administration, Community Development, Cooperative Studies, and Accounting
• Volunteer Coordinators
• Government Funders, Donors, Foundations
• Social Researchers and Policy-Makers

What Counts: Social Accounting for Nonprofits and Cooperatives starts where accounting leaves off, with methods for calculating

• Outputs
• Volunteer Value
• Social Return on Investment
• Value Added

Learn how social accounting has evolved and how it is used today. How can social accounting include social indicators and add to the full performance story for social organizations? Go no further. Quarter, Mook, and Richmond provide answers and insight to this emerging field.