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Doing Good Better
NEW, UPDATED EDITION! In these days of tightening budgets, organizations cannot afford weak board members. In this time when many qualified persons have few discretionary hours, they have little time for training. Doing Good Better speaks to both needs efficiently and thoroughly. Highly recommended. "A very fine book on board leadership . . . very beneficial." -Millard Fuller, Habitat for Humanity "If you're on a nonprofit board, get this book. It's bound to perk up your performance so you can do even more good than you did before." -The Marketplace "Doing Good Better is the best there is." -Richard F. Celeste, former Governor of Ohio
- GenresBusinessLeadership
150 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
11 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 1, 2025
This is an older (revised publication: 1997) short work that outlines the organizational structure of a not-for-profit organization and how it should ideally operate. The authors share personal background experiences from their time in leadership roles (Habitat for Humanity; Mennonite Central Committee). The authors go over common snags that lead to inefficiencies and how to avoid them.
I read this as my husband and I were asked to be on the board of directors for a non-profit that we joined six months ago. I wanted to know more about what that role entailed. I'm not quite ready for a leadership role in the organization (we said 'no' now to say 'yes' at a later time) as I'm getting back in the saddle with civic engagement and volunteerism.
I read this as my husband and I were asked to be on the board of directors for a non-profit that we joined six months ago. I wanted to know more about what that role entailed. I'm not quite ready for a leadership role in the organization (we said 'no' now to say 'yes' at a later time) as I'm getting back in the saddle with civic engagement and volunteerism.
May 26, 2017
An excellent primer on how to be an effective non profit board member. It gives details on how to critique and enhance both the individual and board group service. It also covers the pitfalls of board service: legal responsibilities, personal liabilities, meeting notes information, working relationship with the CEO/management team, etc. This is a good short book to read before joining the leadership of a non profit, social, or religious organization board.
March 1, 2012
I received this book as an orientation to a non-profit organization and was grateful for it my entire time in service. This is a very easy read and truly something readers can relate to. This is a must read for anyone in the leadership of a non-profit, member-led organization.
December 19, 2020
This book has caused some serious reflection on enhancing my board's effectiveness. The authors share from their administrative experience serving with the Mennonite Central Committee and other organizations.
Read
September 5, 2022Maximize the impact of your charitable giving.
Do you donate to charity? An awful lot of us do, and that is why charities from the ASPCA to OXFAM find themselves better funded than ever before.
But are your donations effective? You probably have no idea. The actual act of charitable giving is what we care about, but as soon as we’ve handed over our cash, hardly any of us follow what happens. And this has led to a rather inefficient charity sector, with money wasted in over-funded areas, or on people who need no help.
This book explains how we can send our donations in better directions: to sources that will help those who really need it the most. By following a few simple principles, you stand the best chance of making the world a better place.
---
What a charity actually does is much more relevant than how much it spends on administrative costs and salaries.
When people decide where to make a charitable donation they often examine the charity’s overhead costs (especially executive pay) to see whether the money is going to the needy or into the pockets of rich executives.
Charity Navigator, the oldest and most popular charity assessor (with 6.2 million visits in 2012), ranks charities by how much of their total donations go directly to their main programs.
But this approach is misleading, as overhead costs and similar expenses don’t tell us much at all about a charity.
Imagine that you’ve set up a charity that provides caviar to hungry bankers. Only 0.1 percent of the donations are spent on overhead costs, and the rest goes toward the procurement and delivery of caviar. Being the generous CEO you are, you also earn no salary.
According to organizations like Charity Navigator, your charity would have a top-notch ranking.
It’s not how the money is allocated that matters. It’s what the charity actually does – its impact – that determines whether it deserves our money.
Take the charity Development Media International (DMI), for example. They spend 44 percent of their donations on overhead, so if that’s all you care about then they probably won’t get your donation.
However, that overhead is used to run a $1.5 million media campaign that promotes health education in a particular country.
Diarrhoea, for instance, kills 760,000 children every year in the developing world, and could be easily combatted if people were educated to practice better hygiene.
Charities like DMI are hugely beneficial and worth investing in, despite the high overhead costs.
---
Often, well-intentioned acts of charity can have the opposite effect.
Popular campaigns have led us to believe that we shouldn’t buy “sweatshop goods,” and that we should buy Fairtrade coffee. This is a mistake, and here’s why.
Sweatshops are actually a boon for the poorest of the poor. Remember, we have to ask: What would happen otherwise, if the sweatshops didn’t exist?
In developing countries, the grueling and tedious nature and low pay of factory work is preferable to the lower-paid, backbreaking farming jobs out under the scorching sun.
For example, many Bolivians emigrate to Brazil illegally, risking deportation, in order to seek out higher pay in the sweatshops. A sweatshop worker in Brazil averages about $2,000 per year, which is considerably more than the average $600 per year that Bolivians earn, typically in agriculture or mining.
Despite this, many people would prefer to pay more for Fairtrade goods and avoid products produced by sweatshop labor altogether.
Indeed, Fairtrade seems to have noble intentions. For example, it guarantees producers a price of $1.40 per pound of coffee, which in theory guarantees better wages for all.
But we need to consider the actual impact of buying Fairtrade goods. Typically, the poorest countries – those which according to the law of diminishing returns would most benefit from Fairtrade money – can’t actually meet the difficult standards Fairtrade sets for participation. As a result, they get nothing.
The majority of Fairtrade coffee production comes from countries like Mexico and Costa Rica, which are ten times richer than countries that would benefit most from the extra money, like Ethiopia.
Moreover, only a small proportion of the additional price of Fairtrade products actually reaches producers. Dr. Peter Griffiths, economic consultant to the World Bank, estimates that number to be only one percent of the additional price.
In summary, you should try to always be aware that the difference you think you’ll be making with charity might not end up being reflected in reality.
---
Sometimes our charitable actions, though well-intended, have far worse consequences than we imagined. To make the most of our charitable donations, we have to think rationally and critically – not only about whom we give to and how we give, but also how that money will be used.
Actionable advice:
Make a habit of giving
One way to easily make a difference in the world is to make charitable giving a regular part of your life. Once you’ve found a few charities where you know your contribution will make a real, material difference, set up a monthly payment plan and donate ten percent of your income to those charities.
Do you donate to charity? An awful lot of us do, and that is why charities from the ASPCA to OXFAM find themselves better funded than ever before.
But are your donations effective? You probably have no idea. The actual act of charitable giving is what we care about, but as soon as we’ve handed over our cash, hardly any of us follow what happens. And this has led to a rather inefficient charity sector, with money wasted in over-funded areas, or on people who need no help.
This book explains how we can send our donations in better directions: to sources that will help those who really need it the most. By following a few simple principles, you stand the best chance of making the world a better place.
---
What a charity actually does is much more relevant than how much it spends on administrative costs and salaries.
When people decide where to make a charitable donation they often examine the charity’s overhead costs (especially executive pay) to see whether the money is going to the needy or into the pockets of rich executives.
Charity Navigator, the oldest and most popular charity assessor (with 6.2 million visits in 2012), ranks charities by how much of their total donations go directly to their main programs.
But this approach is misleading, as overhead costs and similar expenses don’t tell us much at all about a charity.
Imagine that you’ve set up a charity that provides caviar to hungry bankers. Only 0.1 percent of the donations are spent on overhead costs, and the rest goes toward the procurement and delivery of caviar. Being the generous CEO you are, you also earn no salary.
According to organizations like Charity Navigator, your charity would have a top-notch ranking.
It’s not how the money is allocated that matters. It’s what the charity actually does – its impact – that determines whether it deserves our money.
Take the charity Development Media International (DMI), for example. They spend 44 percent of their donations on overhead, so if that’s all you care about then they probably won’t get your donation.
However, that overhead is used to run a $1.5 million media campaign that promotes health education in a particular country.
Diarrhoea, for instance, kills 760,000 children every year in the developing world, and could be easily combatted if people were educated to practice better hygiene.
Charities like DMI are hugely beneficial and worth investing in, despite the high overhead costs.
---
Often, well-intentioned acts of charity can have the opposite effect.
Popular campaigns have led us to believe that we shouldn’t buy “sweatshop goods,” and that we should buy Fairtrade coffee. This is a mistake, and here’s why.
Sweatshops are actually a boon for the poorest of the poor. Remember, we have to ask: What would happen otherwise, if the sweatshops didn’t exist?
In developing countries, the grueling and tedious nature and low pay of factory work is preferable to the lower-paid, backbreaking farming jobs out under the scorching sun.
For example, many Bolivians emigrate to Brazil illegally, risking deportation, in order to seek out higher pay in the sweatshops. A sweatshop worker in Brazil averages about $2,000 per year, which is considerably more than the average $600 per year that Bolivians earn, typically in agriculture or mining.
Despite this, many people would prefer to pay more for Fairtrade goods and avoid products produced by sweatshop labor altogether.
Indeed, Fairtrade seems to have noble intentions. For example, it guarantees producers a price of $1.40 per pound of coffee, which in theory guarantees better wages for all.
But we need to consider the actual impact of buying Fairtrade goods. Typically, the poorest countries – those which according to the law of diminishing returns would most benefit from Fairtrade money – can’t actually meet the difficult standards Fairtrade sets for participation. As a result, they get nothing.
The majority of Fairtrade coffee production comes from countries like Mexico and Costa Rica, which are ten times richer than countries that would benefit most from the extra money, like Ethiopia.
Moreover, only a small proportion of the additional price of Fairtrade products actually reaches producers. Dr. Peter Griffiths, economic consultant to the World Bank, estimates that number to be only one percent of the additional price.
In summary, you should try to always be aware that the difference you think you’ll be making with charity might not end up being reflected in reality.
---
Sometimes our charitable actions, though well-intended, have far worse consequences than we imagined. To make the most of our charitable donations, we have to think rationally and critically – not only about whom we give to and how we give, but also how that money will be used.
Actionable advice:
Make a habit of giving
One way to easily make a difference in the world is to make charitable giving a regular part of your life. Once you’ve found a few charities where you know your contribution will make a real, material difference, set up a monthly payment plan and donate ten percent of your income to those charities.
March 12, 2023
This is a short practical book about best practices when serving on nonprofit boards. There were lots of great tips but I really could’ve done without the religious references. Religion does not belong in a book about business.
February 13, 2010
I was looking forward to reading this book seeing as I am interested in serving on a non-profit board. Unfortunately, I didn't really learn anything. The book was more about starting a board and how a board should be organized and run, which I took issue with in several suggestions as to how a board should "manage" an organization. I also didn't appreciate or understand the religious quotes spread throughout the book-didn't really seem to belong in this type of book?
The one thing I did like about the book where the "exhibits" listed in the back of the book-I did find these check lists and guidelines helpful.
The one thing I did like about the book where the "exhibits" listed in the back of the book-I did find these check lists and guidelines helpful.
September 23, 2016
Highly recommended for members of boards or church councils. Please see Doing Good Better: 9 Reasons Why You Need to Read this Book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews