nonprofit nerd reads

One of the great things about being out of  school is that you can finally read whatever the heck you want.  Coincidentally, this is the time of year when it’s skin-blistering hot  in the Midwest and you can only comfortably be outside between 6:00 – 6:02 a.m.,  so reading is the perfect indoor activity.  I am blissfully working my way through a very long to-read list (kept oh-so-tidy thanks to Goodreads) but I wouldn’t be a true nonprofit wonk without including a few (um, more like 20) books devoted to the industry.  Here’s some from the top of the list:

  

Work Hard, Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created America’s Best Schools, by Jay Mathews

Two educators observe successful teachers working with low-income students, ultimately using what they learn to develop an educational model that results in a nationwide network of charter schools.    

 

 

Ignite the Power of Art: Advancing Visitor Engagement in Museum Experiences, by Bonnie Pitman, Ellen Hirzy

This book compiles the results of the Dallas Museum of Art‘s seven-year research project examining how visitors engage with art and how the findings sparked institutional change.

 

Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential (Civil Society: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives), by Dan Palotta.

Palotta questions why nonprofits are held to such unreasonable economic standards, why some nonprofit leaders  bend over backwards to appear unconcerned with securing financial sustainability and why many funders are diametrically opposed to supporting operational expenses.

  

 

The Digital Museum: A Think Guide, edited by Herminia Din and Phyllis Hecht

25 museum and technology thought-leaders put their collective brains together to examine of how communications technology effects all museum operations, not just the typical areas of concern (conservation, education, curatorial, etc.) 

 

 What are you reading this summer?