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Social Startup Success
Book

Social Startup Success

How the Best Nonprofits Launch, Scale Up, and Make a Difference

Kathleen Kelly Janus
Da Capo Press, 2018

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

To produce long-lasting solutions to the world’s worst problems, social service organizations need creative leadership and innovation, according to philanthropy expert Kathleen Kelly Janus in this must-have handbook for the next generation of social entrepreneurs. She bases her research on the best practices of America’s most successful nonprofits. And she derives her compelling sections on ideas testing and experimenting from the funding models of innovators in the tech sector. Janus, the founder of Spark, also offers counsel for small nonprofits that struggle to grow past their stage of initial seed funding. Throughout, she champions the aspirations of the social entrepreneurs she covers, recounting their passion and dedication to spearheading change. Her accounts of how nonprofit leaders transform lives in their neighborhoods and around the world will inspire readers interested in nonprofits and social service.

Take-Aways

  • To avoid costly mistakes, test your ideas before seeking funding or media attention.
  • Practice transparency and accountability. Share the lessons you learn from failure.
  • Use the “theory of change” model to correlate your nonprofit’s vision with its program activities, which you can track over time.

About the Author

Social entrepreneur Kathleen Kelly Janus, an expert on philanthropy and scaling up early-stage organizations, lectures at Stanford University’s Program on Social Entrepreneurship. 

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