ABSTRACT

Few people are aware that the nonprofit sector is by far America’s largest employer. Every other adult—a total of 80 million–plus people—works as a volunteer, giving on average nearly five hours each week to one or several nonprofit organizations. The best nonprofits devote a great deal of thought to defining their organization’s mission. Nonprofits also start with the environment, the community, the “customers” to be; they do not, as American businesses tend to do, start with the inside, that is, with the organization or with financial returns. But it is very different indeed from the way most Western businesses think and operate. Many nonprofits now have what is still the exception in business—a functioning board. The nonprofits are showing us how to do that. It requires a clear mission, careful placement and continual learning and teaching, management by objectives and self-control, high demands but corresponding responsibility, and accountability for performance and results.