Nonprofit Management Quotes

If I were not a writer, I would spend more time doing the things that I am already doing, which include doing research in physics, teaching, and running a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower women in Cambodia.

I think I've demonstrated... that I'm a good fundraiser.

I did software development for a while, and I also spent several years directing a nonprofit in San Francisco that did computer education for the poor. I also did a lot of work in fast food.

There are three lessons in philanthropy - one, involve the family, especially the spouse. She can be a remarkable driver of your initiative. Two, you need to build an institution, and you need to scale it up. Choose a leader for philanthropy whom you trust. Three, philanthropy needs patience, tenacity and time.

Some corporations are extremely well managed; some nonprofit organizations are. It has nothing to do with the sector. It has to do with quality of management.

Recruiting is the hardest part of any business, but in charity, it is 10 times harder.

Managing university finances is very tricky business. We're nonprofits. We're not supposed to accumulate large surpluses.

A lot of charities spend a million dollars on a fundraiser to make $15,000. It's a social swirl. They do some great stuff and then - it's called mission drift. It becomes more about the parties.

I've been involved with Carnegie Hall for the last 13 years, and Chairman for the last six. I feel really good about what we've done growing our educational programs there, building a board that has made Carnegie Hall really a world-class institution.

I've been cheered by the reaction to what I've done with Film Independent at LACMA and the organizational support I've received in pursuing it.

I am involved in a lot of nonprofits. And when I reached the ripe old age of 60, I wanted to provide leadership to some I had been involved in.

Unfortunately, the boards of art institutions tend to be populated with well-meaning supporters of the arts who often lack any business background or appetite for imposing appropriate discipline.

Charities must treat donors as if they were shareholders.

There is a natural link between the effective running of my businesses and the effective direction of philanthropic funds. I apply business principles to my philanthropic work so that maximum value is given to the causes I support.

When I started teaching at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2000, no field-based courses in strategic philanthropy existed.

For a long time, the for-profit world has told us in the not-for-profit sector to behave more like businesses.

In the meantime, we see there are charities that spend much of their scarce resources that should be going directly to the children to overcome this gulf that separates them from both the donors and the needy.

Social-sector organizations have to be better managed than for-profit organizations... because they have no margin of error.

The problem most nonprofits have is that they are run by romantics who are great to hang out with, but they have no clue.

Philanthropy without scale and sustainability is like any other bad business that will simply wither and die on the vine.

When it comes to fundraising for a social enterprise, if you are pursuing your true passion, you'll learn to become great at your craft because you'll care so much about perfecting the skills necessary to make that dream a reality.

Effective philanthropy requires a lot of time and creativity - the same kind of focus and skills that building a business requires.

I graduated from Kellogg. I studied social enterprise.

I personally spend the majority of my time by far on outreach and education and fundraising and administration.

I think family-run ministries are fabulous, but they have to be placed in proper governance.