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Community Partnerships- Cal Endowment - Building Healthy Communities
- Encore Fellows Program
Civic Ventures program matching highly experienced professionals with nonprofit organizations in the Sacramento & Sierra regions - Generosity Project
- Placer Collaborative Network
- Strengthen Our Community
A leveraged media campaign to educate, connect and resource the community in support of the region’s nonprofit sector. - Website Development Project
- Previous Projects
- About the Center

Forces for Good
The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant spent four years surveying thousands of nonprofit CEOs, conducting hundreds of interviews, and studying 12 high-impact nonprofits to uncover their secrets to success. Their quest took them to the well-known (Habitat for Humanity), to the less-well-known (Self-Help) and to the unexpected (The Exploratorium). Their research came together in innovative guide to how great nonprofits achieve extraordinary social impact, Forces for Good published in 2007.
The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide
Proven paths for leaders and organizations
Author Tom Adams is succession planning expert who has worked with hundreds of organizations. In the Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide he demonstrates how a nonprofit can benefit from leadership development and properly managed leadership transitions. Learn how these transitions can provide the rare opportunity to change direction, maintain momentum, and strengthen capacity. This accessible guidebook is filled with stories, instructive lessons, best practices, and practical tools that you can use to ensure a successful nonprofit leadership.
The Nonprofit Almanac 2012
The Nonprofit Almanac covers data for 2000 to 2012, providing information on trends in the U.S. nonprofit sector, a sector that continues to contribute an estimated 5.5 percent of GDP and employ about 9 percent of the labor force.
Advancing Nonprofit Stewardship Through Self-Regulation
By Christopher Corbett
In October 2007, an Independent Sector s advisory panel issued a report highlighting 33 principles aimed at strengthening nonprofit governance and ethical standards. Advancing Nonprofit Stewardship Through Self-Regulation answers the question of how to implement these principles.
First the Organization Then the Money: Getting Smart About Getting Grants
by Harvey Chess
America’s Nonprofit Sector: A Primer
by Lester M. Salamon
In this new, fully revised edition of America’s Nonprofit Sector, renowned author Lester Salamon clarifies the scope, structure, finances, and operation of the nonprofit sector and examines how it has changed over time, both generally and in major fields like health care, education, arts, and religion.
The Nonprofit’s Guide to Human Resources: Managing Your Employees & Volunteers
by Jan Masaoka
This book is a practical, easy-to-use resource for anyone— experienced or not—who is in charge of human resources at a nonprofit. It focuses on HR issues unique to nonprofits and their employees, many of whom work with vulnerable populations.
Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World
by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
Major gifts may dominate headlines, but the majority of giving still comes from individual households–ordinary people with extraordinary generosity. Even in 2009, at a time of deep recession, individual giving averaged almost $2,000 per household and drove 82% of the $300 billion donated that same year.
Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits
by Heather Mansfield
When it comes to nonprofit communications, Heather Mansfield is the social media expert. Nonprofits and social media are her passions, and she loves to make them work together. What Mansfield has taught staff at organizations like the National Wildlife Federation, TechSoup.org, and Operation Homefront, you’ll learn in Social Media for Social Good—from basic best practices to advanced strategies that are guaranteed to keep your supporters engaged and growing in numbers. Learn how to:
How to Write Fundraising Materials That Raise More Money
by Tom Ahern
Writing to raise money takes more than a few choice words. Highly profitable communications use a wide array of “trade secrets” to boost response.
50 Asks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop
by Amy M. Eisenstein, CFRE
Are you raising money for a nonprofit organization with a small development office or no paid fundraising staff? Do you want to raise more money? Are you stuck in a rut with your fundraising program? Do you want to feel motivated and re-energized about fundraising? Do you need an action plan?
Board Recruitment and Orientation: A Step-by-Step Common Sense Guide
by Hildy Gottlieb
3rd Edition – Revised and Expanded Does your organization have a better program for recruiting and training the janitor than recruiting and training its board members? This step-by-step manual will help you create a strong recruitment and orientation program, putting your board on the road to increased effectiveness. Whether your board needs minor tweaks or a major overhaul, you will find yourself coming back to this common sense guide again and again.
The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox
by Robert M. Penna, PhD
An invaluable guide to the outcome-based tools needed to help nonprofit organizations increase their effectiveness The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox identifies stages in the use of outcomes and shows you how to use specific facets of existing outcome models to improve performance and achieve meaningful results. Going beyond the familiar limits of the sector, this volume also illustrates how tools and approaches long in use in the corporate sector can be of great analytical and practical use to nonprofit, philanthropic, and governmental organizations.
The Executive Director’s Guide 2nd ed
by Mim Carlson and Margaret Donohoe
The executive director of a nonprofit organization plays multiple roles. Carlson and Donohoe arrange this book according to the roles of visionary, change agent, relationship builder, community creator, and “resource wizard.” In addition, the authors provide advice related to leadership and career transitions. With bibliographical references and index.
Managing Executive Transitions: A Guide for Nonprofits
by Tim Wolfred
“A leadership transition can be a time of high vulnerability for a nonprofit organization. On the other hand, an executive turnover offers unique opportunities for renewal and fresh thinking. Managing Executive Transitions shows how this state of transition can give board and staff members a chance to put things back together in new and creative ways to discard some old pieces and to bring in fresh elements.
The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age
by David J. Neff and Randal C. Moss
The Future of Nonprofits teaches organizations how to capitalize on internal innovations and entrepreneurial employees. Innovative nonprofits are able to better predict future trends and then reshape their culture, structure, and staff to make the most of the future business environment.
Fundraising for Social Change 6th ed.
by Kim Klein
“Fundraising for Social Change is one of the most widely used books on fundraising in the U.S. This, the sixth edition, is thoroughly revised and updated. It includes hands-on, practical strategies and accessible techniques for both practitioners and activists who want their organizations to grow and thrive.
The Nonprofit Marketing Guide
by Kivi Leroux Miller
The Nonprofit Marketing Guide offers understaffed and underfunded nonprofits no-nonsense, down-to-earth advice that shows you how to shape an effective marketing program that starts from where you are now and grows with your organization. The book is filled with smart, savvy marketing and communications techniques (both offline and online) that combine big-picture management and decision-making strategies with easy-to-apply ideas for implementing successful marketing campaigns that support your organization and cause.
Author, Kivi Leroux Miller, is a communication consultant and trainer, and president of EcoScribe Communications and Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com.