Leveraging Good Will
Chapter One
Why Should Nonprofits Engage
with Businesses?
God, grant me work until my life is over, and life
until my work is done.
-Peter Gomes, from a speech to
a Harvard graduating class, 2004
The phone cried out in my office on a hot summer afternoon in
2000. Ed Bell, board chair of Providence House in Cleveland,
Ohio, was on the other end of the line. His organization was in distress,
and he did not know what to do about the problems: in addition
to the executive director's recent diagnosis of cancer, the
organization was facing budget deficits, staffing concerns, board
issues, and the impending departure from town of its highly active
celebrity fundraiser, without whose support the organization might
find itself in a financial crisis. In general, Providence House had
immediate problems with day-to-day funding and staffing, and the
long-term picture looked dismal.
Five ... read full excerpt from Leveraging Good Will: Strengthening Nonprofits by Engaging Businesses ebook
