The Plague of Nonprofit Mediocrity: How Funders, Nonprofits, and Boards Can Use Philanthropic Intermediaries to Cure Their Local Communities

To prosper--or even survive--in today's highly chaotic, competitive, and exasperating philanthropic environment, stakeholders must continually evolve and improve. Doing so, however, is much more arduous than most can comprehend. Working to achieve real social change is a punishing pursuit, and one where the odds are stacked against you. Moreover, any misstep could cost local children a safe home, women a network to survive, seniors a retirement includes basic necessities, and much more.

This deficiency, prompted by 25 years in the nonprofit sector, proved to author Kim Brock that the industry has become comfortable with its own underperformance. Unlike in the corporate sector, where underperformance quickly drives a company out of business, philanthropy has no built-in forces to motivate improvement. Combined with chaotic and fractured grant-making practices, nonprofits are hindered from making real change.

While this book is not intended to cause trepidation without a solution, the last section focuses on Philanthropic Intermediaries (PI). This local, expert organization can cause a significant paradigm shift that has the power to cure the plague of mediocrity.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." If you are called to create a more purposeful and productive social sector, this book will give you the tools and confidence to achieve it. May it help you marry hope with action and cure the plague of mediocrity holding back your local community.