Need a helpful gift idea for your favorite nonprofit professional or volunteer leader? Consider a book that provides valuable insight and advice on how to maximize a nonprofit’s effectiveness.

Note: I’m a fan of books-as-gifts, especially when paired with chocolate or other sweet treat, specialty coffee or tea. Feed the senses as well as the mind!

In addition to my favorite nonprofit books, I asked the members of my LinkedIn network groups (BoardSource and Independent Consultants to the Nonprofit Sector) to share the books they most recommend for nonprofit managers and leaders. What a response! The impressive list of books covers a range of topics that include leadership, organizational development, fundraising, governance, board development,  relationship building, and advocacy. The books are listed alphabetically by title and without links so as not to favor any particular online book seller. Please look for them via your favorite search engine, online bookstore, or local bookstore.

My Favorite Books for Nonprofits

The Five Life Stages of Nonprofit Organizations: Where You Are, Where You’re Going, and What to Expect When You Get There by Judith Sharken Simon

From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement by Susan J. Ellis

Hesselbein on Leadership by Frances Hesselbein

How to Make Your Board More Dramatically More Effective, Starting Today: A Board Member’s Guide to Asking the Right Questions by Gayle L. Gifford

Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes by Katya Andresen

Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits by Sybil F. Stershic

Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business by Nancy Lublin

Network Recommended Books for Nonprofits

ASKING: A 59 Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers, and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift by Jerold Panas

The Board Member’s Book: Making a Difference in Voluntary Organizations by Brian O’Connell

Breakthrough Thinking for Nonprofit Organizations: Creative Strategies for Extraordinary Results by Bernard Ross and Clare Segal

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up by Paul Schmitz

Exposing the Elephants: Creating Exceptional Nonprofits by Pamela Wilcox

Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits by Carter McNamara

Forces for Good: Six Practices for High Impact Nonprofits by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant

The Functions of the Executive by Chester I. Barnard

Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins

Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards by Richard P. Chait, William P. Ryan, and Barbara E. Taylor

The Hour Series of Guides for Nonprofit Management by Nonprofit Management Services, LLC

The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in Time of Fear edited by Paul Rogat Loeb

Leadership is an Art by Max De Pree

Let’s Have Lunch: How to Reach Out and Build More Powerful Relationships by Marshall Howard.

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims

Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager’s Guide to Getting Results by Alison Green and Jerry Hauser

Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World by Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye Paine

Mega Gifts by Jerold Panas

The Mission Myth: Building Nonprofit Momentum through Better Business  by Deirdre Maloney

The Non Nonprofit: For-Profit Thinking for Nonprofit Success by Steve Rothschild

Policy vs. Paper Clips: How Using the Corporate Model Makes a Nonprofit Board More Efficient & Effective by Eugene Fram

The Power of a Positive No: Save the Deal, Save the Relationship, and Still Say No by William Ury

Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas

Race to Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations by Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers

A Voice for Nonprofits by Jeffrey M. Berry with David F. Arons

Let me know if you have a favorite book for nonprofits that’s not listed here. I welcome additional recommendations!