What's New at the SECF Lending Library
By Stephen Sherman
We’ve recently expanded our Lending Library to include the titles below and much more. SECF members have exclusive access to our virtual collection offering e-books and audiobooks on best practices in philanthropy, advancing equity, and social sector leadership. Visit our website to get started today!
Read Up On Our Annual Meeting Speakers
Get ready for the SECF 52nd Annual Meeting with these titles by our opening and closing keynote speakers, Wes Moore and Heather McGhee.
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?
The Work: Searching for a Life that Matters by Wes Moore
The Work is the story of how one young man traced a path through the world to find his life’s purpose. Wes Moore graduated from a difficult childhood in the Bronx and Baltimore to an adult life that would find him at some of the most critical moments in our recent history: as a combat officer in Afghanistan; a White House fellow in a time of wars abroad and disasters at home; and a Wall Street banker during the financial crisis. In this insightful book, Moore shares the lessons he learned from people he met along the way – from the brave Afghan translator who taught him to find his fight, to the resilient young students in Katrina-ravaged Mississippi who showed him the true meaning of grit, to his late grandfather, who taught him to find grace in service.
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy – and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a common root problem: racism. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm – the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others.
New Additions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Build an understanding of hidden biases, systemic inequities, and the power of diversity with these newly-added titles from our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion collection.
Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
Leading psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality. Blindspot is the authors’ metaphor for the portion of the mind that houses hidden biases. Writing with simplicity and verve, Banaji and Greenwald question the extent to which our perceptions of social groups – without our awareness or conscious control – shape our likes and dislikes and our judgments about people’s character, abilities, and potential.
In Blindspot, the authors reveal hidden biases based on their experience with the Implicit Association Test, a method that has revolutionized the way scientists learn about the human mind and that gives us a glimpse into what lies within the metaphoric blindspot.
Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities by Andre M. Perry
Noted educator, journalist, and scholar Andre Perry takes readers on a tour of six Black-majority cities whose assets and strengths are undervalued. Perry begins in his hometown of Wilkinsburg, a small city east of Pittsburgh that, unlike its much larger neighbor, is struggling and failing to attract new jobs and industry. Bringing his own personal story of growing up in Black-majority Wilkinsburg, Perry also spotlights five others where he has deep connections: Detroit, Birmingham, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. He provides an intimate look at the assets that should be of greater value to residents – and that can be if they demand it.
The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies by Scott E. Page
In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups – and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity – not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities. The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts. Diversity yields superior outcomes, and Page proves it using his own cutting-edge research.
New Titles on Philanthropy and Nonprofit Management
Need an answer to a burning legal question? Looking for guidance on the practical aspects of running a small foundation? Seeking strategies to prevent staff burnout? Check out our recently-added titles in philanthropy and nonprofit management.
Private Foundation Law Made Easy by Bruce R. Hopkins
Now your foundation can be fully informed about the basic legal requirements affecting private foundations and avoid the perils lurking in nonprofit tax law traps. Private Foundation Law Made Easy clearly shows you how, with information on reaping the charitable and tax advantages of your private foundation. Filled with straightforward guidance, author Bruce Hopkins, a leading authority on the laws regulating private foundations, demystifies this topic for you and your board members with practical legal information in easy-to-understand English.
Keeping Good Records: Small Foundations’ Guide to Staying Organized by Elaine Gast
Discover how to organize, archive, and protect your important documents. Contents include: the costs of recordkeeping - in money and time; what to keep and for how long; advice on establishing a records management system and records retention policy; how recordkeeping can help you fulfill your mission and program; audits; and what records you must share with the public.
The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout by Beth Kanter and Aliza Sherman
The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit presents realistic strategies for leaders looking to optimize organizational achievement while avoiding the common nonprofit burnout. With a uniquely holistic approach to nonprofit leadership strategy, this book functions as a handbook to help leaders examine their existing organization, identify trouble spots, and resolve issues with attention to all aspects of operations and culture. The expert author team walks you through the process of building a happier, healthier organization from the ground up, with a balanced approach that considers more than just quantitative results. Employee wellbeing takes a front seat next to organizational performance, with clear guidance on establishing optimal systems and processes that bring about better results while allowing a healthier work-life balance.
Stephen Sherman is SECF's director of research and data.
