Books we like

Check out the following books and how they relate to nonprofit communications:
If you click on the links below, you'll be taken to Amazon.com for some impulse buying.  Although we could set this up as an affiliate system, we haven't.  But as a nonprofit, you should look into Amazon's affiliate program as an additional source of revenue.   You can then ask frequently remind members to buy books through your site, and a portion of their purchase will go to your organization.  Passive income is always nice.

  • Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes

    Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes

    by Katya Andresen
    Book Description
    Katya Andresen, a veteran marketer and nonprofit professional, demystifies winning marketing campaigns by reducing them to ten essential rules and provides entertaining examples and simple steps for applying the rules ethically and effectively to good causes of all kinds. The Robin Hood rules steal from the winning formulas for selling socks, cigarettes, and even mattresses, with good advice for appealing to your audiences’ values, not your own; developing a strong, competitive stance; and injecting into every message four key elements that compel people to take notice. Andresen, who is also a former journalist, also reveals the best route to courting her former colleagues in the media and getting your message into their reporting.




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  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

    The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

    by Malcolm Gladwell

    This bestselling book is already a classic study of the secrets of "contagious" marketing. It should be a must read for anyone engaged in marketing anything to consumers -- and that most definitely includes nonprofit groups engaged in online organizing and member recruitment. Gladwell's highly readable and insightful story often feels like a potboiler detective story, as it uncovers the reasons that some things "catch on" and lead to a tidal wave of popularity, while so many other things just don't. Gladwell explains why the crime rate in New York City plummeted in the Nineties, why the makers of Sesame Street were able to create such an incredibly popular TV show for kids, and how it was that sales of Hush Puppy loafers and Airwalk sneakers rose at off-the-charts growth rates. He describes the pivotal roles played by "mavens," "connectors," and "salesmen" in making even seemingly ordinary things into The Next Big Thing. After reading this superb book you will want to figure out how to identify the "mavens" in your housefile, or among your Web site visitors, so you can enlist them to help you attract everybody else whom you'd like to recruit for your cause.

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  • Blogwild! : A Guide for Small Business Blogging

    Blogwild! : A Guide for Small Business Blogging

    by Andy Wibbels

    A quick little ditty that's a good intro to make sure you have the bases covered when developing a blog for your organization.

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  • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

    Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

    by Jim Collins

    A not-so-fluffy business book that has some great data and analysis behind it.  A must read for any strategic thinker, or anyone who's interested in building a great organization (or personal life, for that matter).  Do you know what your "hedgehog concept" is?  Do you know where your organization's passion, expertise, and economic drivers meet?

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  • The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (If Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars With Email

    The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (If Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars With Email

    by Madeline Stanionis

    A must read for the nonprofit online communications neophyte, a great review for the seasoned veteran.  See what Madeline Stanionis, founder of consulting firm Watershed Company, has gleaned from her longtime experience in the world of online advocacy and fundraising.

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  • The Cultural Creatives : How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

    The Cultural Creatives : How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

    by Paul H. Phd Ray, Sherry Ruth Anderson

    Although we have our skepticism on the methodology of this book, it's an interesting read and may be a good description of the core segment of nonprofit member/donors.

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  • Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas

    Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas

    by Seth Godin

    Seth Godin continues to be one of the most insightful online marketing gurus anywhere. Plus he's a lot of fun to read. You are virtually guaranteed to get some good ideas everytime you read his stuff.

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  • Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves

    Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves

    by Adam Hochschild

    Bury the Chains is a must-read for today's progressive activists. It tells the true story of a small group of determined citizens in the late 1700's who came together to accomplish what was unthinkable at the time -- abolishing the slave trade throughout the British Empire. The tale is told in a riveting way, both inspirational and instructional for anyone who seeks to change the world. Frogloop readers will especially appreciate discovering how, as Hochschild puts it, these abolitionist leaders "forged virtually every important tool used by citizens' movements in democratic countries today." Among these tools were direct mail fundraising letters, newsletters, bumper stickers, logos, wall posters, book author tours, letter writing drives, boycotts, investigative journalism and legislative voting report cards. These activists were true pioneers, and they ultimately succeeded, too, forcing the Brtish Empire to end slavery in the 1830's, well before it ended in the United States. This is a great book, on a par with Hochschild's earlier classic, Leopold's Ghost.

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