Creating Opportunities: A volunteer's memoir by Chris Snyder

Chris Snyder believes there is much more good in the world than bad. And, in Creating Opportunities-A Volunteer's Memoir, he takes us on a tour through the streets of Bombay, rural Malawi and high-powered boardrooms to tell us why. Chock full of interesting people and compelling anecdotes, it is one book everyone involved in charity, whether a worker, donor or volunteer, should read.

"Creating Opportunities is an inspiring roadmap of service and giving that others will certainly learn from."- The Right Honourable David Johnston, C.C. Governor General of Canada 2010-2017

The Philanthropic Mind: Surprising Discoveries from Canada's Top Philanthropists by Chuck English and Mo Lidsky

The Philanthropic Mind is based on dozens of candid interviews with Canada’s top philanthropists. Through revealing quotes and rich anecdotes, it uncovers their philanthropic motivations, joys, challenges, and defining experiences. If you want inside the minds of your prime major gift and bequest targets, start here!

The disinherited by Han Ong

Manila, 2000. Forty-four-year-old Roger Caracera returns to his birthplace after nearly three decades in the United States. He has come to bury the corrupt, charismatic head of the family sugar dynasty: his estranged father, Jesus. To Caracera's chagrin and pleasure, he is now viewed by his countrymen as the representative American; a local tabloid even refers to him as a General Douglas MacArthur look-alike. And when his father's will is read, Caracera is stunned to discover that he has been left half a million dollars. Unable to live with this burdensome inheritance, he decides to give his money away. But who among the millions of needy Filipinos is he to focus on?Traversing high and low life, societies rank and respectable, and with a cast of characters that includes a slum-dwelling boy hustler, a middle-aged American pederast, a rising Filipino tennis player, a calculating society matron, and a Peace Corps worker turned trophy wife, The Disinherited is an incisive and illuminating exploration of the impulse to do good in the world and the paradoxical harm brought on by generosity.

Emotionraising by Francesco Ambrogetti

Have you ever wondered what makes you cry when you watch a video, what makes you willing to donate to a cause? Based on recent discoveries in neurosciences applied to marketing and fundraising, this book explains how our brain decides. It explores the specific emotions that are activated in the mesmo-limbic system in the brain, the same part that controls our heartbeat, our memories and reacts to stimuli and rewards. 

Cap In Hand: How Charities Are Failing the People of Canada and the World by Gail Picco

Rarely has a book in our sector created such a stir! For Cap in Hand, Gail interviewed cancer researchers, hospital foundation chieftains, humanitarian aid veterans and sector observers, and used data from tax filings, charity audits, international reports and policy analysis to give us a full view of charity in Canada.

The results are startling.   

The Vigilant Fundraiser by George Stanois, Editor

Here’s a seemingly obvious truth: You don’t reinvent the wheel around the core activities of fundraising. Instead, what is important is to first understand what the wheel looks like and then to manage the process with vigilance. Through years of experience, George Stanois has identified 12 steps for an effective fundraising program. In The Vigilant Fundraiser, George and a team of highly-skilled contributors share how you can look for opportunities within the 12 steps to set your organization apart from all the other competing voices.  As George notes, “Being vigilant means taking all the steps; executing 7 steps out of 12 isn’t going to cut it.” 

Got your own favourite book? Mention it below for a future Hilborn review.