Cases in Innovative Nonprofits [antikvár]

Preface 1 here are books that originate from a quick initial insight from the author. When the author explains how the book idea originated, he or she talks about a flash discovery that came out of nowhere and suddenly the light shined and the idea emerged. There are books that originate at the footsteps of previous books. An author may write an academic sequel to a previous book or one reads the literature in a certain field and find an uncovered niche. This book, however, evolved slowly and organically. For quite a few years, we have been fascinated by social innovations in the nonprofit sector. Throughout the years, we heard our colleagues presenting and discussing social innovations of social entrepreneurs who came up with new ideas and better solutions for endemic problems. We also heard about social innovators who perceived or identified new problems or subgroups of people in need and then developed new methods of intervention. We also read many books and articles about social innovation and realized that there is a lot of ambiguity and disagreement about what a social innovation is and how to define it. It seems that every author conceptualized social innovation somewhat differently. In attending many conferences devoted to the study of the nonprofit sector, we were impressed with the many innovations therein. We attended presentations that depicted amazing innovations that demonstrated the creativity and adaptability of the nonprofit sector. We realized that the level of creativity and ability to think outside the box in the nonprofit sector is remarkable. We discussed this aspect of the nonprofit sector with our academic peers and found out that in many programs of nonprofit education there are courses that cover the topic of social innovation and social entrepreneurship. Our academic peers also told us that while they have books that cover the topic they do not have a good source that demonstrates nonprofit social innovation. They told us that they used a case study from one source and another case study from another source and so on. That gave us the impetus for creating this book. Nonprofit social innovations are not an American phenomenon. It also became clear to us that many fascinating social innovations have emerged throughout the world. Attending many conferences, and especially the annual meetings of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), exposed us to the richness of social innovations from other countries. It was clear to us that when one studies nonprofit social innovation, a focus on American-based innovations alone is too limited. Sometimes, organizations in one culture can adopt and replicate an innovation from another culture, and other times the innovation is applicable only in one culture or locale. Regardless, the process of innovation is universal, and we believe that one can learn from successful innovations regardless of where they take place.