This is a classic! I have read this book several times, and each time it is a source of deep inspiration. Written by Bill Shore of Share Our Strength fame, he uses the metaphor of cathedral building to drive home the point that nonprofits need to think big in order to achieve a scale that is meaningful and lasting. He provides several impressive examples of nonprofits who have done this including Pioneer Human Services out of Washington state, and The Chicago Children’s Choir to name a couple. He vividly illustrates the kind of unrelenting drive and unflagging spirit the founders of these organizations possessed, akin to the obsessiveness that drives any Olympic athlete, which catapulted them to unprecedented size and effectiveness unheard of in the nonprofit world.
It seems that the really large insight that these companies had was that to achieve their staggering scales they could not depend solely on fickle donations and uncertain grants. Instead, they developed for-profit programs designed to help fulfill their missions that often brought in millions of dollars in revenue that they then used to fund their programs.
A truly great read. Check it out soon!
The Cathedral Within; Bill Shore; Random House, NY; 1999
