Cases in Innovative Nonprofits: Organizations That Make a Difference

Become an innovator in the nonprofit world Student friendly and readable, Cases in Innovative Nonprofits provides readers with current comparative case studies of innovative nonprofit organizations that are meeting the needs of humanity in both the U.S. and abroad. Edited by well-known scholars, Ram A. Cnaan and Diane Vinokur-Kaplan, this text provides inspiring examples of social entrepreneurs who have instituted new services to meet the needs of both new and long standing social problems. Each case features either an unidentified need and its successful response, or an existing need that was tackled in a unique and innovative manner. The text is purposefully organized into four parts: Part 1: Two conceptual chapters give the reader an understanding of what a nonprofit social innovation is and tools to analyze various social innovations in this volume and elsewhere. Part 2: Ten cases reveal the innovative formation of new nonprofit organizations. Part 3: Three cases emphasize innovation through collaboration. Part 4: Five cases demonstrate innovations taking place within an existing nonprofit organization. By using a simple, identical format for each case, this text facilitates student learning through comparative review, providing a deeper understanding about the complexity and steps required to achieve nonprofit social innovation.

About the Author

Ram Cnaan is a professor and the senior associate dean at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Social Policy&Practice. He is also the director of the Program for the Research on Social Policy and Religion. He served as ARNOVA president from 2008 to 2010. He is the author of numerous publications on faith-based organizations, volunteering, and social policy.

Diane Vinokur-Kaplan is an associate professor of human services management at the University Of Michigan School Of Social Work in Ann Arbor. She has published in such areas as work motivation, job training and job satisfaction and interdisciplinary teams. She has also served on the board of ARNOVA. . Her current research is on non-profit co-locations, where separate organizations reside under one roof and share services.