Chapter Twelve

Forces for Local Good

When Forces for Good was first published, it gave us the opportunity to engage with nonprofit and philanthropic leaders across the country as the two of us traveled widely, speaking, advising, and facilitating workshops. The question we heard most often from our audiences was, Can the six practices be executed by local and regional groups with smaller budgets—or are they applicable only to large organizations operating at national or global scales?

Good question. Unlike the twelve organizations we initially studied—all of which were selected based on having “scaled up” to national or global impact—the vast majority of nonprofits in the United States are relatively small, locally focused, and resource constrained. ...

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