HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD

Mayer offers a brief guide for individuals wishing to make a difference.

The author, who is the chief strategist of the Effective Communities Project, draws on his experience working with nonprofit organizations, community groups, and private foundations to come up with a series of practical strategies anybody can use to help improve the world. “You – and everyone else – have assets that can be brought to the task of ‘saving the world,’” Mayer writes, “and I don’t mean just money, prayers, and good wishes.” He aims to empower ordinary individuals—for instance, helping them to navigate the complicated world of nonprofits, assessing whether or not their actions back up their stated intentions. Much of his advice is based on a truth Mayer states baldly: “Philanthropic institutions and governments may have money and/or talent, but it’s not clear they know what they’re doing.” In short chapters full of insets and bulleted points, he clarifies how readers can help such nonprofits, from providing funding to donating equipment. At every stage, the author effectively stresses the communal aspect of what he’s proposing, and the vital importance of taking direct responsibility rather than offloading it onto other people. “Improving the performance of social systems is too big a job to be left solely to political entities,” Mayer writes, and he consistently returns to the idea that ordinary individuals are at the heart of improving these systems. “If you value progress, support its discovery,” he writes. “Giving a nonprofit the time and resources to fund its own inquiries into its own success is huge.” Mayer’s book is a concentrated burst of pragmatic, inspiring optimism in the face of what can feel like numbing institutional indifference; readers wanting to help save the world will feel realistically encouraged.

A readable collection of practical, boots-on-the-ground strategies for aiding nonprofit organizations.