Read the conclusion on page 479 and complete and answer the discussion question. Summarize your thoughts on the conclusion and attach here.

CONCLUSION It is my hope that readers who have persisted through this entire text will have learned many things. Even those who have had some prior experience working in a nonprofit organization may have found some new theory, some new concept, or some new data that added to their existing body of knowledge or understanding. Those for whom this book has been an initiation into the subject will have learned even more. But some may be wondering, "So exactly what have I learned?" "What is the right way to manage a nonprofit organization?" "Is there a future for nonprofit management as a distinct profession? And, if so, what qualities, skills, and perspectives are needed to pursue a career in the field during the decades ahead?"

This book has no simple answers to offer. The nonprofit sector is so diverse that no specific approach can be equally effective in all organizations. Some of the skills needed to manage a university may be quite different from those required to manage an international nongovernmental organization or a community-based nonprofit serving low-income citizens of one particular city. Indeed, when I began writing the first edition of this textbook, some friends advised me that the diversity of the nonprofit sector would render the task of writing a broadly useful book about nonprofit management far too challenging. Rather, they suggested, there should be a series of books on nonprofit management, each focused on a particular type of organization, such as universities, hospitals, arts institutions, human services organizations, and others. Of course, many such specialized books already exist; indeed, there are academic programs of study that focus on each of those areas. But the wide acceptance of the first five editions of this book demonstrated that there are commonalities that run across the management of nonprofit organizations and institutions and thus some basic principles on which individuals seeking to lead such organizations should be well informed. This sixth edition has attempted to address shortcomings in the first five, update content to reflect new developments and new thinking, and provide a balanced perspective that may be of benefit to students and future nonprofit executives in all types of organizations.

The rationale for this book lies with the management commonalities we have discussed. These include the need to balance mission and moneyto measure success by a double bottom line, or even a triple bottom lineand the need to manage relationships with multiple constituents who may hold competing or conflicting views of what the organization should be and do, and who are both free and motivated to express them. There is also a political dimension to the job of a nonprofit leader. Thus, two constants of nonprofit management would be a highly nuanced leadership ability andeven for the commercialized and hybrid nonprofitsthe deep underlying commitment to a mission that differentiates good leaders of nonprofits from good leaders in organizations guided by the pursuit of wealth or constrained by the limits of political feasibility.

It remains true that such wide variation among organizations and the rapid pace with which the sector is changing suggest that there can be no one right way to manage a nonprofit, no correct formula that students can learn today and then apply throughout their careers. Rather, as it has been stated at various points in the book, successful management in this sector and in this period of history requires an approach that is pragmatic, eclectic, and flexible. Successful managers select the tools and approaches that best fit the circumstances and needs of their organizations, ever mindful of the overriding and immutable centrality of the mission. That may suggest the application of commercial methods or the exercise of charismatic leadership to inspire philanthropy. It may call for a strategic management approach or for creating an entrepreneurial culture. Indeed, it may call for founding a new organization or leading a transformational process that brings systemic change. It may require seeking government funds or working to develop earned income or philanthropy to diversify support and preserve greater autonomy. It may require considering new corporate forms, going beyond the traditional nonprofit legal structure. Or it may require doing all these thingsand othersat the same time.

While contemporary concerns such as accountability and compliance, effectiveness and performance, capacity and strategic management, social enterprise and earned income, and collaborations and mergers are all important, it is also essential not to become too committed to the management fads or buzzwords of the day. Of course, no manager can ignore current legal, social, and financial pressures; deny the realities of competition; or pretend that organizations can be managed as they may have been at some earlier time. Rather, students and future nonprofit managers need to maintain both openness to new ideas and a healthy skepticism about those that are offered as one-right-way prescriptions.

In his conclusion to the 2005 edition of the Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, its editor, Robert Herman, asks the question of whether nonprofit management as a distinct profession will continue to exist in the future. He concludes that it will, because the nonprofit sector will continue to exist. Herman (2005) bases this optimistic prediction on the supply-side theories about "the motives and desires of those who actually take the time and effort to create and sustain an organization" (p. 733). More than a decade later, his prediction continues to be correct. The nonprofit sector continues to exist, and, indeed, it has continued to expand.

But Herman's (2005) tone is one of cautious optimism rather than conviction. He emphasizes commercialism as a threat that could turn nonprofits into nothing more than businesses and government contractors, requiring nothing distinctive from their managers and causing some to question whether they should continue to exist in nonprofit form at all (pp. 733-734). Indeed, the increase in organizations adopting new legal forms, the emergence of the Fourth Sector, impact investing and performance-based contractingdiscussed earlier in this textcould portend that Herman's caution was prescient and that nonprofit organizations as we traditionally have defined them may become less a part of the mix. There are serious concerns about whether federal funding for social programs will be sustained in the future as well as about the impact of tax changes on charitable giving; both could pose threats to the funding models of many nonprofit organizations. It seems likely that the COVID-19 pandemic will also have had a lasting impact on the nonprofit sector, although it is not possible at the time of this writing to predict what long-term changes may result. Perhaps social needs and problems will increasingly be addressed by for-profit social enterprises that are integral to the market economy. Perhaps impact investing will displace, at least in part, traditional philanthropy. It is, as Yogi Berra is reported to have said, difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. But my view is that the nonprofit sector is likely to survive and thrive in the decades ahead, providing unprecedented opportunities for professional managers, volunteer leaders, and philanthropists alike.

Commercialism in the nonprofit sector is not new. It has existed in education, health care, and the arts for decades, yet most institutions in those fields continue to exhibit cultures and qualities that affirm their nonprofit identities. Of course, many authors who express concern about commercialism are primarily focused on the human and social service organizations, which constitute the largest number of organizations in the sector. Critical observers worry that some of those organizations have become almost exclusively government contractors or that philanthropists have come to see their support of them as a form of investment requiring a measurable return, transplanting the culture of capital markets into the nonprofit arena. Such concerns are not without foundation, but they may sometimes overshadow more promising developments and trends.

Concerns that there are too many nonprofit organizations are often expressed. Some believe, and not without any foundation, that limited resources, duplication of management infrastructure, and inefficiencies should be addressed by consolidation within the nonprofit sector. Calls for such change likely will continue, and increasing collaboration, even mergers, may be driven by even tighter financial conditions in future years. However, nonprofit organizations are also differentiated, including many whose mission statements may make them sound alike. Just as there is a place for McDonald's and Burger King, as well as Five Guysbecause their burgers are all a little differentthere is room for many similar nonprofits, each perhaps representing a particular theory of change or philosophy of action, and every one reflecting the emotional commitment of donors and volunteers to its unique characteristics and culture.

Some who see too many nonprofits may be undervaluing the hold of such distinctions on the hearts of those who staff and support many organizationsand that undeniably drive the creation of new organizations every year. Indeed, one of the joys of teaching nonprofit management at a university is the opportunity to interact with students who are not only aspiring social entrepreneurs, savvy in the methods of the marketplace, but also driven by compassion, conscience, and commitment to a social mission. Some will create new organizations or try; some will succeed and others fail. Others will bring change to existing organizations and increase their impact. There is no reason to believe that the numbers of such individuals will diminish; indeed, their numbers may be growing in response to increasing awareness of the social, economic, and environmental problems that will occupy future generations of people worldwide. The energy of young peopleand the sustained commitment of older people, who may find that their life priorities turn increasingly toward a broader engagement with societywill continue to add new nonprofit organizations to the mix and to drive renewal of existing ones, redefining the sector over and over again.

Even those philanthropists who emphasize measurable results and think like investors are not primarily interested in a financial bottom line. To be sure, many expect and demand that their resources be used efficiently and effectively, but in all cases, their involvement is driven by a passion for a cause, not by the desire to make a profit. Genuine philanthropists are motivated by emotion, however rational their methods. It is still true, as Seymour (1966) wrote in his classic book on fundraising, that "the heart has to prompt the mind to go where logic points the way" (p. 29). Some social entrepreneurs and contemporary philanthropists may apply the tools and techniques of business to their endeavors, but their motivations still relate to the social missions of the organizations they support.

It is certain that nonprofit managers of the future will need to be able to implement business judgments and methods in their work. Skills in marketing, financial management, strategic planning, and other business techniques will become ever more essential, and students are strongly encouraged to pursue knowledge in these and other areas far beyond the brief introduction that this book provides. Nonprofit managers of the future will need to accept and master new organizational forms and new methods with an open mind and a willingness to adapt to changing principles, values, and norms. But also essential will be the ability to envision and to inspire, as well as the qualities of effective leadership that can only derive from deep personal commitment.

In his widely viewed TED Talk in 2013, Dan Pallotta describes philanthropy as "the market for love" and notes that it is hard to place a price on that. It is important to remember that nonprofits serve expressive as well as instrumental purposes. In addition to whatever positive results they may produce, they also provide a vehicle for individuals to work together toward unselfish goals. Nonprofit management is likely to remain a distinct field because the nonprofit sector is likely to remain distinctive. It reflects the noble impulses and humane instincts that are the best elements of human nature and that cannot be fulfilled or expressed as fully anywhere else.