The Art of Doing Good: Where Passion Meets Action

Q & A with Authors Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon

When we wrote our first book, The Art of Giving, we aimed to help and guide those giving away money. Here, in The Art of Doing Good, we address those who want to give through their creativity and vision. In our own experience as philanthropists, we've seen firsthand how a nonprofit organization can fill an unmet or emerging need and quite literally create great change in individual lives, in communities, and even more broadly.

We live in an age and in an environment where entrepreneurs are driven to change the world through both for-profit and nonprofit channels. But we believe that visionaries whose product is lifting lives, reducing burdens, and serving a greater good need the direction and lessons of others who have already transformed an "a-ha" moment into an engine for change, effect, and joy. That is a big and challenging jump. The Art of Doing Good bridges that gap.

One of the many incredible challenges for those trying to make a social breakthrough is that it can be very lonely. It can be very difficult to find peers and mentors when you are forging new territory. So we see The Art of Doing Good as an informed companion on the road to creating impact. We hope it gives would-be social entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders the tools, resources, and critical mindset to reach success.

Clearly, there are multiple audiences for The Art of Doing Good. It is directed first at those who are looking to be social entrepreneurs. They have an idea to pursue and develop-with the potential to create a desirable, positive impact in the world. We want to help them fulfill that vision.

For those who have already established a nonprofit organization, The Art of Doing Good will help them question or review decisions they've made, such as how to reevaluate their mission statements, scale growth, and keep their passion intact even as it evolves. And of course it will be useful to students in nonprofit education, to stakeholders, and to nonprofit leaders in pursuit of professional development.

We evaluated a good many-literally hundreds-of social entrepreneurs. The ones chosen each vividly illustrate a critical point in the inception, creation, growth, and development of a social venture. Taken as a whole, they offer a cross-section of size, scope, reach, diversity, approach, and effect. For anyone with a vision for social entrepreneurship, these eighteen founders are peers whose struggles and successes can provide invaluable, universal lessons.

There are a number of common characteristics embodied by all successful social entrepreneurs, and these form the framework of The Art of Doing Good. In short, successful social entrepreneurs don't take no as a final answer, and they aren't afraid to ask for something and put themselves out there. This clearly emerged from the conversations we had with them. To a great extent, they are driven to overcome barriers. They implicitly realize that having an idea may not be enough unless one has the power to fuel it, grow it, and sustain it.