The NonProfit Paradox

The Social Sector is full of good intentions, but with complicated systems, expectations, rules, and incentives. The Nonprofit Paradox explores the contradictions that shape the nonprofit sector, revealing how elements like funding, compliance, and donor relations both enable and limit change. I was inspired to write this book after watching USAID, the world’s largest aid agency, being dismantled in January 2025. This moment revealed just how fragile nonprofits can be and made me rethink their role.

My hope for this book is that it opens space to reimagine the social sector and to change how we see nonprofits and philanthropy—not only through the lens of charity but through the lens of purpose, financial sustainability, and the systems that make lasting change possible.

In this book, you will learn about:

• The myth behind nonprofits – and how underinvesting in staff, systems, and learning actually weakens impact instead of strengthening it.
• Why budgets are more than just numbers – they are the blueprint reflecting what organizations truly value.
• What the dismantling of USAID reveals – and what it means for the future of international development, drawn from conversations with veterans of USAID.
• The overall promise for philanthropy, despite the paradoxes and flaws, which holds the potential to unlock capital and drive change that is just and lasting.

You will love this book if you:

• work in a nonprofit, want to work in one, or support them as a donor, funder, or board member.
• have asked “Where do donations really go?” and how those choices shape the work.
• are curious about the hidden rules of funding and how they impact real change.
• believe that philanthropy can and must do better.

The Nonprofit Paradox is a nonfiction book that speaks to nonprofit professionals, social sector leaders, students, and philanthropists who are curious about the hidden economics of the sector and the contradictions that shape giving.