Resources
As you consider how you want to engage in your giving, it can helpful to build additional context—about the nonprofit sector, the many approaches to giving, and the role wealth can play in creating impact.
These resources are ones I regularly recommend.
-
Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count by Phil Buchanan, Public Affairs, 2019.
Money with Meaning: How to Create Joy and Impact Through Philanthropy by Alex Johnston, June 14, Lioncrest Publishing, 2023.
Philanthropic Sourcing, Diligence and Decision Making: An Equity-Oriented Approach, Betsy Doyle, Lyell Sakaue and Lauren Shaughnessy, The Bridgespan Group, January 2023.
The Stanford PACS Guide to Effective Philanthropy, Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, 2021.
-
Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Giving, National Center for Family Philanthropy, 2024
We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth by Jennifer Risher, Xeno Books, 2020.
The Myth of the Silver Spoon: Navigating Family Wealth & Creating an Impactful Life by Kristin Keffeler, Wiley, 2022.
The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life by Lynne Twist, W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.
Die With Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins, Mariner Books, 2021
-
The Givers: Money, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age by David Callahan, Vintage, 2018.
From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth by Darren Walker, Disruption Books, 2023.
The Big WE: How Giving Circles Unlock Generosity, Strengthen Community, and Make Change by Hali Lee, Zando-Sweet July Books, 2025.
A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth into a More Just and Sustainable Future by Dimple Abichandani, Penguin Random House, 2025.
Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance by Edgar Villauneva, Berrett-Koehler, 2021.
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas, Vintage, 2019.
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, PublicAffairs, 2011.
The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically by Peter Singer, Yale University Press, 2015.