Keys to an Individual's Happiness and a Nonprofit's Success

In The Cathedral Within, Bill Shore uses a cathedral metaphor to highlight the keys to an individual's happiness (19) and a nonprofit's success (265). Unfortunately, Shore only cursorily connects the metaphor with his suggestions to nonprofits. Shore's metaphor is weak, but his nonprofit principles are strong.

Shore's main emphasis is on long-term sustainability. He believes that problems are not solved with quick fixes, but instead require long-term, continuous solutions. Shore uses an anecdote about his children to illustrate this. Some nonprofits focus on helping children while they are between 0 and 3 years old (when children's needs are most urgent), but Shore tells that his children needed his help much deeper in life, whether catching a softball or getting help with algebra (54, 71).

This anecdote is an effective way to illustrate a point. However, Shore takes it much too far. The discussion relating his anecdote to nonprofit sustainability is far too drawn out, and Shore poorly describes the connection between the two. Furthermore, Shore doesn't describe sustainability especially well; he simply repeats the need for sustainability over and over. Shore speaks far too much on nonprofit sustainability, and the topic wears thin (54, 71, 122, 137, 173-180, 217, 264). One strong explanation would have succeeded over repetitive droning.

Shore also speaks highly of nonprofits that generate their own revenue. Like Egger, Shore argues that many nonprofits have to constantly solicit funds (75), which diverts them from their missions (127). He commends nonprofits that "create their own wealth," to become self-sufficient and able to focus on their missions. This in turn promotes long-term sustainability.
Shore uses more anecdotes of successful "social entrepreneurs," which illustrate his point on generating revenue to attain self-sufficiency. At City Year, Alan Khazei instituted Care Force, which trains people to arrange service projects. More importantly, Care Force generates revenue from the people it trains (113-114). This program lessens City Year's reliance on grants. At the same time, this revenue helps ensure City Year's long-term sustainability.

Shore similarly compares Gary Mulhair, who made Pioneer Human Services the "largest and most self-sustaining human service agency of its kind" (126). Mulhair uses a workforce of ex-offenders and former substance abusers to manufacture goods. He then uses sales revenues to provide housing and other support to Pioneer's workers. Similar to Khazei at City Year, Mulhair's revenue eliminates Pioneer's reliance on grants and ensures its long-term survival.

Khazei and Mulhair are also similar in that their organizations perform multiple tasks. City Year provides "service delivery, youth development, racial reconciliation, access to higher education, and citizenship development" (120). Pioneer Human Services provides jobs for those who have difficulty finding a job, housing, drug rehabilitation services, and a quality product for the private sector.

In other words, Khazei and Mulhair provide "community wealth," a somewhat unclear concept that Shore describes. Community wealth is a different kind of wealth, the kind that directly helps the community (127). Business profits go directly to shareholders, but nonprofit "profits" go back into the community. The wealth is transferred to the community.
Overall, I have mixed feelings on Shore's book. Shore has a lot of good ideas, but he does not express them well. The ideas are hidden in excessive stories and vague descriptions. Shore's message would have been clearer if he had told fewer stories, particularly fewer about himself and his family, and focused more on the message he was trying to convey. His main points are disjointed, never really cohering into clear, concrete principals. The book feels very disorganized. If Shore planned an organizational structure beforehand, it did not show in the reading. The book isn't particularly inspiring, but it contains helpful information for those in the nonprofit sector.

I'm still curious whether Shore intended to inspire people into becoming social entrepreneurs or find the characteristics that make nonprofits successful (through examples of successful nonprofits). I believe his goal was the former, but he had more success with the latter. Unfortunately he did not accomplish either goal very well. As a result, there is important information to be found in The Cathedral Within, but Shore makes you work hard to find it.