How To Be Great At Doing Good. Cooney Nick

Nick Cooney

      How To Be Great At Doing Good

      Praise for How to Be Great at Doing Good

      “Brendan Kennelly wrote, ‘If you want to serve your age, betray it.’ But what does it mean to betray your age? It means expose its lies, humiliate its conceits, debunk its arrogance, and question its certainties. Nick Cooney does this exquisitely. I would like his book to be in every school library and private bookshelf. But most importantly, I would like his words to be inscribed on the hearts of everyone who looks at the face in the mirror each morning and resolves to do all he can to make life better for the powerless. I am full of admiration for this young man.”

– Philip Wollen, retired vice president, Citibank

      “Too often, charity makes us feel good, but fails to do good. This timely, thoughtful book shows how our contributions can make a bigger difference.”

– Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

      “Nick Cooney is great at explaining How to Be Great at Doing Good, and I hope his book will be widely read. Even more important, though, is that its key ideas should be widely practiced. Then the results will be great, too – and Cooney and I agree that is what matters most.”

– Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, author of The Most Good You Can Do, and one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people

      “Doing good is something we could all get better at. This book is the blueprint. Nick Cooney uses the same tools we use at OkCupid – math, logic, and analysis – but to an end that could benefit us all. If you're serious about making the world a better place, start here.”

– Christian Rudder, co-founder of OKCupid and author of Dataclysm: Who We Are When We Think No One's Looking

      “Impeccably written and extremely insightful. With eloquence and expressiveness, Cooney gives us a practical guide to examining our charitable efforts, measuring their efficiency, and maximizing their and our impact. If you've ever felt you could do more to make the world a better place, this book is for you.”

– Shushana Castle, securities specialist, Sovereign Investments, and former board member of the Clinton Climate Initiative

      “For anyone looking to make the world a better place, I highly recommend considering the arguments presented in How to Be Great at Doing Good. We're accustomed to trying to get the most for our money, but donating is the area where this principle is perhaps most important and least appreciated.”

– Holden Karnofsky, co-founder and co-executive director, GiveWell.org

      “Do you know that some charitable programs and organizations are thousands of times more effective than others (and not just because there are scams)? If you want to know who's doing the most good, this book will give you the tools to make accurate assessments. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, this book will show you the way.”

– John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and president of The Food Revolution Network

      “Giving money to a social cause isn't merely a donation to charity; it's an investment. It won't yield a financial dividend, but the return on investment comes in the form of the kind of social change the investor wants to affect. Nick Cooney helps such philanthropists decide how they can get the biggest bang for their donated buck in this very worthwhile and clearly written book. Anyone interested in using his or her financial resources to help make the world a better place will be better off for reading it.”

– Paul Shapiro, vice president, the Humane Society of the United States

      “This book will challenge everything you've ever been told about what it means to do good. Whether you work or volunteer at a non-profit, or just donate to one, this book is going to change the way you think about charity. Most importantly, it's going to leave you with the power to make an even bigger impact on the world.”

– William MacAskill, founder and director, The Centre for Effective Altruism, and author of Doing Good Better

      “Wow, this is such a great book… Don't waste another dollar or a moment of your time chasing wistful dreams; get focused and make the profound difference you long to see by reading (and enacting) Cooney's brilliant thesis.”

– Kathy Freston, New York Times bestselling author of Quantum Wellness and The Lean

      “Efficiency. Apply that word to charity work, and you're not just talking about saving dollars, but saving lives. In this book, Cooney expertly uses real-life examples to show how you can maximize your impact. Whether you donate to, volunteer at, or work for a non-profit, you need to read this book.”

– Jon Bockman, executive director, Animal Charity Evaluators

      “The world faces one big problem: Do-gooders rarely choose the most effective strategies to do good, and highly effective people rarely center their careers around doing good. Nick Cooney's book provides fascinating insights to address this problem, and thus to change the world.”

– Adriano Mannino, chairman, Raising for Effective Giving

      “Very well-written and remarkably well-researched, How to Be Great at Doing Good is a must-read book for anyone who's thinking about giving but needs a little help doing so.”

– Gene Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Forks Over Knives and Secrets of People Who Don't Get Sick

How to Be Great at Doing Good

Why Results Are What Count and How Smart Charity Can Change the World

Nick Cooney

      Cover design: Wiley

      Cover image: © iStock.com/koya79

      This book is printed on acid-free paper.

      Copyright © 2015 by Nick Cooney. All rights reserved

      Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

      Published simultaneously in Canada

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