{"id":10197,"date":"2026-01-12T11:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/panl\/?p=10197"},"modified":"2026-01-12T14:43:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:43:23","slug":"pat-bradshaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/panl\/2026\/pat-bradshaw\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Book About Nonprofit Governance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Patricia

Patricia Bradshaw, author of “Concise Introduction to Nonprofit Governance.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Patricia Bradshaw<\/a>, Professor Emerita at Saint Mary\u2019s University (in Nova Scotia, Canada), has just published a book, \u201cConcise Introduction to Nonprofit Governance<\/a>,\u201d that provides an overview of governance in the nonprofit sector, including board responsibilities. The book draws on interpretive, structural and political perspectives on nonprofit governance and examines contingency factors, including how the external environment impacts governance. She spoke to PANL Perspectives<\/em> about the value of her book and how it helps with organizational challenges.<\/p>\n

Question: Your book is an important contribution to the nonprofit field. What\u2019s the crux of it?<\/h2>\n

Patricia Bradshaw<\/strong>: The book challenges us to think about the difference between governance, leadership and management. It also looks at some of the processes and dynamics of governing at different systems levels. We’re seeing now that you govern boards and govern organizations, but there’s also a function for governance at different systems levels, such as network governance, social systems governance, global governance and even AI governance.<\/p>\n

Governance is the function of challenging how we make sense of what\u2019s happening around us. In a world often characterized by multiple and sometimes fractured interpretations and even distortions of reality, where does that function come in to say, “Are we telling the right story? Are there alternate stories that need to be told?” For me, that’s where governance best contributes and is what I call, in my own vernacular, “a loving challenge.”<\/p>\n