I just completed Sheila Shanker's Nonprofit Finance:A Practical Guide (for Controllers, CFOs and Board Members). Ms. Shanker clearly put a lot of time and energy into reflecting on how best to help board members in particular and maybe Controllers and CFOs how to think about nonprofit financial, particularly accounting and bookkeeping, matters.
I do wonder that Ms. Shanker's book shouldn't be one of the text books in the many graduate and undergraduate nonprofit degree or certificate programs for folks who do not plan to be the Controller or CFO. I would have think on the other hand that CFOs (strategy and policy) and Controllers (accounting and bookkeeping) would have had all that's in the book many times deeper and wider. So, an educational guide for CEOs and Program Directors and Board members: possibly.
I think my challenge with the depth and breadth of the content of Nonprofit Finance is just that: I seriously doubt that board members and other non-finance and accounting folks are going to really want to spend the time and energy needed to absorb what has been carefully prepared. However, this does not mean there isn't some material in particular that board members would eagerly lap-up and be helped by. In particular, and remembering that the fiduciary role of a board is centered around risk reduction and prevention and compliance, Ms. Shanker's section on Internal Controls can prove very helpful to thinking about policy and evaluation. The section on nonprofit issues (like compensation) is equally helpful.
One thing I had not been conscious of before reading was an idea that maybe the finance committee and treasurer but even all the board should walk through the 990 (annual IRS financial filing) as a source of education and awareness about all things finance (including board role). I know that the annual audit presentation kind-of takes board members on this journey but that often happens at the end or months after the end of the fiscal year. What if as an educational tool the 990 was divided into 4 parts and 10-15 minutes was set-aside every quarter for board, at their business meeting, to learn financial stuff. Ms. Shanker's book could even serve as a companion to the process when helping board members understand terms and how some numbers come to be.
Bottom line: I would likely recommend Nonprofit Finance as one more resource tool to the finance committee, Treasure and Board and maybe non-finance people. There's some important material here. At the same time, keep your expectations low - the finance people will need to stand-by as instructors.