Add These 9 Reads to Your Civic Engagement Book List

Calling all bookworms! Have you been following our series on ways you can activate around the

? If you’ve checked out our other articles with resources like

and podcasts you prefer the written word, we’ve got the civic engagement book list you’ve been waiting for.

These books take a deeper dive into the various elements of the Civic Circle, a framework designed to help individuals connect to opportunities and understand that doing good comes in many forms. Written by authoritative voices in their spaces of expertise, these reads are a must for any budding volunteer, donor, social entrepreneur or engaged citizen.

Donate: The Everyday Philanthropist by Dan Pallotta

Looking for an easy-to-understand guide on donating responsibly? Advocate Dan Pollotta delivers in this book exploring topics from researching nonprofits to understanding overhead ratios to the actual impact you’re making with your donations. Written for people from all walks of life and of all ages, Dan will demystify donating so you can make better decisions about where and how to give.

Listen & Learn: Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine

American poet, essayist and playwright Claudia Rankine is perhaps best known for her award-winning collection of essays,

Citizen

, but

Just Us

is a powerful confrontation of racism. She demonstrates what racism looks like in the United States – from restaurants to theaters to airports – in this moving arrangement of essays, poems and images.

Purchase Power: Sold On Purpose: Marketing to The Conscious Consumer by Tim Moore

Using your wallet to make a statement? Influence your clients and customers to do the same? Become a conscious consumer and master marketer for good with this comprehensive guide to marketing based on shared values and a unique brand purpose. Even if you aren’t in marketing, this book can help you more fully understand how the companies you support with your dollar are marketing to you. A must read!

Service: Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War by Helen Thorpe

It’s not often we get to peek into the personal lives of military personnel, and even less common for us to hear detailed narratives from women in combat. Journalist Helen Thorpe follows the lives of three women deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and the effect of their military service on their personal lives and families – over the course of twelve years. It’s a compelling illustration of just what it takes for military personnel to serve their countries.

Social Entrepreneur: The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook, Expanded Edition: Pressure Test, Plan, Launch and Scale Your Social Enterprise by Ian C. MacMillan and James D. Thompson

If only social entrepreneurs had some kind of manual for exactly how to launch their enterprise… psst – they do! This playbook is the authoritative guide on the three phases of the start-up to scale-up process. Written by two Wharton professors, this tough-love approach will help social entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls and navigate the landscape of solving the world’s toughest issues in innovative ways.

Vote: Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth about Voting in America by Erin Geiger Smith

Penned by journalist Erin Geiger Smith, this book looks at the past, present, and future of voting, including the ongoing fight for voting rights. It covers the voting process, actionable steps for voters to take to become more civically engaged, and an examination of why, in the 2016 presidential election, about 40 percent of Americans didn’t vote. Even the most well-versed voter will walk away having learned something new about democracy from this read.

Voice: Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior by Jonah Berger

Your voice matters, but using it to better the world is not always clear-cut. Get a leg up with insights about the ways you choose to live your life. Jonah Berger takes us deep into the concept of social influence and how others’ behavior shapes our own. Once we fully understand why we do the things we do, we can decide what we want to to resist and what we want to embrace.

Volunteer: The Life You Can Save: How To Do Your Part To End World Poverty by Peter Singer

Poverty remains one of the leading issues our world has yet to solve, and it can feel so big and overwhelming that you may not know where to start. Join Peter Singer on this journey of exploration into the current state of global poverty and how you can be part of the solution. You may be surprised at some of the ways you can start working to end poverty right now, in your very own community.

Work: Do Good at Work: How Simple Acts of Social Purpose Drive Success and Wellbeing by Bea Boccalandro

VeraWorks President Bea Boccalandro teaches readers how to transform “meaningless” jobs into purpose-driven ventures in her book about making work more fulfilling. Through real-life stories and plenty of tools, tips and techniques, she offers employees in any industry a way to draw civic engagement into the workforce.

Intrigued? Time to get reading!

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This piece is part of a series that highlights the many ways you can activate the

Points of Light Civic Circle

using various tools.

Check out all the ways you can live your best civic life

The Points of Light Civic Circle Offers Real Ways You Can Change the World

Sixty-six percent of Americans don’t believe they can make a big impact in the world. That figure is according to Points of Light’s

research

on civic engagement. But what if we told you there are actually many ways to drive change? Today’s political climate can feel divided or even stagnant, but the truth is, you really can make things better, starting with your own community, one act of kindness at a time. And those aren’t just words. We’re here to share real, practical ways for you to make a difference.

The Points of Light Civic Circle

helps people connect to opportunities and understand that doing good comes in many forms. It is a framework that represents your power to lead, lend support and take action for causes you care about and live your best civic life.

The Civic Circle provides actionable examples of all the ways you can change your community to reflect the world you want to see around you. In fact, you’re probably doing some of these things already. Are you helping a neighbor by picking up groceries or chaperoning on your child’s class field trip? You’re volunteering. Did you vote in the last election or help others get to the polls so they could vote? Those acts of civic duty illustrate the “vote” element. When you buy a product, do you choose to support companies that reflect your values or advance a social cause? That’s called “purchase power.” There are nine elements of the Civic Circle, and countless ways to bring each one to life. This blog is the first in a seven-part series that will help you find real and manageable ways to activate the Civic Circle through

and

. We also offer other resources to help you connect with all the ways you can become empowered to be the change you want to see in the world. Check out our

videos

that provide an in-depth look at each element of the Civic Circle. And don’t miss

Civic Life Today

, our digital magazine series. Each issue takes a deep dive and provides materials, ideas and inspiration so that you can become civically engaged. Get started today, and launch your own civic engagement journey with these tools.

This piece is part of a series that highlights the many ways you can activate the Points of Light Civic Circle using various tools. Check out each one so you can live your best civic life: