...but how you give matters quite a lot, it would seem. Just in time for the season of giving (and, of course, drinking oneself silly on eggnog), I'd like to share my holiday reading list, which is coincidentally heavy on that subject (giving, not eggnog). Fortunately for me, it's a loooong plane ride back and forth across the Atlantic.

1. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier

Collier is an Oxford professor stepping into the Sachs-Easterly fray with this recent analysis of why it's been so hard to achieve anything close to our development goals for the poorest regions of the world. His description of the various "traps" that poor countries find themselves caught in (war, natural resource abuse, bad neighbors, poor governance) is reminiscent of Sachs's oft-floated "poverty trap" explanation, but Collier comes to a different conclusion about what should be done. Whereas Sachs calls for massive amounts of Western aid to the poorest countries, Collier encourages rich countries to focus on improving trade to foster economic growth.

2. Forces for Good by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod

Crutchfield and McLeod tackle the question of successful social entrepreneurship in this new book, which gives the results of their survey of thousands of non-profit CEOs. From the Economist's review, the six steps to success in social entrepreneurship are:

First, advocate and serve. High impact NGOs soon realise that simply delivering a good service is not enough; they need to campaign for political action if they really want to drive massive social change.

Second, make markets work. The great non-profits do not rely on traditional giving; they work with market forces, generating income where possible, working with for-profit businesses to help them "do well by doing good".

Third, inspire evangelists. Volunteers are not just a source of money and effort; they can be turned into highly effective advocates for the non-profit's cause. The best non-profits turn their volunteers into strong communities.

Fourth, nurture non-profit networks. Although many non-profits talk about collaboration, few do much of it in practice. That is their loss. The best non-profits, Ms Crutchfield and Ms Grant explain, "freely share wealth, expertise, talent, and power with their peers, not because they are saints but because it is in their self-interest to do so."

Fifth, master the art of adaptation. The best non-profits are serial innovators, constantly adapting what they do to changing circumstances. They have made mistakes, and occasionally flopped, along the way, but they have sustained their impact and stayed relevant because, "unlike many non-profits, they have also mastered the ability to listen, learn, and modify their approach based on external cues."

Sixth, share leadership. Many social entrepreneurs are a bit like a combination of Louis XIV, who said "L'état--c'est moi" and Louis XV, who warned, "Après moi, le deluge". Differentiating the social entrepreneur from the organisation he creates is often difficult. In such cases, the organisation tends to collapse when the entrepreneur leaves.

3. The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune by Conor O'Clery

This is a surprising biography of Chuck Feeney, an American entrepreneur whose success in business went unnoticed (probably not least because of his hatred of paying taxes), but who gave away nearly his entire fortune to worthy causes all over the world. A good friend of mine has met him through her father, who works for Feeney's charitable foundation Atlantic Philanthropies. Her assessment is pretty much the only one it is possible to make after hearing his story: "He's just cool!"