government organizations) will adopt international agendas. Most of the book is a useful how-to guide for working in the nonprofit sector, including descriptions of the type of work available and how to have successful interviews. The most effective. chapter is one called 42 Action Steps, a guide to employment-seeking similiar to methods described in What .Color is Your Parachute. The appendix includes a self-test for compatibility with the nonproft sector; glossary of nonprofit terms; resume format, and several resource lists and a bibliography. For More Information: Careers in the Nonprofit Sector, Terry W. McAdam, The Taft Group, 5130 MacArthur Blvd., NW, Washington, DC 20016, $24.95, 200pp., 1986 SAN FRANCISCO'S FT. MASON CENTER The Fort Mason Center in San Francisco houses nonprofit orgnizations and in 1985 attracted 1.7 million people to 15,000 cultural and educational events ln.1985, 1.7 million people attended 15,000 cultural and educational events at the Fort Mason Center in San Fransisco. They enjoyed classes, performances, galleries, displays, workshops, and other activities ranging from pottery classes to lectures on sources of pollution. The diversity of topics and activities accessible to the public-performing and visual arts, media, children's activities, environment, health and recreation, and morereflect the success of an organization directed towards providing many activities to an entire community and the people that visit it. And the creation of the Fort Mason Center represents a success in community involvement and development, as unused urban property was converted into a community resource. For almost 200 years the area of Fort Mason was used by the military until it was decommissioned in 1962. In 1972, a Congressional act turned Fort Mason and several thousands of acres along the waterfront of San Fransisco over to the National .Park Service-the Golden Gate National Recreation Area was now America's first urban national park. The Park Service, though, treated the land as they would any park-they concentrated on upgrading the park and making it Page30 RAIN Fall 1986 safer, and constructed picnic tables and bathrooms. But then they turned to the community for suggestions. A citizen advisory committee found that people wanted different kinds of low cost public activities, especially recreational · activities. The Park Service realized they were out of their area of expertise, and asked the newly formed Fort Mason Foundation to develop and orchestrate a program that would provide many different activities in the park. The Spanish-style military buildings are a National Historic Site. While preserving the exteriors of the buildings, The Fort Mason Foundation had to renovate the interiors to create appropriate facilities for the kinds of groups they wanted to attract. Working with funds as they got them, the foundation is still sound-proofing, insulating, remodelling, and turning these former warehouses and barracks into high quality space. ny(Fort Mason Center opened in 1977. Currently 53 nq_i:profit groups reside there, and with the over 500 non-resident groups, they produce many different public activities. The Center is a haven for nonprofit organizations-while nonprofits are usually isolated in low-rent areas, here, in the heart of San Fransisco, they are gro~ped together where the public can enjoy them and have access to their services. The rent, while affordable, covers the day-to-day operating expenses for the Center. Understandably, many groups want to use the Center, and the Foundation wants to remain open to any group. A flower arranger is considered as much a likely resident, as say, a dance company. They have also made an effort to book an ethnic balance of groups. Groups can rent permanent or 0 show" space, or arrange conventions in the convention center. The foundation renews contracts on a monthly basis so that there is no monopoly of prime time slots. The Capital Campaign Project for the Fort Mason Center is underway to raise 7.5 million dollars in the next two years.-Phyllis Manos For More Information: Fort Mason Center, Building A, San Francisco, CA 94123
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